Roger Oakley

Anyone know of this guy/company in the states? http://www.merrillfoxenterprises.com/ Many thanks Roger

Heres is the deck I have been talking to Shane and Rick about. Washed it today, leaving to dry over night and if dry enough will start sealing tomorrow, with Cabot's ATO (Natural) These are the before's, and it's an American style deck NO ridges !!!!

Finished sealing deck today, here are some photos. Any comments greatly appreciated. Roger

Ken, Product's choice over here are not as extensive as the States, plus this is the owners choice, it what it was finished in originally, We have had excessive tempretures over here lately in the high 80s-90s most days for about a month, but guess what it is now raining so today looks like it's cancelled. Will wait the three days if no more rain. Thanks Ken. :sunshine:

And the washed.

Beth, Only just found this thread, are the shirts ready? if yes what would be the cost to ship to the UK etc, I'll go for one. Roger

Hi Ken, Just sent you my details, sorry sent them twice, second entry is the one with more info, Hope it is of some use even though I'm the other side of the pond. Roger

Here is a small Block Paved path that I worked on this week. Path was washed, allowed to dry out for 48 hours, joins re-sanded then sealed.

Thanks Tom, Ballpark it was about £200 (GBP) 20 sq mts, so only a small path. Yes I do all re-sanding myself, very easy to do. Roger

Here are some before, prepted and after photos of a pair of Teak chairs (the whole set was cleaned etc) Furniture had never been cleaned, around 3-4 years old, and not put away in the English winter. Owners very happy now want a yearly maintenance. Roger

Hi Anthony, Wasn't the heat just to much last week over here !!! I was working on a property in the region of £4 million (GBP) and it had NO A/C either, I was outside but owners were just dying inside with the heat we have been having. A/C is still only really in shops etc, not that many homes have it as standard. I know we are the only country in Europe that drives on the left, most probably why our cars are so expensive :mad: Anyway hope you enjoyed your stay in England, Stevenage is about an hour away from me, via the M25 might just have to have a drive over that way. Roger

Here's a before and after photo of some Indian sandstone I've just cleaned. 200 sq mts. It took 60 liters of Sodium Hydrochloride, to clear the Black Mould, that seems to be around these houses. Also one of the worst water pressure's I have come across (no pressure) Owners want the Teak furniture restored at a later date. Roger

Hi Jon, You don't really seal Indian sandstone, it's to porous for one, plus sealing would take away the feel of the stone make it sort of false. This stuff is really just high maintenance, needs to be cleaned say twice a year to keep it looking this good, this one had not been cleaned since new about 3-5 years owner thinks. Roger

Rick, It was neat 15% bleach, Black Mould can be a pain to shift, it really gets deep into whatever you are cleaning. I had tried a couple of weaker mixes but to no avail. Some Indian Sandstone the real expensive/good quality stuff does come from India, but there is a lot of "copies" about that have been no closer to India then the local take-away india resturant. This one cost somewhere in the region of £5-6000 GBP, so I really needed to treat this one will kid gloves.

Just wanted to show some photos of my first use of Citric Acid. A Big thank you to Rick & Shane for all their advice. What a difference this stuff makes. I know it's only a small deck (owners going to stain it themselves) I did the furniture restore, using Danish Oil. Also did patio and front path, both needed re-pointing.

Rick, Fantasic info Thank you Very Very much, just finished a deck and furniture wash and used the citric, worked great. I'll post photos later. Roger

Rick, yes my chemical supplier has sodium hydroxide which they say is caustic soda is this correct ? They will sell it to me, but I will need to speak to Shane, to get some info, as they want to know how I intend to mix it before they sell to me, as they state it is dangerous stuff to handle in raw form. I have now got citric acid from them, so this is good for neutralizing and brightning. Have a deck wash furniture wash, patio and two paths tomorrow so need to search the boards for citric mix. Roger

Jarrod, Thank you, I've still got a long way to go to get to you guys levels. Stain used on this was Cuprinol's Golden Teak (oil based) I have just got some testers/samples of another brand to try out, which I'll do this week. Roger

Thanks Beth, It was Cuprinol Golden Teak, it's the look owner wanted, I personally like the natural Teak look softer, warm. They now want decking cleaned at the end of the summer, which would be my first deck strip and reseal, its an USA style deck too, no ridges (Hooray!!!) its around 90 sq mts Here is a couple more photos.

Cheers Shane, it was a BDA method I used to clean. :cool: Roger

Hi Brett, I can't really help with the Whirlaway, (mine's a UK brand) but here is some info that might help. The nozzels I have are 25025 qt meg, which work great on pavers etc. I have used 025 high impact nozzels and they were fine to. I use my machine flat out with a flat surface cleaner so around 3000-3500 psi, never had any problems, but aways check the surface you are going to work on, if there are any already broken/cracked pavers tell the owners first, and used reduced pressure on these, same for concrete/aggregate surfaces, you don't want the owners pointing finger saying you trashed their surface. I photo any already damaged surfaces before (at time of quote) with a date and time stamp on photo. Most concrete I do these days I chemical first results are better. I don't do ashfelt/tarmac so can't help you there. Hope some of this helps. Roger

Just thought I would post a couple of photos from one of this weeks job's. Nice size Block Paving, owners very happy, set-up a maintenance plan for a yearly clean. Cleaned, weed killer applied and re-sanded.

Just Water, Flat Surface Cleaner for first clean, turbo lance for a second clean, Twin lance to finish It was only really dirt and moss, owner also did not want chemicals used, worried about grass, plants etc.

I do, do sealing, but owner did not want them sealed. Plus this would have cost owner an arm and a leg to seal. :)

Brett Another way to stop garden dirt/mulch small stones/pebbles is to cover the area closest to paving with a strip of polythene, if you are covering plants water first if it's a hot day as they will wilt in the sun. Have a piece of timber say 4x2 about 1 metre long to hold the polythene down in place. With regards to puddling, I have a small pump if it's that bad, run the water off on to flower beds etc. Hope this helps.