jquick77

I remember seeing a picture of a 2 tone that was gorgeous. It may be on this site somewhere. I think it was done by Reed's deck care. You could try and do a search for that on google.

I found it almost impossible to get $1.50 a square here in Northern GA. I think it may also be the high rate of cheap labor in the area. I did a bid the other day at $1.15 a square, (only because it was ground level, 8 month old wood, and small) and the womans reaction was, " I didn't think it would be that much" She then pointed out a neighbor that just had her 2nd story deck with a flight of stairs, done by a painter that was already doing some work at the house, for $150. (My bid for the woman was $400 for approx 300 sqft.) I walked over and looked at it, and it looked like they did a decent job. Told her it was so cheap because he was already there, and probablly just threw it on. To make a long story short, I wound up leaving, and nicely telling her to give the painter a jingle.

What is Wood Rich? I seem to remember reading it is kind of like a cross between RS and Woodtux? Who makes it, and has anyone used it?

I had it rain a couple of weeks ago on 2nd coat of ready seal. I had the water droplet issue. It was only in a few spots on the floor, but I did have to go back 2 days later and put on another coat. It pretty much did the trick, but if you look close, you can still kind of see them. It was a family members small deck, so I am hoping they will completly fade with time.

Thanks for all of the info. I will give him a high price and tell him there are no gurantees. Hopefully, I can do the one in Florida first so he can see the results of a job done right. If he does want the solid put on the other one, I will take your advice and go for the primer and latex. Like I said, the guy does realize that it is not going to last forever, and also that this is not the best route to go. I do fear losing some reputation points on this one, and understand what some of you are saying about that, but I don't feel like this guy is going to screw me in the end. I have explained to him that I would have to do some research on solids, so that we could try and find the best possible product to put on the deck. He seems to like my honesty and hopefully all will work out in the end. I will get some pics to post up soon. Forgot the camera on the first trip out. Again, thanks for all of you info.

Not a bad idea Neil. I may look into that. My other problem is that this guy has a house in Florida with lots of deck work. I am going down there soon with my Bro-n-law who has some other work to do at the house, so I really don't want to loose that job. Kind of a working vacation. It is a strip job, but no landscaping or pools to worry about. He has a coating on that, but it is 4 yrs old, and from what I can tell from the pics, it should be an easy strip. He knows anything that I put on the decks, is only going to last about 2 years. Not real picky about color or looks, just wants them protected.

OK maybe a lot of help!! I have a customer who has a 15 year old cedar deck. He has been putting semi transparent over it for the last 8 years. From what he told me, he has 2 coats of cwf on it and did a coat of olympic maximum last year. (the can says semi trans and has the 5 to 7 yr symbol on it) It almost appears that there is a solid on some of it, I guess due to improper prep work (no prep work) in between coats. He pulled out a pressure washer in between one of the coats, but did that to only about half of the deck. I don't know what the previous owner had put on it, but he said that when he moved in 8 yrs ago that it was treated with something, and this guy just asumed that putting a coat of something on it every 2 years was the way to go. Anyway the deck is several different shades of color and looks in pretty rough shape. I told him trying to strip and sand it would be the best bet. He didn't want to do any stripping, I guess due to the landscape, (stone steps, and patio under deck) and the pool right below the deck freshly painted stucco house. He also has the gutter roof system under the deck. He just wants to "paint it". I didn't lie and told him that I would have to look into a solid stain for him, and didn't know if that would work with the multiple coats he has on it now. I would love to just run from this one ,but this is a friend of a family member who gets me a lot of work. Would a solid stay on the wood, or will it just peel off due to the layers of stain already on the deck? I would think that some stripping would be necessary even with a solid. I have read a little bit on cabot's problem solver primer, but from my understanding that needs to penetrate the wood, which it won't be able to do on this deck, because there is still several other sealers present. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have a front porch to do today, did the back deck yesterday. Went through 3 cans of bee spray trying to kill bee's under front porch when I was washing it, but still see lots of them going under the porch through the lattice. I am thinking that I will stain the floor today and go back at night to get the face board where the bee's are going in. You cant see where the nest is due to the lattice around the porch. I told the customer about them and said that it would be nice if she could get rid of them before I came back to stain, but she didn't. What is everyones policy in a situation like this? This is the first time that I have run into a situation where I couldn't kill the bee's due to the fact that they are up under the front porch and behind the lattice. I am glad that the house is only 10 minutes up the road, due to the extra trip. I hope that I don't wake them up when I go back at night to stain the board. (Thats the bee's, don't care if I wake the customer.)

That is a nice looking color. I also like the lighter colors, but a lot of my customers are going dark. That looks like RS Nat Cedar? Hard to tell with the shade but the rails have that kind of redish look like the Nat Cedar.

Russel, Thanks so much for the info. I didn't know anything about mixing the chemicals that way. I am still getting the feel for the cleaning products, and like I said was not very impressed with just a precarb on a 1 yr old deck. I have used the EFC-38 on a few with an old oil base, and it worked like a charm. With a deck that has not been sealed yet, say 6 months to a year old, would you say EFC-38 would work at half strength ? I am also nervous about furring, as I had one that I stripped with HD-80 (and it worked great), but I mixed a little to strong, or left it dwell to long and it furred quite a bit. (Work and Learn) I haven't had any issues with the EFC-38 yet, and I think that the jobs I used it on, I mixed at close to full strength because old sealer needed to be removed. So what your saying is start out at about half strength for cleaning purposes on unsealed wood and add of needed? Again thanks for your help ....

Do you guys use the EFC 38 on newer decks with no prior stain, or do you use something more mild. I tried Safe-wash, which is a percarb cleaner, but was not really that impressed with it. The EFC gets a little expensive. I was also curious if anyone has used hd-80 in weaker concentrations VS using the EFC 38. EFC is a light stripper, so I was thinking since they both cost the same amount for a tub, you could stretch the Hd-80 a lot longer using it in the weaker concentrations. I have not tried this yet but was wondering if any of you have?

Thanks for the tip. Sprayed today and took about 10 minutes to tarp up the screened portion and saw some overspray on the plastic. That ounce of prevention really payed off. Thanks again !!!

Thanks for the reply. I will take the time to cover it up instead of dealing with any problems later.

I have a deck to stain this week that has a portion of it screened in. I am just curious when I am spraying the other parts of the deck, should I be worried about any overspray hitting the screens or will it be alright left uncovered? I do plan to do the rails around the screened parts by hand, and cut in with brush and pad right next to the screens.

What is that stuff? I had a front porch the other I did the other day, and I couldn't get the green out of 2 of the boards. I also tried brightner and bleach but it looked to me like the green was down deep in the wood. The wood was 2 years old and untreated. The rest of it looked great.