Aqua Pro

Without naming names, I belong to a trade organization. This particular T.O charges $350.00 per year to be a member. They cite numerous benefits to being a member but thus far, all I can really see for my money is the permission to use their logo on my stationary or in my advertising and a link on their website to mine (which btw has YET to give me so much as 1 lead over a three year period). In fairness, I have met some great people in this organization but am confident my relationship would continue with them with or without being a member. 1) Does anyone else feel that $350.00 is over the top for such a membership (good grief the NRA is only $25.00 a year) 2) Is there another option?!! (What happened with the big "powwow" in Penn last year???

Happy New Year! Been a long time Since I've posted here...not even sure if anyone I know even comes here.. matt? Everette? Tony? Pete? Traci? Musgrave? Tom? (Beth/Rod I know your here) Anyone else? haha.. Anyway, hope this finds all doing well. Looking forward to spring! -Tom Aqua Pro Cleaning Solutions

Uhhhh? LOL- Perhaps some memorable quotes from Norman Bates (Psycho) would be appropriate right about now.:bat: "No! I will not hide in the fruit cellar! Ha! You think I'm fruity, huh? I'm staying right here. This is my room and no one will drag me out of it, least of all my big, bold son! " "We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't you? " "A hobby should pass the time, not fill it. "

Done with Ready Seal..except for past customers that need a reseal. I've been using Pittsburgh Paints the last two years and have been extremely happy with it. Yes its a Linseed oil based stain but A) I have not had any mold issues with it and B) Even though its a "film-former", the product holds up very well with minimal scuffing over a two year period and I live in an area that sees very harsh winters. The biggest downside is that, unlike RS, you do have to do a full strip before reapplying BUT this stuff strips off like butter with dilluted strippers. Lastly, I get it from my local P-Paints store for around $18 a gal. I do have a couple of questions though for the rest of you. 1) Could you include some $/gal for the products you are using 2) Is any one actually using/promoting any of the hybrid (acryilic/oil) based products? From what I've seen of them, whenever I bid a job that has one on from a previous seal is that, A) They don't strip worth a you know what and B) Applying them is a sticky mess. They gum up the decksters/deckers and are a pain to clean brushes/rollers. Also, when eis Behr going to stop putting silicone in their products!?! ARGGHH!

Hello all, Tom from Aqua Pro here. The main staple of my business is exterior power washing/staining services. Because I live in an area that forces me to shut down 4 months of the year, I want to start offering interior painting services. Has anyone ever heard of or have the book titled, "bid to win estimating system?" It can be found @ howtobidpaintjobs.com I have the resources to advertise, professional painters out of work needing jobs and a solid existing customer base. What I don't have is a good estimating system. I need help. Any feedback is appriciated! thanks, -Tom

I could really use some help here. The following photos were taken of a dryvit house I was recently contracted to clean. I have cleaned Dryvit/stucco homes in the past and have been very successful removing all types of containments including rust, black streaks on gutters (hydro-static bonding), mold, mildew hydro-carbons etc etc. I cannot for the life of me figure out what these stains are or how to get them out. The house is obviously two-tone and the problem only occurs on the white trim section of the homes exterior. The tan/beige color of the home looks great EXCEPT where the trim and walls meet in some areas.. I will say this; the builder did an extremely poor job in the construction phase as there are multiple areas on/in the trim that is bubbling, scaling, flaking, etc. etc. There are spots where you can see the exposed mesh underneath the “trim.” If you look very close at the areas affected, it almost looks like those areas are actually worn away. In other words, not so much a stain that we need to remove as it is erosion of the surface that needs to be replaced/painted. I have tried chems from 0 to 14 and everything in between trying to find something that would take this off/out. Among those tried…..Safe restore (acid based), Sodium Hydroxide (different concentrates) including gutter zap, Power House, TSP, Sodium Met silicate, I believe we even tried some Oxalic. Here’s something interesting, the next door neighbor has the opposite problem. They have a white dryvit home with beige trim. The trim looks good and the walls have black streaks in them. ARGH! I’m at my wits end with it. The customer is on vacation and expects to come home to a clean house. My company name should say it all…..Aqua Pro Cleaning SOLUTIONS! I don’t have a solution for this one. PLEASE HELP! P.S…THANKS! Tom McMillan P.S.-P.S. Anyone else reading this besides me make it to D.C. this year for the Clean Across America project? http://www.aquaprocs.com/images/grimescenepics/P7150005.jpg http://www.aquaprocs.com/images/grimescenepics/P7150007.jpg http://www.aquaprocs.com/images/grimescenepics/P7150008.jpg http://www.aquaprocs.com/images/grimescenepics/P7150009.jpg

"Hey tom that black is caused by passing cars and trucks" Thanks for the advice everybody. My original thought on what the stain was/is comprised of was hydrocarbons/petrochemicals as well. That would also explain why it's worse on the side facing the street. I even thought possibly jet fuel rinsing down on the trim. I did try a two step process with no success. I'm a little nervous about going 10% or higher with the bleach as the white trim borders a beige/tan side. My son was up on the ladder and said "hey dad, come here I want you to see this." What he was pointing out looked to me like exposed metal mesh from when they formed the trim and added stucco (looking down on the top of the trim). Although the stain itself does not resemble any type of metallic ferrous or non ferrous stain, is it possible that what I am looking at is, some kind of reaction with whatever the mesh is made of, interacting with the stucco/air/elements themselves? Or does the general consensus say some sort of embedded hydrocarbon/atmospheric pollution? Maybe I'll try brushing on a stronger solution with hot water. Problem is, even if I was to find that "magic mix", It would not be cost effective to clean the entire trim areas over again with a brush method. Second problem is there is still a structural integrity issue as there are a lot of areas that are flaking, delaminating, popping out and bubbling......sounds to me like the builder needs to get involved as well.... your thoughts??? -Thanks all Tom

No offence but there are some great clear sealers on the market with hydro and olio-phoibic properties that will actually fuse with the free lime in the bleed channels of the concrete. Some lasting as long as 20 years (with a lite maintenance coat 3-5 years after initial application). I suppose it all depends on what the desired effect is. Are you going for cosmetics or longevity and protection of the substrate? Probably a blend, You want the concrete to be free of asmany containiments as possible while protecting it from scaling, delamination, pops-outs..etc etc etc. Do your homework on the sealers....and yes, please clean the rest of it first to blend!!

"Do not refer to them as CHEMS Its a SCARY word. Products or solutions are my words of choice" Cleaning agents sounds so much nicer ;-)

I'm so agitated. I hear this commercial on a MAJOR Chicago radio show promoting SealMaxx 25 year guarantee deck treatment and CRINGE each and every time. Well it was bound to happen sooner or later. I go to do an estimate for gutter cleaning for a town home complex. While there, I get to talking to some of the locals. One lady in particular asked me if we do concrete cleaning and sealing. Of course we do, so I gave her a bid (small slab...$50.00 to clean AND seal) Her mouth about dropped....turns out that Sealmaxx was there the previous year and gave her a quote of $1,400.00 dollars!!! Then she tells me that they cleaned and sealed her deck too and wanted to know if I could look at it because it looked "terrible". To say the least. The deck looked like it had not been touched for 10 years it was so grayed out and molded up...In fact I wouldn't have believed it was just done except for the very obvious splinters! It was plain to see that the tech that did her did had no clue what he was doing as the entire deck was splintered due to the extreme pressure (cedar)...The latewood had been lifted right off the deck leaving this really nice little ridges across the grain.. UGH! Well, Sealmaxx claims that the deck will be sealed "from the inside" for 25 years and will not incur any water damage at all. I did a "splash test" with the garden hose and really expected to see the deck bead up due to the silloxane or silicone they use to seal it but was amazed that the water sank right in...I mean this deck virtually has no protection on it whatsoever. This lady actually told me that the sales rep told her that the sealer they used was the same stuff they put on utility poles and that you would not even be able to drive a nail into the wood once sealed!! LIE! In fact, I used to work for the utilities and know that they use(at least used to use) Creosote (spell check please) to seal the poles against rot. I talked to the rep that she used last year..he told me that he no longer worked for this company because his conscience would not allow it. He admitted that they even he was fooled by the myriad of lies and was selling these customers a headache. So beware to all of you that have these vandals in your neck of the woods. What would be awesome is if organizations like the PWNA would band together and shed some light on this fraud (legally speaking). It would first and foremost protect our future customers from being ripped off and secondly, protect us the contractors from dealing with this mess a year or two later. My 2 cents -Tom

I have been working like a madman on my website, finally finished it, uploaded it today. I respect the opinions of my peers in this industry. Would love to get some feedback. good, bad or the ugly. I already noticed that the pics in the wood slideshow are too big. My home system is set @ 1600x1200 or something like that on a 20' widescreen. The system i'm looking at the site on is 1024x768 on a 17' - Big difference. thanks everyone! Deck Cleaning, House Washing, Power Washing, Deck Restoration, Graffiti Removal, Aqua Pro Cleaning Solutions

Thanks again for all the replies. I utilized about 98% of what was said and made the changes. Not sure if the new buttons are any better than the old ones but they seem to be a little easier to read. Also Beth, thanks for the offer to help via phone. For now, I'm going to leave them as are - not because I don't want to change them, just cuz I don't have the time! When I do, I think I'll just resize them in photoshop instead of within the editor. Thanks again! -Tom

My 2 cents..50% down, rest when job is completed and your happy with it. Only had one person last year that didn't agree to it. I do a lot of residential deck/fence jobs. I tried the "no money down" approach but found out that a month straight of rain left me with no cash flow on all those wash jobs.....

I asked for it didn't i?! haha, Thank you, thank you, thank you. Sounds like I have my work cut out for me. It's amazing what other people see that you/I don't. Should be a lesson for all we do. What do our customers see when a job is finished that we don't? Thanks for all the feedback. I've got a lot to do. Too bad for me that it takes me forever it seems to make the changes. One thing at a time, I guess. As far as the thumbnails go, I'm not quite sure how to resolve that. I knew the pics would not be clear, I just wanted them to see something (a shape I guess). I know for me personally, whenever I am browsing a site. I like to be able to tell what I'm getting ready to click vs just a link that says "look, heres a deck picture". I was worried about file size too. Is there a way to make the thumbnails clear and yet small in size? Boy oh boy, back to the drawing board! ;-) -Tom

Anyone using it? I thought about installing gutter guards last season as an ad-on service but shied away from it after doing the research. Found out that they really don't work like they claim. Big leaves, np....deciduous seedlings in the spring were a whole different scenario though. A friend of mine owns a window cleaning franchise though and told me about the gutter stuff product. I watched their video and like the concept. Thought I would find out if any of you have used it or seen it in "action" Gutter Stuff - Foam Filter Insert Thanks, -Tom

Thanks for the input. I would very much like to keep in touch with you on how well each one is working out.

Hey everyone. Thought this would be an interesting topic. I was wondering what some of the biggest mistakes, don'ts or rip-offs the "vandals" and fly-by-night companies are notorious for. For example, Company A uses 4,000 PSI to "safely" remove your failed stain without the use of chemicals...that’s a definite NO-NO! Company B says the only way to remove atmospheric pollution (regular dirt) from your 30 year old blue aluminum siding is by using 180 degree water with 12% bleach.....Ught-oh. Company C sells you a brick paver "restoration" job saying they have to use a proprietary blend of acids that cost $150.00/5 gal, charging you an arm and a leg and then removes the leaf stains with some left over oxcillic acid they had....S-C-A-M! What have you seen or heard about?

:Edited: ....ok, now I get it....... ;-/ <----- a little slow in this cold weather.

I began this business late 2005 and will be expecting some repeat customers this year for the decks that we did. 1) Do I charge more, less or about the same as I originally did for that customer? 2) Do I strip/stain the deck again or just clean/stain the deck again? My opinion would be to treat each deck individually and see just how it wore over the last two years. I know it probalby also depends on the type of sealer we used then. I was in the "experimental" stage then and did not have a set brand of stain. Some decks were sealed with S/Williams, some with Pittsburgh paints, others behr. Some of that was becuase I was trying different stains, sometimes the job called for a specific stain. I now only use to different brands. Ready Seal and B-moore. I know the above posed questions may seem vauge or naive but like everything else in this or any buisness there is a first time for everything and simply put, I'm not sure how to handle these scenarios. Thanks for your help. -Tom

Howdy folks, I have a potential customer that is in need of some restoration work. Problem is, it's an interior stonewall. The dimensions are 8' high X 19' long. Surrounds a fireplace and of course the carpet butts up to it. The main contaminate appears to be soot from the fireplace and regular build up of dirt/dust over 20 something odd years. Has anyone ever tackled a job like this? How did you bid it? How did you restore it? Obviously power washing is out of the question. He wanted to have it sand blasted. What about cob blasting? Or maybe pull the carpet back from the wall, apply something like safe Restore to the surface by way of a pump up sprayer and rinse the same? Any help is greatly appreciated. THANKS, TOM! cc pwna forum