fireandrain

Im ready out here in No.California too! Cant wait to get my hands on some new decks this year. I run a gutter cleaning business that keeps me busy Nov-Feb. We do cleaning and screening mainly. We try to bring in 600-1000 p/day when were busy. The deck work si more profitable and FAR more interesting! Have a great year all!

I like that "Give Your Deck a Face lift". Im gonna have to use that for next season!

I was staining a big redwood deck yesterday. I was using a "fill-in" product "Preserve-A-Wood" as I was still waiting for my RS to get here. Guessing it was around 80 deg. We were wiping down some of the deckboards after spraying with cotton shop rags. I had one of the stain soaked rags in my hand when I heard this hissing sound and felt some heat in my right hand. I looked down to find that the rag I was holding was starting to combust! I quickly tossed in on a brick patio, grabbed a hose, and soaked it with H20. Whoa! The scary thing was that I was appx. 2 ft. from my Deckster with an open 5'er of the stain! Could have been a VERY bad scene! So this was the first time something like this happened to me on a job. Scared the livin' daylights outta me! I actually posted a thread topic a couple months ago on the subject of safety and combustibility when using stains and sealers. I was curious what kind of system we are using to prevent these kind of accidents from occurring on jobsites or in the back of our rigs with stain soaked rags and tarps. What kind of end-of-day clean-up and accident prevention systems do you guys have when it comes to working with stain soaked rags and tarps. Ans also, do you think this rag combustion episode occured with me because I was using this Preserve-A-Wood stuff and NOT ReadySeal? Ive read mixed opinions on the flamability of ReadySeal as opposed to other stains and deck sealers? Any Thoughts?

Bought a big metal garbage can at HD today w/ lid. Thanks for sharing your experience Ken and Kevin... appreciate it. Think Im going to stuff my tarps end of day in that can and bungee the lid over the top too be on the safe side. JUST got a new truck with an 8' bed, so, for now at least, got the space!

WHoaaaa! Thats rough Jamie! What did you have in there? Rags? I think Im going to pick up a large metal trash can with a lid and keep in the back of my truck ALWAYS! If you were on a lunch break and left some wet rags on a clients deck, that could have been REALLY rough Jamie! Sorry about that.

anyone have a picture of their firecan? I want to get one in my system, any recomendations? Also, how do you guys deal with tarps that have RS on them? Do you spray some sort of de-greaser/mineral spirits on before loading in truck? Seems like a hassle, but I'd like to avoid torching my truck or even worse, a clients house!

Yeah, is the firecan gonna do the trick here at the end of the dey? What kind do you guys use?

I think the #1 advantage of EFC38 over a caustic stripper has to due with its safety around surrounding plants, pets, kids,etc... Also, safer when it comes to working with it. Caustics, most of your strippers, can be harmful on surrounding vegetation if precautions are not taken to protect the plants. This involves tarp covering if neccessary, esp. on flowering plants and RINSING. You need to adequetly mist, if not drench surrounding plants that might be inadvertantly exposed to the strippers you are using. Rinse before, DURING, and after. I've wrestled with the same question myself. In situations where I have ALOT of prized landscaping around the deck, and there is very little existing failed finish, the EFC38 is my approach. On the other hand, if you inspect the deck and find a substantial amount of pre-existing old failing finish, a caustic stripper, like HD80 or F18 would be the way to go. Get the respirator on, get your dillutions dialed in, and where protective clothing when using strippers. Not such a big deal with EFC or most percarbonate based cleaners. Really depends on the application! Yes, the strippers will be more effecient, and sometimes more cost-effective when it comes to deck restoration. Really depends on the condition of the deck your gonna work with. You really want to know what your doing when working with caustics though. NEVER go mixing in other chems without a FIRM knowledge of there compatibility with the strippers. For most jobs, your HD80 or F18 will perform well with most decks if you get your ratios correct. A bit quicker with a stripper, but safety precautions MUST be taken to ensure your safety as well as your clients. My 2 cents...

:lgwave: Hey guys, man am I looking forward to a day off this weekend! Okay, so a good pal of mine sold me a 50# bag of straight Sodium Percarb. I want to use this on some deck jobs next week, never used the straight stuff however. Im thinkin Im gonna need to get some surfactant in there to get my vert dwell up on an arbor Im shooting. Any tips for a good mixture? Thinkin' some TSP? Dont want to blow myself up! Thanks!

Well, ran out of EFC38 yesterday...gonna mix up a batch of the straight percarb for a deck job Im headin out to in a couple of hours... Any suggestions on straight percarb mixture with water? Ive heard mix 12 oz. p/gallon... Any other input? Thanks!

Can anyone direct me to a site where I can find one of these big 18"-24" deck stain applicators? Looking for the type that screws into a pole... Been looking all over online tonight, cant find em! Thanks!

Been spraying LOTS of EFC38 and straight Sod. Percarb lately. LOVE IT! Do any of you guys where respirators when spraying this stuff? Ive heard a bit about off-gasing with the EFC38, know its not a caustic, just wanna make sure my future babies won't have 12 fingers! Thanks!

Okay Dokey, so I got a call from HO that went something like this..." We would like you to come look at our deck...We're thinking we need a new deck, but thought you could have a look at it and see if there's anything you could do to bring it back to life..." Went to have a gander, and I could barely believe my eyes! This poor guy had built the redwood deck back in '92 himself in an effort to save some bucks and then encountered all kinds of sinking issues with his hillside property, had to re-fi his house just to pay for all of the re-engineering of the hillside that his deck was slipping off... REALLY nice guy, with a super humble vibe about him. Well, apparantly, he didnt do any sort of maintenance with this deck for about 12 yrs. and it really went to the crapper. So........ again, to save a few bucks he bought a PW, and went about his "restoration" process,err, ymm, with a ZERO-DEG nozzle!!!! When I asked him why it appeared that he PW'd the ENTIRE deck witht he 0-deg tip, even after it must have been apparent that he was really f'ing up the deck, he said with his head down, " Matt, I dunno, it was really hard to see what was going on with all of the misting around me, I know, I really screwed up..." And OH BOY DID HE! Have a look at these pictures! Honestly, my mouth must have been dropped the whole time he and his ever so slightly angy wife were explaining their deck woes to me. I was a bit puzzled by his construction approach with all the short deck boards and handrails with lags in them... so he brought out an old photo album with pictures when he originally built the deck. It actually looked GREAT! I had to keep looking back and forth between the pics in his album and the deck itself in current state. I really could not believe my eyes! Some of those grooves and gauges are literally 1/2" deep! Poor guy, JEEEZZZZZZ! To further complicate things, he had attached all the deck boards by hand with NAILS! No way to sand it down without a ton of labor re-screwing all of the deck boards I think. So..... After 45 minutes listening to this couples saga, I asked them point blank what their expectations were for the deck going forward. They said that they couldn't afford the $40K or more it would take to re-build the deck but also planned on sticking around another few yrs, so they really wanted it to "look much better" than it did now. Also, the house is in a very upscale neighborhood with a million dollar bay are view across golden grassy hills with oak trees... Losing that deck would really hurt their re-sale. Leaving it in disrepair would also not be so wise...BTW, they have a very open floor plan adjacent to the deck with large windows inside that look out at this beast of a deck. I constant reminder for this poor ol guy of what a nightmare he inflicted on the deck he built 15 yrs. ago to save a buck or two. Ughhhh. I explained to them my approach: 1. Strip existing nasty old failing finish (wish I new what it was! He had no idea) 2. Brighten 3. Re-finish with med red RS. Price $3,875 I should them my portfolio, made sure that they had realistic expectations about the final result: that it would look a whole lot better and be protected for a couple more yrs but that it would not reverse the damage that he had inflicted on the deck boards. They agreed to the project, and Im going to start in a couple weeks. What do ya'll think bout this one!

I looked a this whopper of a job last year and the client has finally got around to calling me to book the project. The shots pictured are of the front arbor structure, built out of old growth redwood. Unfortunately, no way to walk on the top of it as it sways like a one legged ostrich when ya shake it a bit. Amazing this thing was even built like it was here in earthquake country! It looks sturdy as hell, but, it aint... Ive done quite a few overhead arbors/pergulas like this, actually enjoy the intricacy and challenge of these sort of projects! Trouble is going to be access for pw'ing the front of the structure, hard to tell in the picture, but theres no way to get "in front" of it as its up 2 stories on a frickin' sloped hillside! IM thinkin lots of EFC-38, long dwell times, and long range rinsing using some extension lances? While the sides are damn near as detailed as you get, lots of angles, inside surfaces,etc, at least I can stand on the deck (ladder in some spots) and shoot it with some accuracy. Any ideas on this one? Its a beauty! Im a real perfectionist with this sort of thing, and Im feelin a bit daunted right now. So many damn surfaces to get into! Any tips guys?

Hey thanks guys, yeah I've been thinkin about HD all day. Think Im gonna start out with the EFC38 first, see how it goes before moving on to the HD. Ive built plenty of time into this job. Actually have a bunch of weathered deck to tackle underneath the arbor as well as a couple suspended's on the other side. Should allow me to be patient with the dwell on this arbor, keep coming back to rinse and evaluate. Cant wait to get at it!

Yeah, maybe the RS med redwood is going to be too light on this one?

OKay... I'm going to start this project tommorow (Monday) ! Really looking forward to tackling this pergula/arbor/trellis structure in front. All that Old-Growth redwood, what a site! Im still a bit concerned about dealing with that pergula structure with al of the access issues. Main issue is the front of it where I really cannot get in front of it to shoot accurately due to a sloped hillside (cant see in pics...). Should be straight forward with my ladders on left and right side, underneath surfaces,etc... Just that front that might be an issue. Im thinking I'll really drench that hard to reach side in EFC, long dwell time, maybe even multiple applications? Perhaps this will help in the following way: I will be able to do a longer distance low-PSI rinse that wont require a perfect shot from down below with my extension lance.... Hmmmm

Well, received my 20" Shurline Pads and 4 gal Wooster bucket from Scott over at the Sealer Store on Friday. Gonna put em to work on Tuesday. They look GREAT! That bucket looks like an awesome invention as well! I think these super wide stain pads will work great on newer decks, i.e. w/o super rough and splintering surfaces. May be a bit more of a challange to use on more warped, irregular deck surfaces. Thanks Scott~

Hey, thanks for all the support everyone! It's so great to get thee types of pre-game pep talks when tackling a big deck strip project. I plan on really taking my time with this one to get it right. I'm going to start with the 8oz. p/gal stripper and work it in with a stiff bristled brush. Will really be patient with dwell time, I think Ive been a bit impatient in the past with dwell, something Im really working on these days... I cant wait to get my hands on this one! Scheduled for July 19th!

You might have noticed that all that vert work (spindles) is going to be difficult to strip from the backside due to the height below. Im thinkin' some extension lances and shoot from below? I usually use my flex lance and lean over the rail, but with the stripper, not sure that such a good idea! Dont want all that caustic rinsing back in my face. My face is getting hot just thinkin about it!

Yeah, I know, Im a bit concerned about the failing finish... didnt have my portable tester kit on hand when I visited the site, going to swing through next week and do a bit of test work. Oh, I could scratch the surface and the stain seemed to be flaking off okay. This one could really go either way~ that was my thinking in the price, thought it would give me some wiggle room if it ended up acrylic.

more pics of this beast.... hoping that stain will come off!

About these truck brushes do applying strippers, do they really hold the stripper? Can someone post a pic of one for me? thanks!

Thanks Stephan~ ordered em today. Yeah Shane, the 9" ers I used from HD today held up so-so. Older decks though, went through 1 today. Looking forward to using these 18" Shurlines with the wooster bucket/lid set up. Should be nice moving around the jobsite with regards to spillage,etc.. Ya know, i didnt know the ones from Seal Store were actually Shurlines.

Hey YAz... where do you find theose 18" Shurlines? Ya Know I just did 4 decks today using the smaller 10"? shurlines. Great application, but the red plastic unit that screws into the pole kept sliding out! Ever have that problem? I just got down on my knees and did it with the shurline applicator alone, no red plastic thingy-ma-bob.