Greg R

Not really..... like I said - First time in 14 years and thousandsss of jobs :) I've never had that happen even in the municipalities where trouble is expected!

Man they had to work to steal that.... how do you steal a 600 lb skid easily??? Sorry to hear that - hopefully insurance will take care of you.

Not a big fan of Sikkens here either... the SRD can turn out a nice looking deck but the application is alot more finicky than Armstrong. We just stripped down a sikkens deck done three years ago yesterday and removing it's more difficult than the others as well.

Hey I bet I could find a use for that on wood somewhere :) http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs109.ash2/38785_411583746204_276092561204_5160644_6152826_n.jpg

The only sure way to fix it would be to strip it down and start from scratch. Cabot decking stains / semi solids overapplied will sheen up everytime.

Prewet the lawn - lay down a blue tarp and layer up canvas drops on top of that to absorb any excess stripper (shouldn't amount to all that much really). By the time your ready to wash you should be able to remove the tarps without concern for the lawn. I always try to forewarn the customer that while we try our best not to damage any landscape the "water" consistancy of the finish removers get to unexpected areas at times. The positive side of this is you'll only have to strip it this once if they use you on maintenance down the road.

We did one last year with Cedar semi AC that I saw again yesterday and it still had alot of color to it as well. We really soaked the floor with it as nothing else in the past was holding up very well.

Im a little confused as it should be the latex that is the bear to get off. Thompsons water seal comes off easier than most of the store bought products out there. Any sodium hydroxide based finish remover will emulsify the thompsons and allow you to wash it off easily. I assume your rePAINTING the deck?

photos sent Scott! Have a great weekend!

Cheap brushes get frayed and frizzy :) A good 2x4" block brush will last for a long time. We get those from Steve @ the Stain shop now. I work with Sherwin Williams on plastic, tape. rosin paper and tarps and get pretty good prices on just about everything. 10x100 painters plastic = $10 a roll..... cheap! Menards wants $19 for the same thing.

We have had a few that the rain washed out the color on. If the oils are still wet and on the surface it the rain will cause issues - if they've absorbed in your probably good to go.

Ford gassers are fine........ its the newer diesels that are causing problems especially the 6.0. You can get them cheap but I wouldn't buy one as I've heard to many problems with them. The 7.3's a probably one of the best engines out there still to date. I'm a FORD guy too but I would'nt be totally against a Chevy Duramax HD.

www.deckguide.com used to be really busy for woodcare but it seems to have fallen off the map. Alot of good old but still current information on there as well.

Booked out for a month and a half with almost nothing but wood - 1.50 on up to 4.00 a sq ft depending on the job. The problem with pricing is everyone measures differently so it really doesn't mean much. I think we're one the very few that itemize our finishes seperate in an invoice where most others include it in the cost per sq ft too.

You just need to find the right people to work for you. I've been through some real "winners" myself but finally we have a group of employees that are just outstanding most of the time. Sure there are always ups and downs but there are good people out there that actually want to work and be part of a growing company.

They make a product called Chewstop thats made to be added to finishes as well. Never tried it though. I think it too is a some sort of a pepper additive.

From an aesthetic standpoint it doesn't do anything more than thompsons would. My local guy sealed a huge playset in his backyard with it and by the next season it was already turning grey. They had since come out with pigments you could add in (clove brown and one other color) but that was additional money as well. The nature of the product was somewhat interesting to me though. If you pour some into a clear pop bottle and set it out in the sun it would cure into a solid plastic like mass that was pretty dense. In order to cure properly though it required UV was my understanding a shaded deck could pose an issue.

had a local outfit become a distributor for the stuff and in turn he tried to sell me on it. One word........ GARBAGE

best way to price this stuff out is to figure out your time involved and bill your hourly rate accordingly. We just bid out a large complex with the buildings about twice that size.... they went for around $800 per building not including the any deck work.

Just out of curiousity - what kind of discount on average do you other "woodies" provide to repeat customers? Obviousely we all want to get the most from our work but I feel you just about have to discount the service when they return every 3rd season or so. It's justified too since the work involved isn't as labor intensive and doesn't usually require as much chems or sealer. So what kind of discount on average do you tend to provide to the repeat deck/fence maintenance customer? We're around 20% on most jobs

I suppose it depends on what your pulling in for the initial work to straighten the deck out. If your only getting a $1 to a $1.30 a sq ft you would not have much room to provide a maintenance discount. I personally find with our bids we can provide the customer a discount for sticking with us and it keeps them loyal and happy. Not to mention at those discounted rates we are usually still more profitable than the first time around due to less labor and material.

BTW - what with all the window cleaning outfits pushing deck cleaning and sealing all the sudden? I have three in my area that suddenly have become "professional" restoration contractors for decks! Go back to your windows :) LOL

Just treat them all all a strip job... if the newer decks are below presoak them - apply the chem on the upper decks - strip the upper - rinse the lower then brighten both. As far as finish removers there's a ton of them. Call bob at pressuretek.com and he can get you the stuff you need OR there's TimberStrip, HD80 and a few others that are powdered formulations but more potent as well. The goal is to not fur them so work with your chemical concentration to get the best results. How did you pull off getting the work for the college? Alot of those jobs around here go to the low bid which really stinks but it is what it is. The main question I have here is how do you know where your bid needed to be without having everything figured out 100% before hand? :)

Started with a $600 craftsman pressure washer at age 16 technically but didn't make it into a business until around 18. At that time I was part time working another job. Went full time at 21 and Im now heading towards the big 36 in August. Craftsman washer and a rough s-10 pickup was my work vehicle :) now were into 4 self contained service vans/trucks 3 of which are two man units. Residential woodcare has been my focalpoint for most of my time in business but we're now going full bore for commercial work too. Especially HOA and Condo associations, PM's, etc...

On maintenance we price the job out a the going rate and provide a maintenance discount from there. Therefore if there's no sanding its not part of the invoice or discount - even if it was originally. We almost always redo the entire deck. I have a few select customers that have had us do just the floors but its rare. As far as frequency unless its a hardwood (IPE or similar) I've never even attempted to market toward them the following year. We hit em' up after 2 seasons on the deck.