twlinks

I've read the previous threads on getting hail dents out of decks and the only thing that had seemed to work for anyone was to use a wet rag and an iron. Several people swore by that method and it did make sense...soooooooo, I thought that if wet & heat = dent removal, why not try a hot water unit on a hail damaged deck I was getting ready to clean. PRESTO, worked like a charm...virtually all of the dents and dings are gone now. I know, most have warned about using hot water on wood, but I have to say that I really couldn't tell much if any difference in the areas that I used hot water and the areas where I turned the burner off and used cold water. I'll post some pictures on this tonight if I can. Just thought I would share what worked for me. We get a ton of hell...oooops, hail here in Kansas and if I can advertise that I can repair the damage, I think there could be some good money in it. If anyone else has a chance to try this or if you have already tried it, I'd like to hear what kind of results you've had.

Shane, You could feel the indentations in the wood. If you'd like to see the full size pics (3mb or so), let me know and I'll e-mail them to you. I don't know if this will always work or if I just got lucky. The hail that caused the damage was in the chicken egg size category...pretty good sized hail for around here although we certainly get larger.

Here are the before/after pics from the hail damaged deck we did last week.

I'm not aware of anything that would fill in the spot and look decent too. A patch is a patch is a patch...if you know what I mean. Probably the easiest thing for him to do if he doesn't want it capped or replaced would be to get a good squeegee and push it off after a rain. Good luck.

We came across this friendly little critter yesterday in the bushes on a job we were working on. Wasp spray and liquid Sevin turned him/her into a petrified science project...heheh. Needless to say, we didn't work IN those bushes the rest of the day.

Awww c'mon...she had her clothes on...shouldn't be too much of a reprimand for that is there? ;)

Rob, Lol...ain't gonna happen here. I subscribe to the "The only good spider/snake is a dead one!"

Thad...would you tell that to my fiance/partner please? Actually, it's not even very comforting to me...lol. Spiders and snakes...the only good ones are dead ones as far as I'm concerned.

John, great looking car...it looks like it's brand new. I never was much of a high end speed guy...but I did love my '65 Nova SS, 350 hp 327...a lot of fun till I totaled it out years ago. :( Good luck on getting it sold.

Celeste, The deck looks great. What was the square footage and do you mind telling us what you charged? Did you upcharge because of the height? Thanks

Hey Ken, Did you miss the bronze mold on Nimoy's ears? :)

I know this is an old thread, but thought I'd add what we get here in Kansas. Keep in mind, I'm pretty new at this and have only done a few decks, fences and a large commercial sign (pics in gallery). The decks I have done and have scheduled to do, I am charging $2.50-$3.00 per sq. ft...plus the cost of stain in most cases. Granted, this has been part of also painting their houses, but the deck is priced out seperately and usually, I tell them I'm discounting the deck because I'm painting the house too. The rodeo entrance sign that we did was a trade out...refinished the sign for a full page ad in the four night rodeo program. I know we have received one job from this already, so the high, hard work was worth the effort so far...and we made our little town's one claim to fame a little nicer for everyone. We got a huge amount of exposure, just being up on a lift for two days cleaning and staining the sign. The decks I've done so far have been rather small to medium in size (300-500 sq. ft), so maybe my pricing won't hold up when it comes to a large deck, but I think that most of the reason I get the job is because I talk like I know what I'm doing, have pics and references from work we've done (and I bring my fiance along wearing a really short mini-skirt)...just kidding. For the work involved that I've experienced so far, if I had to do them for $1 a sq. ft., I wouldn't be doing them. I enjoy the work and really enjoy taking something that looks like crap and making it look nice and new again...both in cleaning, staining and painting. I guess that's why we chose "newagain4u.com" as our web site name. The site is pretty lame so far but it will get better as I have more time to work on it.

Seems like sitting on a coffee can might hurt just a bit...not to mention needing to be a good shot. :)

Jon, 60 mph is a pretty good wind even here in Kansas, but not that uncommon here. Heck, I play golf in 30 + winds here on a regular basis...of course, I'm not known to be the brightest crayon in the box though. Glad you didn't get blown away.

Good morning, I'm going to be "practicing" on my future mother-in-law's fence this coming weekend. Needless to say, I want to do a good job...she's a sweet lady and I want to keep her that way...lol. The fence is 20 yr. old cedar, never been stained and I was planning on using a 50/50 bleach solution with liquid Cascade, dwell 15-20 minutes and rinse. Will I need to use a brightener afterwards? I'm not sure she's going to let me stain and seal it, so the cleaning may be as far as we get. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.