Deck Guy

I totally believe that many of the consumer grade products work with enough dwell on certain finishes. I just have found that they aren't cost effective, and won't touch some of the more difficult finishes. Usually, I can strip an entire deck for about $10.00. Many of the Home Cheapo strippers cost more than that per gallon, and have to be used at full-strength.

I wear the black mesh gym shorts from Wal-Mart ($8.88?), tee shirt, and slip on camp shoes which I also wear when cleaning. The shorts don't show any stain, and I replace the shirts as they get to look too bad. The camp shoes rock as far as cleaning goes, so long as you don't hit yourself with caustics. I don't usually bathe in stain anymore, but I usually do have "Eau d'Ready Seal" by the time I finish. How do you get stain on your legs???

I'll get in touch with you this week. I bet I know people who were acquainted with your father if the was at all involved the EAA here. They fly out of a grass strip in Painton MO, not far from Bloomfield.

Watch out where the huskies go... Frank Zappa

I've been flying for 20 years, but helicopters still scare me. Strange, since my dad was in the 1st Air Cav in Vietnam, and I have flown everything from a Tiger Moth to sailplanes, balloons, WW II bombers and fighters. One of my old avatars was taken while flying a Twin Beech (BE-18). I have basically lived at airports for the last 25 years. Helicopters just have too many things going on at one time. What is it they say...just a bunch of parts flying in formation?? I have some time in an autogyro, and may fly a bit today in one. The owner is a CFI and has offered to get me a rating in it for cheap ($70.00/hr.), and I can do it in a weekend. Since I'm due for my BFR (Biennial Flight Review) anyway, I can kill two birds with one stone. Of course, his autogyro has a one piece carbon fiber rotor, so none of that craziness going on over your head. He's in the process of buying an R-44 Robinson now. I'm attaching a top secret helicopter photo to add to your collection! Good luck with the build!

Covering it up is not the best solution, even if the guy is selling the house. When it starts to chip and peel, do you want the new owners telling the neighbors that it was your work? Worse yet, do you want them to call you to remove a solid stain over a failing Sikkens? Talk about a nighmare. You couldn't pay me enough!

Laquer thinner can also melt vinyl siding. You may just have removed the chalking in that area. It will chalk up and match. Otherwise, a quick cleaning of the whole area with some wax added should help.

Both of you are obviously honor graduates of the School of Redundancy School!

Thanks Shane. The wood beneath the finish was in fantastic shape, since it always had a nice thick coat of stain on it. That's one of the best pic's in my book and on my website, and it sells jobs. That was three years ago, and I haven't been back...maybe time to make a sales call today...

Really??? When I stripped this one, it came off like big rubber cornflakes. They had applied a maintenence coat every year for years. It looks like a solid brown, but it's really about a dozen coats of CWF-UV/Cedar. I'm sure was plenty dirt/pollen/dust between coats too. I've never seen it melt off like oil-based stains, and I've done a ton of work on that finish. THANKS FLOOD!

I think I get the math part. Are you saying that Applesauce is about 3% Sodium Hypochlorite? The reason I ask is that I have to do the math backwards since I can only get 10% here. If so, I can just dilute by 2/3 and never have to do any of that complex figuring. I have been going with a 5% solution, but am using a low volume approach.

HD-80 will remove it. CWF just doesn't emulsify like other stains. It comes off in pieces that look like splinters, or if there are several coats, bigger pieces.

The other poll asks what stain we will be using in 2006. Things have changed. Didn't Russel say that Wood Tux was reformulated this year? As for me, the parafinnic oils have made my life so much easier, compared to the Sherwin-Wiilliams products I was using. I like ESI's Timber Oil as much as Ready Seal, and did I mention...it doesn't stink! Unfortunately, I think it's only available in one color...and I don't want to get involved in tinting my own. The Warm Honey Gold is a great color on the right project though. I've yet to try Wood Tux, other that to create a few sample boards with it. If I hit a rainy spell, I might go that way.

Is it deductible if they are not a 403c corporation, such as a public school? Or can you just deduct your costs as unreimbursed business expenses?

Is that based on the square footage of the house, or the area to be cleaned?

Sorry, but I will not lower a bid after presenting it. When I bump them because I'm busy, I'll go 25%, but that is the price...period. If you start negotiating price, where does it end? Why can't you go down $200? At least that's what I would ask you. For example, I had a bid from Terminex for termite control at my house. He was nearly twice the price of local non-franchise operations. As I was considering my options a few days later, he called and offered to lower his price by $500.00 if I committed to him that day. That just made me realize what a scam it was in the first place. And here's the kicker...I was actually considering using them anyway, based on their reputation! In other words, they had a BETTER chance at my business when they were higher priced! Who could imagine that?? Negotiating his price cost him the sale! Ken can give you some help on understanding his theories and methods, but he has the right idea. I am closing fewer jobs, but making more this year after increasing my pricing by a good bit. I also am making a genuine effort at upselling, and it has reaped big rewards for me. Plus I got to dust off the surface cleaner that had been leaning against some shelving in the garage. It paid for itself the first time I used it. I started on some deck maintenence for a return customer, noticed some green stuff growing on his house (got the housewash), then offered to clean the patio below the deck (used the surface cleaner), then booked him for his driveway and three car garage at a later date after he saw it in action. Can you say CHA-CHING! That's how I make money in this biz.

That's $138.00 an hour. $5000.00 would buy a hot water skid or a used van/truck. I'd take it.

My only experience with redwood is using SW Woodscapes Redwood Toner. The customer is happy, and I do annual maintenence, although I will also consider going with something else when I completely strip it down next year. You do have to apply it like a traditional stain. I'll check for photos if I have any and post them here. I don't think he would like the gold/yellow color of some of the decks posted here already. He likes the red shades.

I have to believe that if you look closer, there is more that needs done. If the dormers are dirty, suggest that you wash the whole house. As you said, you are still learning, so why not learn how to wash a house and get paid. Part of what you'll learn is that people will ask you to piecemeal a job to save money. One important goal should be to learn to upsell, and make each job count for maximum $$$. My minimum is $175.00, but that's for decks/woodwork. Not sure how low I could go for house washing.

...and you do charge sales tax on the Ready Seal, and file sales tax reports quarterly with your state? That's what I'm trying to avoid. In Missouri, you have to pay sales tax on items that are sold at the retail level, regardless of whether you collected it at the time of sale or not. By listing it on my invoice and collecting money for it, that would constitute selling it, regardless of whether I paid sales tax on it or not. When I owned a bar, we charged a fixed price for beer, which included sales tax. We then had to pay sales tax on our gross sales. I'd bet that Indiana would see things the same way. Did you check with an accountant on that? At least here, I'm more comfortable with bids that include all labor and materials. You can break down the processes as much as you deem fit, just don't "sell" materials.

For you guys listing stain as a separate item...do you charge sales tax on the stain you sell?

I assume you're going with aftermarket one?? Just throw it in your tool box as a spare.

I don't break it down. I list a cost for cleaning or stripping, then a cost for sealing/staining, and they include all labor and materials on both my contract and invoice. There is no sales tax on services here, but there is a sales tax on products. I would have to collect (and of course file) sales tax if I "sold" these items to my customers. I do it this way on the advice of my accountant. Since Ken's in the Keystone state too, he probably has a better sense of how things should go there. Just a piece of quick advice too...get a good accountant. He will save you far more that he will cost you. I guarantee it.

I've got Ready Seal decks with two years and the verticals still look great. Five years might be a stretch if you want to keep it looking top-notch. A neighbor of mine got three years with Dark Red on his fence and it didn't look too bad. Unfortunately he stained over it with another product (which is okay if you can get the proper aesthetics), and it looks like garbage now. I would guess that a lighter shade might hold up better. Having said that though, don't let longevity be the only factor that sways you here. Ready Seal looks great, and is a snap to maintain, which will set it apart from other finishes, even if you can squeeze an exta year out of them vs. Ready Seal. Most other finishes will require stripping, while RS only need a light cleaning to re-coat, and looks deeper/richer with each successive coat. Also, paraffinic oils are truly idiot-proof as far as application goes. Shoot as much on as the wood will take, and keep moving. No backbrushing or blending. There are big benefits in having an easy-to-maintain finish, since it will look good consistently, not fade for a few years, then look new again, then fade again, then...

CWF is similar in that it is supposed to be the best of both worlds. It also clogged my airless worse than either a straight latex or a straight oil. Soap and water??? What a joke. Maybe there just isn't a way to have your cake and eat it too. I'm willing to try Wood Tux Wet, and I know parafinnic oils like Timber Oil and Ready Seal work well, so I'm happy for now.