steffysmom

Just wanted to see what everyone would recommend as a clear sealer for a pressure treated deck. All of the decks that we have completed this year have either been ready seal or WTW. The customer wanted Thompsons Water seal and we would prefer to use something a little better. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Just curious for those of you who own a pressure washing business, do you pay yourself an hourly rate for the jobs that you complete on a weekly basis (like a regualr weekly pay check) or do you take a "draw" from the profits on a monthly basis ?? If you are paying yourselves an hourly rate, how did you determine what that rate would be ?

We have been doing decks for quite some time--Just wanted to let you know that the only way that we clean the deck surfaces is with a surface cleaner--too bad we can't use it on the ballusters ! We have had excellent results. No streak marks from the wand. With the surface cleaner, you just need to keep it moving--don't stand in one place with the surface cleaner running--could leave rings on the deck. We tilt the surface cleaner back when we are starting until it gets going at full speed and then when it is running at full speed, we start cleaning.

Has anyone had to draw up a contract for a HOA to cover 6 years ?? Working on a contract to complete 20-6 unit condos, all of the patios, sidewalks, stripping and sealing of all of the decks as well as cleaning and staining privacy fences. The contract will be drawn up to indicate that 7 complete condo units will be done each year for 3 years and at the completion of the 3rd year, we will start the rotation again. If anyone can e-mail me what you use for a contract, it would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Everybody--I am preparing to stain 4 decks with either the Ready Seal or the Wood Tux Wet--Question is: Ready Seal works best when applied at a moisture level of less than 12 %. My problem is that I don't own a moisture meter yet--any recommendations on the best unit to purchase for this type of work and where to purchase ? Any help would be greatly appreciated !

on trex decking :( I was staining the ballusters of a deck yesterday and placed my paint pan on the edge of the deck--wind came along and spilled about 4 ounces of dark brown ready seal on the grey trex decking--blotted as much up as soon as possible, doused the area with mineral spirits, cleaned that up and sprayed area with HD-80 and let it dwell about 30 minutes to get the area saturated. It was dark last night when I left the customers so I have no idea what I'm going back to this morning. Any other ideas to clean the trex deck if I'm faced with a mess this morning ? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

showed up at the customers property yesterday morning and I am happy to say that the large spill was gone, however, there were a few droplets that I didn't see the evening before--treated them with HD-80 yesterday, neutralized it and we are good to go. Finished staining the ballusters for the customer yesterday and they are extremely happy and so am I. I appreciate everyone's responses--great to have such good resources as you guys and gals !

Purchased a moisture meter--hasn't arrived yet--have a homeowner who is anxious to have deck stained. Cleaned the deck about 10 days ago, haven't had any rain since. I know that Ready Seal recommends that the moisture content is 12 % or less--do you think that the wood is dry enough to stain yet since is has been a while since I cleaned it and no rain recently. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

stripped the deck and already applied the neutralizer so it is ready to go !

Please send one to us too !! srunkle@suscom.net

can you post a picture of the surface that you are trying to clean ?

Hi Everybody--Several questions: Do you include gutter cleaning (washing exterior of gutters)in the price of washing a house? If you price it separate, what do you price the gutters at per ft ? What do you use to clean the gutters (I've heard gutter zap is a great product) ?? Greatly aprreciate everyone's help.

Hi Everybody---getting ready to clean some very heavily soiled drive-thru's--I've been hearing some great things about the DR-60. Would appreciate any input that any of you guys have. If you currently use something else, I would appreciate hearing about the concrete cleaning chemicals that you use. Jeff

The product originates from Dominion Restoration Products.

The main reason that we posted this message was because we wanted to make sure that DR-60 works well on concrete. We don't mind spending the $99 for 5 gallons to clean concrete since we want to make our customers properties "stand out" however, it is $58 to ship the product from Texas to PA--gets pretty costly per sq. ft. when you start adding in the shipping costs. We found the company that the product was made for in Richmond Virginia--I'm sure that it would be a lot less to ship from VA to PA--going to call them tomorrow to see what the shipping costs will be. Appreciate everyone's input.

We are located in York, PA

We are currently using a 14 ft. box truck--not the best use of our money--truck is getting older, starting to nickel and dime us to death, gas guzzler, costly for insurance and registration. Bought a new diesel truck that will tow almost anything. Have decided to purchase an open trailer that will fit in my heated garage (needed for those of us located in the north-east) so that I won't need to worry about any of the lines freezing. Currently have a skid washer unit, a 325 gallong water tank, a smaller pressure washing unit, two hose reels and some other miscellaneous equipment. The trailer is tandum unit. Curious to see pictures or hear the details of the set-up's that you guys and gals have--not sure how I want to set everything up yet--want to get moving on this before the busy spring season starts. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Just curious to see how many pressure washers are sole proprietors, how many have a partnership formed etc. Iin your minds, what are the pros/cons of each ?

Has anyone been successful in obtaining a grant to start your pressure washing business up ? If so, please explain the process. Are there any strings attached to the money ?? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

I like Molly also--we had 2 border collies--Molly and Maggie--How about Sophie ??

For those of you who started pressure washing part-time, how long did it take you before you had enough business to go full-time ? We are acquiring a PW business that was strictly part-time--last summer was our first attempt to make this business FT--we did pretty well considering the name wasn't out there and advertising in the past was at a minimum. Just curious !

Hi Everyone: We recently purchased a used 30 inch Steel Eagle surface cleaner--it seems to be in good shape and runs well--just curious to see what kind of maintenance everyone does on their surface cleaners to keep them running in tip-top shape--I can't imagine not having it to clean decks and patios--it does a fantastic job. Thanks for your help ! steffysmom

Have a customer that I will be cleaning concrete for in the next two weeks--two large rust stains where metal trash cans are sitting on the concrete--what do you guys recommend ?? I will be using my surface cleaner along with heat--getting pretty cold here in the North ! Any help would be greatly appreciated. steffysmom

Hi everybody--we currently have a 14 ft. box truck that we house all of our PW stuff--900 lb skid washer unit, a smaller pressure washer, about 150 lbs, 2-55 gallon drums of chemicals, 2 hose reels a 325 gallon water tank, 3-5 gallon gas cans and 1--5-gallon can of kerosene. Our truck is on its last leg and it costs us an arm and a leg to run the thing, not to mention the registration, insurance, cost of fuel, yearly inspections, etc.--we are thinking about a 8 X 16 trailer to pull behind a Dodge 2500 Quad Cab diesel. We can tow up to 13,000 lbs so the weight shouldn't be an issue--the trailer is about 3000 lbs and will hold up to 7000 lbs of stuff. Any input would be greatly appreciated. steffysmom

My husband and I are relativley new to this forum--I have to agree with several other posts, you wouldn't be able to obtain this information in a PW manual--you guys are a great resources--Thanks !!! I have a two part question--We have quoted to do a gas station/convenience store chain in our area--we submitted the proposal and they are interested and have asked us to do a demo for them--we are conducting the demo on October 31st but we are in need of chemicals to make the concrete (using a concrete scrubber)look like new as well as clean the canopy that covers the gas pumps. I read something in here the other day about X18 working well on concrete, but I can't find the post again--any suggestions to clean both of these surfaces would be greatly appreciated. We have dealt with our chemical supplier for a long time (he sells the exculsive stuff--probably the same as other co's sell just under a different name). Since hurricane Katrina hit, we haven't been able to order any chemicals--they were so badly damaged following the hurricane. Any advice would be greatly appreciated--This could be the major break that we have been striving to achieve--we have always prided ourselves in doing quality work for our customers--we aren't the cheapest in our area, however, we work on a referral basis only so our work speaks for itslef. They have 55 stores in the chain and would like alls tores cleaned 3 times per year. Again, thanks for your information, it is greatly appreciated.