Celeste

Well cough up the name of the product!

Painted vinyl?

I made some phone calls - one to our landscaper and one to Everett (who does pest control). These professions usually mix their chemicals off site and it is entirely possible that whomever sprayed the bushes brought chemicals in that were mixed with a high iron content water - thus the rust stains :) Celeste

That looks terrific - we're putting it down tomorrow - hope ours looks that nice!

We have several landscapers that we work with - it would probably be worth a phone call to see if they use products with something in it that may do that :)

Think of the paint on the brick as a grafitti removal - yes there are chems that will do it. If the brick and the mortar are in good shape, you can carefully try a turbo but those "ivy feet" can be enormously stubborn and often won't be removed.

HD-80 is supposed to get warm - it's part of the chemical reaction in Sodium hydroxide. Did you use the same water to mix your neutralizer????? If you're using oxalic to neutralize/brighten....I don't know if I would have risked the chlorine in the pool water mixing with oxalic - could have turned out REAL bad!

Multiple zip-locks would be my preference :) LOL

We bid a deck today to remove Sikkens DEK.....this stuff was on for 5 years and was applied by the homeowner. It began to peel on one of the benches so they started sanding it off. Here's the kicker.....the spindles still look GREAT which to me means that it's going to be a really big PAIN to get off. We plan to use HD-80 to remove - those of you with HD-80 experience, should we go with the Boost additive or just be patient with the dwell time? This one's gonna end up with Wood Tux Wet :) Here's a few pics of the before:

Well, here are the results - stripped with HD-80 w/ Hang Time, brightened with Citralic. Somebody forgot to take a pic of the sample board that was stained with the Wood Tux so guess everyone will just have to wait until the deck is sealed for more pics. HD-80 took care of this DEK with noooo problem - patience (and more patience) resulted in very few fuzzies :)

As I understood it, the guy was an illegal. Don't get me wrong, I still maintain that the perp was 100% responsible but I also feel that in order to keep our country free the way we've enjoyed it, we all hold some responsibility in keeping those who feel they can circumvent our laws and system - I'll bet he wouldn't have tried that in whatever country he came from.

Are we having preteen/teen girl issues?

That's horrible - shame on the company owner for not checking out his employee!

This product has been brought up before, the one that guarantees the WOOD to last for 25+ years, blah, blah, blah... Has anyone run across this stuff? My specific question would be.....John Q. Homeowner puts this stuff on his deck in 1995. Sell his home in 1999. Suzie Homemaker doesn't like the way the deck looks and calls someone to strip it. 1 - How would you know if the coating that was on the deck was the 25 yr stuff? 2 - How would you get it off if you found out that's what it was? We've looked at the website for the company and the information is limited at best. You have to be a franchise to get any detailed information about it. We're not remotely (or financially) interested in using the stuff but would love to know what to do if we are contacted to remove it. Any experiences? Celeste

And now the $1M question.......how do you strip that crap off?????

For solids, we use a Titan 440i airless sprayer. Depending on what you're spraying will determine back brushing or not. Flood Spa n Deck - yes, the solid stain we put on a cedar sided house (don't anyone even ask!) no back brushing at all. Couldn't you just choke these stain people that have made it "fashionable" for the deck to match the color of the house! Celeste

Is the problem in the top coat or the base coat - although realistically, they should be in the color coat since the base is an oil and penetrates, unless the whole project was brushed. With the top coat being the acrylic, I would think that a light sand then reapplication of the color might work. As far as brush marks ACROSS the grain? Same process I guess, but I would think that back brushing WITH the grain would be the proper procedure from here on in. Going from Ready Seal to the Spa n Deck is a pretty big leap....goof-proof to pretty difficult. Celeste

So okay all you Nextel users.....where's your DC numbers in your signature? :) Celeste

Congratulations Adrien - and keep up the good work! Maybe we'll look you up next time we're in Marietta (my sister lives there:)) Celeste

Everett, you pad and brush everything don't you? I've been told that the Aussie oil is not in the forgiving category when it comes to application (as compared to say Ready Seal). We're getting into some upper end areas now where we may be seeing something other than PT wood!!!! Celeste

That's great Matthew - I remember you just starting out last year....if you're making what you need to make and not killing yourself doing it, you're right there. Start making too much and next person you'll have calling you will be the IRS!!!!! Celeste

With gas prices where they are now, we have started giving our minimum fee before encouraging the homeowner to let us come take a look. We'll ask what's on the house, how many stories, etc... If they weren't willing to spend the minimum, clearly they're looking for one of those $99 for everything deals and we haven't wasted our gas on a price shopper.

There are multiple chemicals out there that will remove paint from any surface - they do get expensive so you have to make sure that your client understands the noticeably higher cost involved with paint removal. SunBrite Supply's RemoveAll and BioWash 310 to name a couple. Check with Tracy or Pete at SunBrite. You can also try searching some of the grafitti threads - there may be chemicals listed there. Steve Rowlett has removed some pretty bad paint with his Roof Magic 2x + some 911 then followed with oxalic.

We love our Nextel! Make sure that you get a plan with Nationwide direct connect, not just local. Once you're hooked up, you'll be amazed how many folks from out of your area you'll connect up with - to ask a question, to check on something, to get DIRECTIONS!, etc... Motorola makes a couple of phones that will withstand getting dropped in puddles as well. Roger's tried to drown his more than once. Celeste

Just a regular word document? - You want it with your info on it already? Can you tell I'm bored today? Celeste