Pete Marentay

I have a lot of the same thoughts as Beth and Rod on this subject. The insurance coverage that Beth is referring to is to cover end users 1) that the product is exactly what it says it is on the label 2) that the safety instructions on the label and the 24-hour emergency number are available and accurate. Manufacturers are liable, particularly in this post 9/11 time, for the chemicals they place into the marketplace. They are not responsible for end-user mishandling, however, as long as the label gives proper handling instructions. We have always been a lawsuit-happy society. It just seems like anyone who creates their own concoction in their garage is asking for trouble at some point. Yes, I recognize that you can save money - as long as you don't ever need support or liability insurance or consistent performance and you never make a mistake. If you have employees handling home-made strippers (or worse yet, have employees make up the mixtures) you are asking for double trouble - product liability to your customer and Work Comp issues. Sun Brite Supply carries a $1M policy for our protection and yours and we require our suppliers to carry even higher coverage. The biggest differences between all the products on the market today are the surfactants, not the heat. We sell specific cleaners for every type of cleaning job, and more than half of them start out with Sodium Hydroxide as the main ingredient. Thats where the similarity ends, though. The different surfactants produce different results. When we revved up our REMOVE stripper this year the primary change was the surfactants. We wanted even less sudsing and even more lift, so we stepped up the SH a little and changed all of the surfactants. We eliminated product separation and the stuff works even faster than before. It rinses cleaner in less time, which turns into less time and more profit on the job. Anybody can mix up SH at high strength and add dish detergent, but the results are nothing similar to what a good chemical manufacturer can engineer. You can save money a lot of ways in this business, but not all of them are wise. (Direct-drive machines are cheaper than belt-driven ones, but that's not a smart way to save money over the long run, for example.) If you want to mix your own cleaners but get your hands on the good surfactants, you might try E-Spec. I believe they ship surfactants without the caustic added. Beth's point about what would happen to your insurance rates if your carrier learned that you were mixing products yourself is real! We went through a surprise inspection of our facility because our insurance company wondered if we mixed any products ourselves. We were told that our carrier would have refused coverage at any price if we did our own mixing. They are very afraid of the liability issues. Before ya'll jump all over me for chiming in on the topic, I have a self-serving interest in taking this position because I sell cleaners. At the same time, we have worked our behinds off to keep the prices of these cleaners under 2 cents per square foot for most of you to use, even after adding the cost of freight. Many are even less. And we still provide liability coverage and product support at those prices. If HD-80 goes for $69 for 10 lbs. (the most expensive way to buy it) and that makes 20 gallons of extremely strong stripper, you are spending less than $3.50 per gallon. If freight makes that initial cost $80, you are spending $4 per gallon. If each gallon covers 150 sq. ft., then you are spending 2.7 cents per square foot. There are ways to get lower prices on the products, which can bring even this super-stripper under the 2-cents-per-sq.-ft. range. REMOVE stripper is one of the alternative products on the market. Bought in bulk, it is about half a penny per square foot to use and will handle 60% - 70% of the jobs out there in its normal dilution. It can be beefed up by adding less water when you find a tougher finish (but most of the time that isn't needed). That comes out to about $1 to strip 200 square feet - pretty darn inexpensive. Now that's my 2 cents worth!

The deck looks great! How did you apply it?

Great advice, Beth and Rod. The super-strong strippers can work on latex and acrylic products, but the dwell time oftens turns out to be as long as an hour or more. Patience, and a test patch during the estimate process, will save your day.

Rain will damage the finish of any wet sealer with linseed oil or mineral oil in it. Because it forms a coating, it takes several hours to "set up" (dry) and during that time the sealer is vulnerable. If the surface dried enough to touch and the rain was gentle, you may find no problem at all. If the surface wasn't dry, or if the rainfall was hard, you will probably have to strip and re-seal. Telltale signs are a damaged appearance and discoloration. Customers are pretty aware of this problem. Your customer may insist on a re-do before he pays. I had this same problem years ago, because Atlanta is similar to Florida where pop-up showers are the norm. I stripped and resealed dozens of decks damaged by rain. I am a product dealer and I offer a sealer that has no temperature limitations and virtually no rainfall restrictions, but the wood must be absolutlely dry when you use this sealer. If you want to find out more, feel free to call Sun Brite Supply.

One more thing - a dual lance wand will allow you to change from 3500 PSI to 300 PSI without changing tips. Just twist the handle to reduce the pressure without reducing the GPM.

RC, your standard nozzle should be a 4.5. To reduce pressure but maintain your GPM, a 5.5 will cut you down to 2000 PSI, an 8.0 will take you down to 1000 PSI and a 12.0 will take you down to 500 PSI. Bleach on a roof will shorten to life of the roof significantly. Try to keep the final mix less than 3% concentration. I lean towards keeping it below 2%. You might consider using a less aggressive product than bleach. There are mild caustic cleaners on the market that should work for you. Sounds like this roof is quite a challenge. Your X-Jet can suck through as much as 100 of hose, according to the manufacturer. I have my doubts about any length like that. However, you should have no trouble pulling 50'. There is a tool called a Pitch Witch designed for exactly what you are trying to do - wash the roof without standing on it. I bought one, used it twice, and didn't like the results I got. Sold it for half of what I paid. Others have had good luck, so maybe perserverance and more experience with the tool is what is needed.

Ken, I agree that the Wood Tux is quite thick. It's all part of the VOC thing. The suggestion Russ makes is to dilute the sealer with Xylene (available at Home Depot and other places) rather than mineral spirits at a rate of a bout 16 ounces per 5-gallon pail. That should be sufficient to thin it for spraying. What color did you stain the poodle?

If your goal is to avoid contaminating the water, then allowing the effluent to hit the ground a few feet from the water's edge might not accomplish that. The stripper you use could still end up in the water at the first rain. In our area, the Army Corps of Engineers is very clear: no chemical cleaners allowed. Their favorite saying to PW'ers is "Water In = Water Out". I wouldn't worry about the stripper harming the pavers. They should be OK. I also wouldn't worry about chips of latex paint in the water. They'll never melt. They will just settle to the bottom, never to be heard from again. Stipping latex with HD-80 or F-18 will require a significant amount of stripper and time. I have never done it this way, but if you could capture your water like Ryan did you would be a hero all around. No dead fish floating around the next day. Just dispose of the water in the dirt at least 50' away from the lake and let Mother Nature do her thing. There are other strippers that will do the job that are not caustic (so they won't harm the fish). These are pastes that you brush on and leave overnight. The paint will separate from the wood, and can be washed off quite easily the next morning (takes at least four hours of dwell time). These prodcuts are expensive, but extremely effective and water soluble. These strippers tend to cost about 60 cents per square foot to buy, so the homeowner needs to pony up if you plan to use one of these products.

I believe parafinic oil is a hydrocarbon, derived from crude oil. It is most similar to #6 fuel oil. Boiled linseed oil is a vegetable oil, derived from flax seeds. Most linseed oil used in sealers today is boiled linseed oil.