Henry B.

Hey Carlos, where ya been man? In a cave somewhere? It sounds like you haven't been hearing about the stuff the PWNA has been doing. Give me a call sometime, let's chat.

Hmm I thought x-180 was the stripper but, YOUR RIGHT! You must have one of those photographic memories or something! There are so many products out there that they all tend to get jumbled together in my mind, expecially when I haven't used them in about 5 years. The stripper was called fast finish remover (It didn't seem that fast to me!), and x180 was the neutralizer & Cleaner they suggested and sold. Regardless of that, the sealers stink (literally) Some guys may love their products and I admit they did work well but I just could not get over the stench of the stuff. My clients couldn't either! Either way, I wouldn't go back to using it anyway since they don't have a great record with keeping their contractors up to date on formulae changes that effect the outcome of the job. That is one good thing about Ready Seal and Wood Tux though, both of them are excellent about keeping contractors updated on what the are doing. They both welcome and encourage contractor feedback and reccomendations on their products.

Hey Rod, that was stated very well! I remember the ABR products.. ABR X100 is what it was called and it was very similiar to Ready Seal except, the smell was 100 times worse! The wood restoring agent they made x180 was very similiar to the Wood Tux's efc-38. The ABR line seems to have lost it's edge when it reformulated with out telling the contractors, and it started to turn Cedar Decks Black! Thankfully that didn't happen to me but, needless to say I don't use that product anymore and I've switched those clients over to Ready Seal. It seems like the products are getting better each year and I look forward to seeing what the industries like in another 15 years!

My concern with the comment was that new guys may have been confused by it. It sounded like he was saying the surface of the wood would never dry so it couldn't be walked on. Thanks for clearing that up Jon! From everything I've seen and heard Ready Seal and Wood Tux are both great products. I won't choose sides on products or try judging a product I haven't worked with either, that wouldn't be very fair or smart. My comment about it being a little shiny was meant to be a compliment because I really did like it! Maybe it's just that the oils in ready seal penetrate in the wood so deep renewing the woods dried out oils that it doesn't sit on the surface. That's what I'm looking for in a product and I've been told that Wood Tux is also a great penetrator. I've been using Ready Seal for a long time now and never had any problems with the surface being wet. Good thing too, my wife would kill me if we tracked oil onto her carpet or pergo floor!!

Jon, Ready Seal doesn't dry?? I think I misunderstood you or something. Ready Seal dries quite well after it penetrates the surface and sets up, I'm surprised to hear someone say that. I'm not sure where everyone else took wood restoration courses at but I've taken quite a few of them for various products and services. The only one I didn't take by a manufacturer was my PWNA wood certification course. There are no brand names suggested or used in any PWNA class so pushing a product wasn't an issue. I agree that in many other courses that's not quite true but it's just business and it's expected. What's your experience with Ready Seal that would make you believe it never dries?

I'm trying to find some of the pics I took before I'm just tied up with some other things.

No problem Russell, thanks for the tips and keep up the great work. I'll be looking into wood tux in the near future.

That doesn't make sense though. I couldn't even tick someone off from that far away even if I was trying... I really don't see what's bugging him so much either. But I've had people take pot shots at me for no reason either. I'd just ban him from your site if I were you.

I could but it wouldn't really help much and the way it's laid out on my rig most of the stuff is hidden behind my sighn. All it is, is a hose reel, 45 gallon tank and a deckster pump system.

I know things are shiny when wet, I'm talking about a dried and cured sample. The sample I saw was applied as suggested and it did have a bit of shine to it. Not like a wax mind you, just gave off a little flash from the grain as you tilted it in the light. Kinda like what eggshell paint does, not glossy or flat but between flat and semigloss. If having this shine will leave the wood open to scratches from animals and such it wouldn't work for the three clients that I mentioned. They have dogs and kids that would definetly wear off the finish. I applied some medium brown ready seal to my deck a few months ago and it's held up really well to my siberian husky.. I can see marks in the wood but she hasn't scratched off the sealer at all yet.

Basically you just hook up a shurflow pump to it and run your hose up to your x jet. You will have to prime it while your on the ground though or it will stop pumping. I'd also suggest having a ball valve on the draw line so you can shut it off when you want without having to climb back down to do it. I've got something very similiar mounted on my trailer rig and in one of my vans. Give me a call if you need more details than that. It's pretty easy to set up though.

Who is this guy anyway Beth? Haven't you tracked his ISP and blocked him from posting on your BBS? I know with your internet skills that you should be able to track him and see what the "real" problem is.

Nah, I'm not planning on dropping Ready Seal at all. I don't see anything wrong with carrying a couple of products. I just know of three of my clients that want a glossy look on the deck and Wood Tux might give them what they want. I didn't have much time to test or play around with the Wood Tux, I had went to visit a power washing buddy and to give him a few business tips and ideas on how to increase his income so that was my main focus at the time. As for Wood Tux and many of the other sealers and strippers on the market, they all have their place and in the future maybe I will try them out a bit more.

Keith is awesome.. great logos and much more. He's also donated stuff to the PWNA for Clean Across America.

I have one guy that's my trouble shooter. If there's a problem he can solve it almost everytime. He also makes the most money. I'm also considering putting him and one other employee on salary in the next week or so. They are my best two employees and are willing to do what it takes to get the job done. I usually only have one man crews (3) except for special cases. We also provide a lot of other services that most PW companies don't. My guys do make good pay and it's not cheap but it enables me to not have to worry about everything.

Veggie oil in my burner??? Interesting concept. I've never thought about that before. I'm not ready to try it myself but it would be nice to bring a few burgers and fries to work with me. I could cook the burgers on the burner cover and the fries over the exaust in a pot..lol Just kidding..

I just saw the new wood tux in action a couple of days ago and it works great. It seems to have a bit of a gloss in it also which a few of my customers will love. I'm not ready to drop Ready Seal for it but I have to admit, it did look nice. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out this comming year.

Hey Classic, Give me a call also, I might be able to give you a few ideas that will help. Don't give up man, just hang in there and give me a yell. 301 353 9234

I've got an even better reason. George Bush.

Each of my vans has a fishing tackle box in it with the assorted bins for different QD's, o rings and an amazing amount of other spare parts and tips. We check the stock in them every week along with the vehicle inventory and maintenance stuff. We also make sure every van is fully fueled, stocked and cleaned every Friday before paychecks are given out.

I used to downstream but I switched to the x jet then the m5. For us it works much faster and easier. We use the proportioners that come with the m5 though and mix our chems double strength. This allows us to cut our dilution down and use just one bucket to clean a whole house. I've heard some guys talk about making 3-4 buckets of house wash to do a job... Why not use the proportioners and just carry one bucket? I've also attached 40' of hose to the bucket so I can just put it in the middle of the house and walk around to soap it. I also don't use a gun with my m5, just a ball valve and when I rinse I use the ball valve to do it. It gives me less pressure and more rinsing power.

You want to keep it cool and out of the sunlight.

A power washer is just a machine, what you do with it is what counts!! I've got a couple home depot rigs mounted in my vans with hose reels mounted above them. They work great for your average jobs. 4 GPM is all you need for cleaning decks, it may take a bit longer than a trailer rig but they enable me to have three vans out cleaning at once. When I get the time I'm buying a box truck to mount my trailer rig in then I'll mount my other belt drive pull around in the third van so I can have four crews running at once during pw season doing decks.

I would suggest the m5, it's sprays about 6' less in height but it's sweet when your soaping down houses or other things you close too.

We try to do a lot of three day weekends or midweek traveling between my daughters twirling and my sons soccer. Were taking the kids on a cruise to Bermuda next month for a week.