Greg R

This topic hits home :) We just put a 2nd story addition on the house last year and I am finally to the floors on the project. Putting down 10" wide plank southern yellow knotty pine throughout the house. In looking into this I found a company called Chemtech that manufacturers products for the dustless refinishing under the Wood-Solv label. Thought it would be a great addition to the business for the off season months at least plus I may give it a shot on our new floors if its applications allow it. Anyone else used this system at all?

It all depends on the flash point. Ready Seals flash point is alot higher than most of your linseed based products so it would take ALOT more for it to combust. Once that flash point is reached on ANY product though you can break out the hotdogs and marshmellows. I know... had a van burn down from tarps left in it soaked in Menwood 200. The 30 gallons of unopened menwood and 5 of gasoline really sparked the flames :) In total I think it took 4 hours of the van sitting in the sun on a 98+ degree day for the thing to start smouldering. We had a new guy working that day and he folding the soaked tarp up nice and neat and set it in the bottom of our tarp containers (plastic unfortunately). When I returned home later the fire department was already on the way :) Ahh the memories.......

The Dawn didnt have ammonia in it by chance???

Usually melts off pretty easy for us.... here's one we did awhile back.

I dont use WTW but you can still buff out a deck when its wet using the 3m pads and a Makita 9227. With Ready Seal you can even buff the deck out AFTER you apply the finish should an area not look so hot.

I suppose its all a matter of preference. We would probably use a strong percarb on a deck like that. The caustics will break down the degraded wood a little faster but it turns into a matter of what would you rather work with. We have often boosted our percarbs with stripper on some jobs just to make the chemicals more "user friendly". I dont think anyone would disagree to the fact that a good mist of stripper hitting you in the face is no fun. In looking at the photos though a strong percarb alone would pull the remaining finish from those rails. Other things to look at are the surrounding plants and what kind of siding is on the house. Siding with an oil based paint/stain will take alot more prep/caution than if it were vinyl as well.

Initially I would just go knock on the door before you start throwing threats out there. If the suprise visit doesn't cut it then take the next step. It's easy for people to ignore invoices and letters. Face to face tends to sing a different tune. I remember having one guy avoiding me a few years back after completing the job and I showed up on a Sunday at his house. He had a party going on with a bunch of people there :) - got paid and sent on my way quickly. 5 days really isn't nothing to worry about yet either in my experience. Our guys work off of work orders as I care not to share pricing with them so customers are invoiced at the end of the job. It's not unusual for a 10 to 15 day turn around in our case to get final payment. Anything beyond 15 days after the job completion gets immediate attention and a personal visit for collection. 11 years and I've only been burned twice fortunately. (knock on wood :) )

Got a request to bid out a condo complex today with 77 decks and 4,128 sq foot of dog eared fencing. We've bid these a couple times in the past and always come in way high appearantly. Anyone else shooting numbers out to these associations? I'm curious what your getting assuming you were awarded the job. Its: 3,542 sq ft of ground level decking 1150' of Rail ground level 1860 sq ft of 2nd level decks (no stair access) 713' of 2nd level rail 4,128 sq ft of fencing 1530 sq ft Repaint trim around 51 garage doors 820 sq ft Repaint trim around 51 entry doors Playing these pricing games with the condo associations has pretty much turned me off from even going after them. :) All clean and seal with Ready Seal Lt Brown or TWP Cedar Tone. Ya out there Tony???? I think you hit a couple of these before if I recall

Looks bleached to me :)

:) Called to clean and seal a bike trailer?? Thats a first! I would just use Ready Seal. I race motocross and my bikes are pretty hard on my trailer floors. Any film based product will show the wear a bit more obvious IMO.

Can't say I agree with that statement but anyway... How is that any worse than a film former that no longer beads water after 12 to 18 months (if that). I have no doubt whatsoever that there's still a great deal of readyseal in the wood when it comes time for maintenance 2 to 3 years down the road. Maintenance applications and the amount of product required to "rejuvinate" the protection speak volumes. I guess the real question is... would you rather be waterproof (readyseal) or holding an unbrella (film former)? :) No one finish is perfect by any means and for just that reason we use a couple products. Older neglected (and not so pretty) decks often get more of a film based finish (TimberStain UV or TWP - local stuff) while all others that are in decent condition get ReadySeal. The theory of the oil (to replenish) then the film (to protect) makes the most sense for wood care but you could never make it work IMO and maintain a profitable business model. Take Care -

Got another call for a condo complex today :) This one with 44 decks and 2 large community decks. Time to crunch some numbers I guess

If your using a film based (at any level) you will want to rinse the acid from the deck. An oil like Ready Seal doesn't require it becuase it forms no film therefore the salts cannot be trapped under the finish. Brighter under a film finish can cause a white haze to come through the finish. We had it happen on of all things a log home before when using Menwood and the only solution we could come up with is to strip and refinish.

Yes we have to collect 6% sales tax on the sealer portion of the sale but with that we're also tax exempt for all of our stains, supplies and chemicals purchased locally. Just part of the game that you have to deal with unfortunately. We used to file annually - then they switched me over to quarterly last year (bummer...). My goal was to make a profit on the sealer so it all works out. We've started (this year) billing all of our stains at $29.95 a gallon so there's about a 33% margin on the sealer sale making it worth while. In my experience the one line customers do not say a single thing about is the cost of the finish your applying. It's the cheapest part of the bid :) Also from a customer standpoint our retail is what they would have to pay in order to buy it direct (even ready seal after adding in shipping).

What stain was it that you were using?

No - brighten after your done stripping however many times. No need to neutralize until your finished.

We break the finish apart from the bid. Ready Seal x amount of gallons at $x.xx a gallon Decking x amount of sq ft at $x.xx a sq ft (restored and finished) Railing x amount of lin ft at $x.xx a linear foot (restored and finished) Lattice and other misc. items are bid apart as well. We USED to bid it all together with the finish included. Then I started bidding the finish as an additional item and found out we could get the stain paid for and still pull in the same labor for the job :) This year we went a step further yet and "Sell" the ready seal to our customers as part of the product for full Retail + some. People still bite :)

Makita 9227C with 8" 60 to 80 grit hook and loop paper The hardwood floor sanders ordinarily do not work out very well.

Try Citric Acid as opposed to Oxalic. Haven't done it but Citric is a much weaker and safer acid and it may not have the same effect oxalic does on the metals.

By the way...... you cant make money with perfection. It just never pays enough. A systematic approach to completing work orders in a quality mannor seems to get the goat. High end finishes (sikkens, etc..) and baby butt smooth decks while gorgeous just don't make the hourly rates needed to sustain a 3 or 4 crew business. Ready Seal has gone a long way to helping me realize where we need to be. Quality finish, easy to apply, easy to fix, hard to screw up, etc... It also dawned on me after a few years of traveling around doing log homes that we can be more profitable staying locally doing nothing but deck work. Sorry - kinda off topic

First one with $500K takes home TIMBERSEAL :lgmoneyey Can't say she's worth that much but IMHO the name/logo kicks butt and business is good. Single file line please..... lets not all call in at once. :lolsign:

Leaf Hog blower from Home Depot - blow it off and start-a-sealing afterwards.

:) I'm with you Jarrod..... undersides are a PITA. We've have half a dozen or so in the last 11 years. Spraying them makes life easier but its not always possible. Ready Seal makes them far easier though.

Watch what you offer there bud... you may have 30 gallons of acrylic sitting on the porch when you get over to the job :) Nice prep work though!

You basically have to show your customer what your made of... sell him on your knowledge and eco-friendly approach. If the guys shopping for price you may be out of luck but if he's shopping for service you can have the advantage if you use it.