Roger Oakley

And a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to you guys from this side of the pond.:lghohoho::lghohoho::lghohoho: and it's getting cold over here, :lgcold:

Here are a couple of photos from a job completed last week. About 20 metres of oil staining on Tegula driveway. Drive had only been down about 5 months so owners not pleased at all. Someone had used the drive to turn around on. The before. The after. The stains took three cleans to finally get rid of the carbon shadowing.

Cody, Was thinking of calling them, They are in Belgium in Europe, I have some of their samples of the polymeric sand, I just don't have a job small enough to test them.

I'll let you know if they keep re-surfacing.

Doug, Started with an Xylene degreaser, dwelled then wash off, which took out most of the oil. I then used Hydrochloric Acid ( I have 33% strenght) but made a mix up of 4:1, this moved a bit more stain, then a 3:1 mix, again nearly all the stain and shadow was gone. I then degreasered again, then used a 1:1 Hydrochloric Acid mix, which got the final staining & shadow out. So it was a 18% Hydrochloric Acid mix and the Xylene degreaser that worked, the reason I was stepping it up slowly, is not wanting to burn the face of the pavers and was testing what ratio had the best effect. Owners are happy, plus this was an insurance claim job so needed to be right.

Good point Ron, I'll speak to them and see what they say.

Thanks for all your replys guy's I went for it in the end, diesel set-up, trailer being made to UK laws etc, I did get the price down a bit, should be over here in about 6-8 weeks.

Pete, Yes this is a consideration, the spec of the trailer is for the UK, I can only go to a max of 7' (feet) wide including fenders/wheel arches, their off the shelf trailer ask to speak, is 7' 10" wide (to wide for the UK) so this is a one-off. Weight, I can pull 2600lbs with my truck, again with what I have asked for just gets me inside the UK legal limit even if I was to have water tank full. As for the roads, yes ours are a lot smaller, the one thing I have in my favour is a HGV license, (semi-trailer) so used to moveing trailers etc. Still doing research on parts etc, but so far they are not proving to be difficult to locate. Karcher does have a machine that is close, but over here it is the cost of this complete set-up, for the machine alone. A Lavor hot machine is also around the £9000 (GBP) mark.

Again thanks for the replys guys, Jeff, is the ssssssssssss mean it's a good thing? Doug T Thanks for confirming the General= Interpump issue, I did think they were the same.

Here are the written quotes, Again any input or comments would be helpful. OAKLEYGAS.doc OAKLEY3.doc

Thanks for the replys so far guys, Re repairs, If I went for the Honda engine, should be ok with that as I service my p/w I have now, honda engined, if I went for the diesel engine, again either myself or could get it done over here. The Pump, I not to sure but I think General in the states might be interpump over here, (still trying to find out) if it is then interpump parts are easily sourced. Voltage, The set-up comes with a 110v generator for the burner, 110 volt parts for the burner again are fairly easy to get over here. Another question, General pumps are they good? Also do you think it is a good price for this package. If I tried to put something simular together over here, the 16500 dollars would be doubled, a diesel, hot P/W 6 gpm 3000 psi is about £9000, which is about $18000 at todays excahnge rates so plus trailer, water tank, hose's etc you can see how it would easily be double the cost. I'll try to upload the written quote, so you can see the full package/deal.

Ken, That looks Great as usual.

Got a call from a very upset lady last week, Just got back from holiday to find her sons friends had, had a Bar-B-Q on her 4 month old resin based swimming pool suround. I had to be very careful with this one as not to damage the resin base any more then it had been already, so non-caustic cleaners were used, also couldn't really use any de-greasers that I would use on oil stains etc due to the bituman base etc. Got it about 98% clean leaving only slight scourch marks which I think will be impossible to remove due to the heat of the fire's The whole surround cost about 10-15K (in english money) and it still might have to be replaced, at the sons friends cost, if she can not live with it. Here is a before and after photo of some of the damage.

Would any of you guys know if WTW is avalible or shipped to the UK? I have tried emailing to Russells site (am I right in thinking he is the WTW guy/supplier?) but got no reply. It is something that I feel would be of interest over here, what with our weather etc. Also our Cabot's is going to go the same way as yours in the States from next I have been told, actually imported our Cabot's from the USA this year, so would be looking for an alternative product. Also Shane or Ken if you read this thread, do you know if Bakers Gray Away is shipped outside of the USA? Any help on this one much appreciated.

Thanks Scott, What I'm really looking for first is some samples, I would be happy to pay the freight costs, but would really like to try WTW first before making a large shipment/order. Couple of questions. How may tones/colours does WTW come in? Is it ok for most/all woods? Many thanks

I also have no problems using Cabot's ATO, semi-trans and soilid stains after a BDA wash. Never had a problem with Cuprinol stain's either. Knowledge is all I guess.

Finally got to do my first IPE deck. It was a raised deck about 10 foot off the ground, underneath the owner has a gym, games room etc. Maintenance washed, neutralized with Citric Acid, then resealed with Cabots Mahogany Flame ATO. Had to be very careful with the wash, as the surround is all glass and stainless steel, I used Cabots Amberwood ATO on the furniture, owners are very happy to say the least rebooked for it's next wash in 18 months time 2009 already. Here are the befores.

Thank you for the comments guys really appreciated. Rick, Yes we still get the "Old Aussie" oil over here at the moment, but I think it will change in a year or so. David, I use a appilcator pad on an pole. Had to hand brush the gaps between the boards first then go over with the pad. There was a thrad on here somewhere recently about applicator pads, mine is very simular to the photos on that thread.

And the after photos,

Don't know if this helps, but on the couple of house washes I have done over here, and one was a stucco finish, I used a product called TFR (Traffic film remover) non-caustic, it is the stuff they use in car wash's. The ratio I used was 10:1 had no problems with windows, glass etc. Spray on dwell for around 5-10 mins max, then pressure wash off.

Just seen the "playset" someone else had worked on, on a previous post, so here is one I did this week. I had to use a weak mix to clean, the struture is set on grass.The colour used is Cuprinols Autum Red, water based, I hated the colour first off, (looked like an english post box Red) but after an hour or so it lighted up and owners really like the finish. The "play-set was imported from the USA Rainbow-Play are the makers.

Yes we do, but it is called more money then sense!!

Another view of the Play-set.

Here are some photos, of a deck I did this week, it had a failing Laytex type finish/stain, maybe Thompsons or Ronseal, but it was rubbish whatever it was. Had to use quite a hot caustic mix to move this stuff. Citric Acid to neutralise. The finish is Cabots ATO Honey Teak. Any comments from you guys greatly recieved.

I have the same here, booked out till August and when I have to say to people that you'll have to wait till August they don't belive it. Have been working 7 days a week for the last 2 months or so, and my busiest time is just coming up, 2 decks to strip, loads of patios, drive etc, couple of decking maint. wash and oils, endless amounts of furniture, still working on my own but it's getting close to needing help, but not complaining. The weather has just turned this last week, RAIN, so have a 2nd storey deck waiting to be sealed, a patio in need of a re-point and some furniture waiting oiling :bluecry: