Celeste
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Posts posted by Celeste
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Don't you love relatives? Great place to practice 'cause if you screw up, they still love you and nobody will call you a lowballer when you're doing family :)
Celeste
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Reed, I always love your very professional & informative posts - best part is the political correctness of them :) Thanks for the tips.
Celeste
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When I look at work like yours and Reed's, I absolutely classify myself as a novice. That being said, in the event there are more than one of me out there who truly do not know the varieties....could you explain exactly what IPE is? I live in PT land so I've not really heard or seen of this IPE stuff and may not know it if it bopped me on the head.
Thanks for not laughing out loud at me - only way to learn is ask the questions, right?
Celeste
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Would you minding posting some further information about the class action suit with Trex? My dad had it installed and it's nasty looking already.
Thanks,
Celeste
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Boy do I miss the mountains of NC right now.
If the rain comes back through here again, our mountains are going to be the flat part of the state !
Celeste
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Isn't this $179.00 charge for updating the actual tax tables in the program? Seems like you could go to your respective state's website and get the new tables and the Fed site for that one and make your own adjustments. They still make the booklets as well......We use QB Pro as well but yippee - no need for payroll taxes yet.
Just a thought ?
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Does your new construction come to a screeching halt in the winter there? Inside cleaning of those isn't bad money :)
We've also thought about starting a line of wooden deck furniture .... build & stain inside in the winter - sell sell sell in the spring.
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Another masterpiece - glad to see someone's wood isn't so saturated that it may never dry out!
Beautiful work once again Reed :)
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Here in central NC we've all gotten out the snorkels and flippers - we haven't had the wind but if we get much more water I think all of North Carolina just might be a great big ole lake. It's making any kind of wood cleaning IMPOSSIBLE! But, isn't this the kind of stuff that makes the mildew and mold grow like crazy?
Celeste
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What a blast from the past - thanks Dale - that may have been the highlight of my week!
Celeste
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If it lasts 3 to 4 years what do you do when it fades? clean and apply a coat over the origianal coat or do you have to strip the old sealer and reapply?As I understand it, they make another product (imagine that!) that you use to re-prep the surface then just reapply - no stripping is necessary. I would imagine there would be a cleaning involved. Truthfully, I haven't read about what happens later - that's Roger's department.
We did have some left over which I am going to experiment with using some tape to see if I can put a pattern on my concrete steps. This would make this a really nice (simpler) alternative to some of the very complicated looking processes of staining with an overlay.
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We rolled primarily because of the sandy additive we put in the sealer. The Xylene in the stuff is what is really hard on the pump also. It can be rolled both times in one day (during daylight savings time), however, mfg recommends 12 hours between coats (whether 2 or 3) and Roger didn't start until late afternoon yesterday. It was drying long before he finished though since it was about 150 degrees yesterday. We stuck pretty close to the instructions this time since it was the first one. This is supposed to last 3-4 years, depending on the traffic. Also they say if you use black, you may have to reapply much sooner as it seems to fade quicker......but then again, asphalt fades from black to a dark grey pretty quickly too doesn't it?
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It doesn't matter - this one was a smooth surface which is why we put the Shark Grip additive in it.
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Shane, Roger corrected me on the application...it can be sprayed. However, we put the Shark Grip additive in it which would likely ruin any sprayer out there! Yes, the concrete must be dry. He cleaned then etched with muriatic the first day, rolled on the first coat the 2nd day and the last coat went on today.
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Kudos go to Roger - he does all the work - I just hang out on the boards :) We used H&C Silicone Acrylic Concrete Sealer - Sherwin Williams carries it. Comes in about 40 colors. It goes on with a roller. We added Shark Grip to this to keep it from being too slippery. 900 sq ft - sealer was just under $200 - about 6.5 manhours - bill was $1075 (she gave him a $25 tip :) so it pays pretty decent.
Thanks for the compliments :)
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Here's the driveway we did this week - don't think you'd technically call it staining - definitely not compared to the acid staining process.
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Happy Birthday to you - Happy birthday to you - Happy birthday to Paul - Happy birthday to you.
(You should be really glad you can't hear me singing this!!!)
Celeste
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This thread & the links posted prompted me to do some looking into the concrete staining thing. The job we're finishing today is a sealer with color: H&C Silicone Acrylic Concrete sealer. So far the homeowner is thrilled with her new driveway and it only has the first coat on. I'll put up the final results later today.
The other staining method most commonly seen is an acid based stain - gives a marble type look and someone above was right - it's being done EVERYWHERE! especially inside.
Has anyone ventured into the overlay systems? It seems pricey to get into, pricey to sell but the results are something to see.
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Now that the topic of discounts has come up and since we're only a year old and are still looking for sound business advise:
We are doing all the post construction clean up in one particular development - projected houses in the neighborhood is 1700-1800. As we do these houses, the new homeowners are seeing us around. We want to get annual contracts with these folks (half of the neighborhood at just $150 per house would be $127500 per year - in one 500 acre area). It certainly wouldn't mean that we would compromise our results, but when you factor in trip time, being able to do multiple houses in one day within a block or so from each other or in between jobs for the contractor. Well, it just seemed like a good idea to reward the homeowners by knocking a little off the standard house wash or driveway clean. If someone has more experience in this type plan - please let us know.....don't want to get bitten in the end just because it seemed to be a good idea "at the time".
The other "discount" I referred to was, upon completion of a job, we give the happy customer a small stack of business cards with the promise of say, $25.00 off of their next paid job for every paid job we got from their referrals.
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We just got in the truck and drove around to the developments, got the names from the houses being built and contacted them from there - you know for certain that they are building.
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Speaking of before and after shots for the client - After we do the clean on a new construction home, we do a personalized brochure to the new homeowner's outlining our services and include a little discount coupon for them because they live where they live (trying to build up annual contracts in this one development) But I am drifting...my point is that you can - for about the same amount of money in a "portfolio", do a personalized thank you with the photos on it and maybe offer some future discount for all referrals they give you.
Oh, and by the way, don't beat yourself up because of this lost job - your quality workmanship will win out in the end. We'd have probably charged more so you weren't over the top in my opinion. There are always the beer money guys out there - inevitably will make us look better in the end anyway.
Celeste
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Wasps are one thing but recently I've been running into a bunch of european hornets (basically yellow jackets on steroids about 2-2 1/2 inches long. Very aggresive and will sting the hell out of you.I've contracted a pest control company that gives my clients a discount if they are clients of mine. Name of the company for you Maryland people, all pest solutions.
Hey Henry....are they humongous black wasp looking things? I had something like that get into a house I was cleaning yesterday. It chased me into the bathroom...only reason it didn't get in was because it's wingspan was wider than the door. I've never seen anything like these things before!
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That elephant poop job is yuck - even if that pic isa joke of some sort - eeeuuwww. I don't think there's enough money in the world to get me to hold a bag under an elephant's butt.
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Is this a one day course - I'm assuming that there is hands on training during the class.
K-7 Unloader Problem
in Tools, Equipment & Basic Maintenance
Posted · Report reply
Troyt,
When we installed ours we had the same problem - turned out that our hose was the wrong size. We squeezed the hose ever so slightly and voila, no burping. We now have 3/8" hose (exterior diameter) attached with a barb, not a clamp. Maybe this would fix you??
Celeste