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Mountain View

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Posts posted by Mountain View

  1. Posted · Report reply

    After doing wood restoration for several years I had to put my precious Elite Powerwash into hibernation due to work schedule changes in my 'real job'. Wife and I have decided enough is enough when it comes to 'working for the man'. This time next year we should be moved to the Durango, Colorado area where we will build our own house (cabin) and start the business back up as a full time venture. There are the normal painter/landscapers there like anywhere; I dealt with the competition here in Texas and will deal with them in Colorado to. I always marketed to the high end customers and gave a firm price, no haggling. If you want to haggle then go to the flea market. I have always treated wood restoration as a craft and will continue to do so. Knowledge and straight talk to my customers seemed to work for me. Monogramed shirts, clean vehicle and equipment, professional attitude, quality work. As far as I am concerned my name is on every job. There will always be a place for the quality craftsman at a fair price. Let the low-ballers provide a low level of service and quality, I will be there to pick up the pieces and have a satisfied customer. It takes time but it works. Everyone on TGS has been a great help to me over the years!

  3. Posted · Report reply

    I would clean and acid rinse the fence. I agree with others when they talk about surface contamination from milling and sitting outside in a yard somewhere before it's installed. For a home owner in this case, a store bought cleaner and brightener will work. If they don't have a pressure washer then a good quality hose nozzle with a fan pattern will do. LOW PRESSURE if they are using a pressure washing. You are only doing it to remove surface dirt.

  6. Posted · Report reply

    I'm going to look at a Redwood deck tomorrow. Don't have many in Texas so a little help would be appreciated.

    Questions:

    Do you use stripper and ox in the same manner you would with other wood (pine, cedar, etc.)?

    I know it requires special formulation stain; I am a Ready Seal user and I believe RS has a Redwood special stain. Any experience from anyone using RS for Redwood?

    Any other tips or tricks? Any funky results I should be ready for?

    I have plenty of experience with pine, cedar, ipe.

    Thanks for any help.

  8. Posted · Report reply

    I use R202 from DCS (Formerly Delco). Mix the powder in a bucket, downstream, let sit, then powerwash off. Great results. Haven't harmed any plants or grass.

    #R202– Heavy Duty Concrete and White Wall Tire Cleaner Orange to Green

    5 lbs.trial –$10.00, 50 lbs. –$85.00, 100 lbs. – $160.00, 500 lbs. – $750.00

    This sudsing alkaline powdered detergent is designed to clean heavy grease, soil, oil, and scuff

    marks from unpainted concrete. Also is an excellent booster for your regular detergent when

    you need extra cleaning power. USDA Acceptable.*

  10. Posted · Edited by Mountain View · Report reply

    I've been using my 5x8 open trailer for 4 years. I have a 4.5 gal 4000 psi Vanguard 16hp key start belt drive with a 30 gal buffer tank. I have a 4gpm 3700psi pull start for a back up or for a helper to use on larger jobs. 200 ft h.p. hose on a reel with another 100ft in the truck if I need it, 100 ft garden hose on another reel. Wands, chems, storage boxes all on the trailer. Nice and compact. Have room to add a hot box if I take out one of the storage boxes but I do wood and residential and haven't yet found a job that I NEED hot water for. If I were to branch into commercial work then that's another story. Trailer is real easy to work with. Back it into my driveway, disconnect from the truck, lift up the trailer tongue and push it back into my garage. Hook up to drive off and back in to in the garage; 5 minutes each.

  11. Posted · Report reply

    I think you did a great job! I'm dealing with a Behr stained fence right now. This stuff is awful! How can something that looks so bad and is flaking off still hold on to the wood like it's riveted on there!?! Two hot strips so far and still a few cling-ons. Most definitely like stripping paint. I've laughed with the customer that they are now the proud owners of the "hardest fence to strip" award. Going back in a few days to stain it and try to match with new fence.

  12. Posted · Report reply

    Pete a good surfactant to look at is NP-9. It works well with NaOCl. A little goes a long way. A few ounces in a pail makes a clingy/soapy mixture. This works well for a house or building wash where the rinsing is easy. On a deck or roof, you have to use as little as you can or you will be rinsing forever and or filling gutters with suds.

    NP-9 by The Chemistry Store.com Inc

    Thanks Ken, I figured you'd be one of the responders to this. I've got an idea and, if it works, I think I can lock up a substantial amount of business.

  14. Posted · Edited by Mountain View · Report reply

    Can you give us an idea of the square footage of the house (sq. meters even)? I generally charge based on that, usally 12cents per sq. foot of floor space unless there is an excess of obsticals around the house. It's just not practical to measure the outside structure. The verandas and other horizontal surfaces 8-10 cents per sq foot. The gutters would be additional to that. I don't do many gutters so I can't give you a much advise on that but they look like a challenge and I would price accordingly.

    I have a brother in law who lives on the Gold Coast. Pelican Waters, Caloundra I think. Ex-pat English guy emigrated there about 5 years ago.

  16. Posted · Report reply

    On the last couple of jobs, when I've been solo, I've used the 9x12 canvas tarps. I drape it over the fence then lift it up and spray under it, move it down the fence and do the same thing. Kind of like spraying under a tent if you will. Makes a HUGE difference to over spray, especially when I'm close to another structure. The tarp is soaked by the end of the job. Each one cost about 11 bucks, just figure it into the cost of the job. I dispose of them at the local Haz Mat depot.

  20. Posted · Report reply

    Rick is correct that I'm using Ready Seal (Natural Cedar). The days are in the mid 70's around 60% relative humidity mostly sunny, nights are in the mid to upper 50's and mostly clear. The mornings show some dew on grass and vehicles. I'm going to try a few slats on the fence around noon tomorrow, if it soaks in well then I will do the rest of the fence. This is a new housing development with houses still going up and significant potential business. The customers are very patient but they want it done as much as I do.

    As always, input from all of you is very appreciated.

  21. Posted · Edited by Mountain View · Report reply

    I've been waiting for a relatively new (a few months old) cedar fence to dry out. I washed it almost two weeks ago and it's still hanging around 16-17 % moisture content. We've had morning dew but no other precipitation. Am I being too stringent about wanting a cedar fence to get to 12% before I stain it? Can this number be a bit higher on a fence and still get good results? The customer is okay with the wait but I'm getting a bit frustrated with checking the thing every couple of days and it's not going below the 16-17% moisture level.

    P.S. Come to think of it, no other fence I've done has been this new, maybe that's why I haven't run into this slow drying process before.

  22. Posted · Edited by Mountain View · Report reply

    Adrian,

    I think Baker's uses clay pigments, while Ready Seal uses finely ground iron oxide pigments, except for their Gold color. This difference may account for the better longevity of Ready Seal on your fence.

    I believe you are correct. I started out using Baker's for the first couple of years. It's a good product but I always walked away thinking it should have more "oomph" to it. On a deck for a close friend, I have put on two treatments of Bakers over 4 yrs. It is fading at a faster rate than I, as a customer, would consider acceptable. Baker's seems to sit on top a bit while RS seems to soak in better, more of a wood tone than a wood color, if that makes sense. I now use RS exclusively. The end result is nicer, more of the wood grain shows through. The longevity of RS will be watched closely.

  23. Posted · Report reply

    Before I got into the truck I asked him who he has time for first, the cops or the Humane Society to answer questions for an animal abuse report.

    I love what you said to him. Beating a dog like that is a cowardly thing to do.

    I had one customer micro-manage what I was doing in a similar fashion. I finished the job and it looked good but I won't be returning any of his calls in the future.

  25. Posted · Edited by Mountain View · Report reply

    Good strip job, but do you think you got all the mold off the bottom? color looks a little off on the after pic?? Maybe its my computer

    Those are grass stains from the gardener weed eating the lawn. Sanded but that was the best I could get; well, without grinding deep into the wood and maybe making it look even worse. It's been a lesson to me when it comes to wood to follow the physicians creed, "do no harm". Sometimes I don't get things to a sterile condition but, based on my customers reaction and my "trained eye", the end result is very satisfactory.

    Edit: Based on Ready Seal "spreadage" rate, this fence should take just under 19 gallons, I put 23 gals. on this bad boy.! Don't worry Ken, the budget was for 25.

    Edit due: This was an insurance job due to hail damage. The insurance company's original payment only covered 2/3rds of the cost. The owner asked if I would talk to the insurance company to explain the "above the adjusted amount" of my quote. Five minutes of talking to the company and explaining to them the reasons for my quote figure, owner got full amount of my quote for the job. No money out of owners pocket.

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