Paul B.

Tony, I think you are a very intelligent person but in this area you seem to reject science and math. It doesn't seem like I could ever convince you or sway you from your position but let me take one more shot. - Your assumptions on crystal pool shock is incorrect. Some pool shock contains as much as 65% potassium hypochlorite. The higher percentage of active ingredients in a crystal packet, the more likely you are to get lucky when not using the whole package, besides if a half package does not get you the result you want, what do you do? You test the pH and add more shock to the water. (If you are after hit or miss, this process works well and also sells more product for the manufacturer and the distributor, but raises your cost as a contractor.) What happens when you have a mix that is supposed to contain 1% of the main ingredient - how lucky do you think you'll get to obtain the same result every time? - You are correct about blending, but there are several ways of mixing fillers (for example, 1 crystal chunk could contain 3 different chemicals another example would be that some crystals are created larger than others so that you have a better chance of scooping some into your container - I could list at least 6 other methods used but I'm not sure I could convince you, as it sounds like your mind is made up. - I think your approach is in reverse when you say "Unless the manufacturer specifically says to not do it..." But then again, I can tell you're a risk taker. I'm disappointed that the marbles concept couldn't be translated to chemistry for you, but do talk to a pharmacist when you get a chance. If the pharmacist can't convince you, then keep doing what you're doing and I hope your advice to others does not create problems for them. ____________________________________________________ I personally do not advocate Tony's approach to anyone as it is a hit or miss process. Unless you know how the chemicals are blended or what the process was to create it, my advise is always to follow proper procedures so that you achieve the same results every time. If not sure, than ask questions rather than assume (as a matter of fact, as the same question 2 or 3 times as even mfg. reps. can lead you astray). Lot of the chemicals we deal with are dangerous at one level or another. In addition, if you're not getting something clean, you'll know that the chemical is not strong enough or not the proper solution rather than wonder if you mixed the chemicals properly. After all cleaning is about chemistry AND established procedures vs. hit and miss approaches.

Well OK maybe these aren't roses, but they have a pleasant aroma and they look nice. With all the rain we've had, these peonies took off like race horses. Had to cut them last night to keep from mowing them down. You folks in MD better keep that 1 car per 10MPH space while driving - what a shame! You folks out in Calif. you better watch it too - you've had your share of pile-ups. Have a pleasant and SAFE Memorial Day weekend!

Tony, Tony, Tony, In regards to the mixing of dry chemicals - let me reassure you that it's not a speculation. In some cases it will make a major difference. But you are correct that it does not always apply. The key here is to know when it does and when it doesn't apply vs. guessing. There are chemicals that are mixed in liquid form then dehydrated so that 3 chemicals may be in 1 granule of crystal. There are others that have 5 different crystals that are mixed together in equal or different percentages. In some instances you are playing with percentages that may not be critical. Other cases the exact percentages are what makes the mix work properly. There are a couple of things you can do to see how the percentages work. Get yourself 100 colored marbles. 20 will be red - representing Sodium Hydroxide 10 will be green - representing Sodium Metasilicate 10 will be orange - representing Oxyethelene 10 will be blue - representing Butoxyethanol 50 will be white - representing fillers or bonding agents Mix up the marbles in a bucket and blindfolded pick out 10 groups of ten and see what combination of marbles you end up in each group. You can do the same thing with coins. If you end up with 10 reds in one group and 10 white in another, you ended up with one that's a stripper that will melt plastic and the other that will be good for watering plants. Keep the picks in order and see how your chances diminish as you get to the bottom of the bucket. (If you've reached your 5th set and there are no more greens or reds left in the bucket, the game is over.) I bet you 100 marbles that you can't make each of the 10 sets come out exactly the same (blind-folded). Next stop - your local pharmacist. Ask him/her if it's OK to take a half of a time release or other type capsules. Make sure to ask why it would not be OK. (By the way - if your pharmacist says it's OK to take a half capsule of time release medicine then you should change pharmacists.) The other part of the chemistry that most tend to ferget is paying attention to the words "by weight" or "by volume". There could be no difference or there could be a major difference. 8 ounces by volume may only be 4 ounces by weight or vise versa.

That's interesting - I've not heard that about the ants. I hope you cut some of those and put em in a few rooms of your home. They are beautiful!

Hi Rob, I DO NOT recommend testing HD-80 at HALF strength on a customer's gutter, as it is extremely high in Sodium Hydroxide content for cleaning. HD-80 is intended to STRIP finishes at HALF and FULL strenghts or less. The MSDS for HD-80 shows a 20% by weight Sodium Hydroxide content (but MSDS sheets are only required to show maximum levels not actuals so it could be between 10-20% or even less). Compared to the MSDS for Gutter Shock and Gutter Zap which claim less than 1% Sodium Hydroxide content, and Krud Kutter claims less than 2% Potassium Hydroxide. So you can see that the Sodium Hydroxide level could be 10 to 20 times what is needed to clean. Of course there are other components in all the cleaners and strippers that make one more effective than an other so the combination is also important. Along with others, there is a great web site for chemical and safety information at www.inChem.org (check out the PIMs) For house washes, we have used Limonene & All-Brite and have recently tested CitraCleen to give us alternatives. Each product provided us with excellent results. There are negatives with each product as with anything else, so care must be taken where they are used. For wood stripping, I would say that OUR favorite is HD-80, as it is the most versatile or all-around product. It will strip oil and most acrylic based products. (I must note that there are a couple of other products that I understand are also very good, but we have not worked with those to this point.) We have also used SafeStrip which is a very safe and mild stripper that works on Wolman F&P, TWP and Thompsons and is extremely gentle on cedar and will minimize furring. EFC-38 is also a very good product for mild stripping needs. For the toughest jobs, we go to the solvent based products such as Bix Tuff-Job, Dad's, or Wolman A&L (very expensive). Bix and Dad's work very well on urethane based stains such as some of Cabot products. I understand Back to Nature II is also a good product for removing acrylic based finishes.

Krud Kutter Original is a good product. Rob, I can't understand why you couldn't get the other products to work for you. I did some side-by-side testing on several surfaces and Krud Kutter Original came in third (although in a couple of instances by only a very thin margin) - my opinion along with a second set of eyes. The test involved 4 products. The tests were (as I said) literally side-by-side, with 1:2 dilution, 1:1 dilution and concentrated. My tests were with and without using a brush. In the brushing tests no dwell time was allowed. In the brushless tests, dwell was timed with a stop watch at 15 second intervals, up to 2 minutes. All 4 of the products we tested produced acceptable results to varying degrees in removing black streaks from gutters along with removing mold and mildew.

Hello Dave, Ants seem to take a lot of pleasure from the buds before they bloom. Can't seem to stay away. Memorial day weekend is the biggest shopping weekend for plants and flowers around this area (I would assume Illinois and most other mid-western states also). I had some errands to run on Sunday and the parking lots were jammed everywhere. Home Depot, Lowe's and grocery stores all packed and seemed like almost every shopping cart had flowers or plants in them. Can't say I've ever seen it this active. I'm glad to see business pick-up and people enjoying what GOD and nature gave us.

I can't comment on the Deckster in actual use, but I've heard folks say that the airless provides better control for spraying stains. Again this is not my opinion but comments from other pros. I would say that the Deckster is a low pressure unit (25-225psi) and high flow rate capacity (.1 gpm to 1.5 gpm) whereas the others have a higher pressure capability from 0-2500 plus psi. There are some very good airless systems out there for the full time user. Two good candidates I would recommend are the Graco 190ES and the Titan 440i (both electric and complete systems). Both are very portable and cover a wide range of applications. I prefer the Titan 440i over the 190 ES for the flow rate and max tip size in addition to dependability. Titan 440i: 3000psi, .47 gpm, 3/4 hp, .021 max. tip Graco 190ES: .38gpm, 7/8 hp, .019 max. tip Then you also have the gas powered units like the Graco 3900 In comparison, I would also think that accessories (from tips to extension poles to hoses) and spare parts are more abundant and accessible for the Graco and Titan than the Deckster. But of course there is the price difference: Deckster is in the $500-$600 range, the 190ES is in the $575-$600 and the Titan 440i in the $900-$950.

Roses without thorns.

As I said, spraying works better than brushing for us - try that first. It's similar to painting: The more you brush, the more that the chemical is removed from the area so that increasing your dwell time does not tend to help in most cases and ends up with streaking and shadows. With brushing, you may have to apply 2 or even 3 times to remove the black streaks. I also hope that you are using a soft car type brush. Decrease your dilution 2 parts chemical to 1 part water or even full strength. Try a gallon of Gutter Zap and compare the results yourself. start with a weak 1:2 dilution working toward full strength (both brushing and spraying). I dare say that you should need no mare than 1-2 minutes of dwell time. Good Luck!

We've used All-Brite, Gutter Zap and Gutter Shock. All of these products have performed excellent, sprayed on 1:1 or even 1:2 dilution. Extremely heavy stains may need a concentrated spraying (with lots of care and some spot testing for dwell time - meaning test the product and know its capabilities before using on a customer's home). Brushing is not as effective as spraying (in my opinion) as you tend to remove/move the chemical from place to place and also it creates streaks easier, dries faster. In my experience, Sodium Hydroxide/Sodium Metasilicate combination based products tend to work better than products not containing Sodium Hydroxide. (Sodium Hydroxide content usually about 1% or less.) Sodium Hydroxide will strip paint, that is why I mentioned testing each product, concentrations and dwell times (it will also kill plant life, so pre-wet and rinse areas below gutters). What concentration/dilution were you using? What type of brush? How long was the dwell time? Attached photo shows a gutter section that had Gutter Shock sprayed on at concentrated level with 10 second dwell and rinsed with a garden hose. Same results were obtained with Gutter Zap. All-Brite produced same results but with a bit longer dwell time.

Near the end of a day one would most likely come in handy for some of us older folks. You need one that's automatic - kind of like the auto pool vacuums. That would also work well for concrete cleaning and deck sealing. Set up the berm and let it go to work.

Jon, You seem to have a very good eye for that stuff. Any of those nasty weeds growing in your garden? If you do, you must burn them immediately but do not inhale (just like Clinton).

And of course some folks just have blonde roots.

Unfortunately it makes it sound like our parents were better parents then we are, and we are better parents then our grandchildren's parents are. I agree though, everything is way too complicated today. Watched a program the other night: - Cheerleader parent sued because girl did not make team. - Boys parent sued because kid didn't make college baseball team. - Parent sued because team had too many loosing seasons (wish someone would sue Mike Brown and the NFL, as the Bengals have had 10+ years of loosing seasons - worst record in the league). - Parent sued because baseball player kids arm was hurt from pitching finness pitches - where was the parent when the boy was complaining of a sore elbow?? It all reflects an attitude of lets pass the buck because someone has to be responsible, but it certainly could not have been me. I think there needs to be a class action suit to stop all frivelous law suits.

I like the Goodyear Wrangler APT for my 3/4 ton. 85K on 1st set then sold them for $20 each. I think I switched right front to right rear and same on the left side at about 45K and that was it. Load rating is very high also (I carry about 5-6K lbs of gravel without it sighing.) The kicker is that they run about $200 a piece now unless you can work out a barter with the store (cleaning vs tires). I do some bartering from time to time and that works out pretty well.

Joel, Best wishes go out to you along with hope for a long and profitable career in the P/W business. You know you have a lot of friends out here so don't feel like you're out there by yourself.

Can we talk oil based semi-transparent stain theory? Hopefully some experts will jump in and offer corrections and additional expert advice/information. Without talking product quality, could it be said that most (maybe not all) oil based stains can be coated over with only cleaning? The less failure level, the thinner coat should be applied for maintenance coat? Some of the factors impacting the quality of results would be: - You expect some failure before you apply a maintenance coat as with a semi-transparent stain, a recoat, especially ones that contain a significant amount of pigmentation will cause the semi-transparent to turn into a semi-solid or solid surface coating (unless it reaches a level of failure prior to becoming a solid look). - Too thick of a coating will cause a higher rate of failure on all surfaces but especially on horizontal surfaces. - I'm not sure what other items are considered solids except all that does not evaporate (these would include pigmentation and non-evaporating oils). Again, I'm not sure how the percent of solids in stains determines life and overall quality, but the assumption is that the higher levels provide higher quality. Example: Cuprinol at 18%; TWP at 30%; Cabot at 44%; Wolman F&P at 68%; Ready Seal and Wood Tux with 80% plus. Based on this criterion, (and assuming that the mildewcide content provides adequate protection against mold & mildew) you could say that Wood Tux is one of the top quality stains on the market. So you ask: "What's your point?" I'm trying to check my assumptions and learn a thing or two.

Most folks at one time or another want to know how to convert miles to kilometers or liters to gallons, how much is an acre, how to size pulleys, motors, belt lengths, what metals are stronger, have more corrosion resistance, stock sizes, what is a tap drill for a 1/4"-20 tap, etc., etc., etc. The know it all reference book used by mechanical designers and engineers is the Machinery Handbook. (There are others specific to electrical, HVAC and fluid power). The contents of the Machinery Handbook are extensive. It contains: conversion charts, material selection and properties, geometry formulas, HP formulas, pulley and belt length calculations, tap drill and tap size charts, trig formulas, stress, deflection and other formulas, etc., etc. This is the Bible and major reference book of all mechanical designers and engineers. It is expensive in the $100 range, but it's a reference book for a life-time. On the other end of the financial scale (FREE), lot of product manufacturers place charts and formulas in their catalogs. I always make it a habit to get a paper catolog even when on-line access is available - I don't always want to take my laptop into the shop. Here are a two that have a wealth of info on parts, materials and references: Dultmeier (www.Dultmeier.com) - Distributor of a wide range of excellent product and parts for the pressure washing and other service industries. - Nozzle Volume chart - Nozzle Pattern chart - Hose Friction chart - Water through Hose Flow Data graph - Viscosity Measures - Pipe and Tubing chart - Pump and system hook-up diagrams - Motor Frame charts - Pulley selection chart - Weights & Measures - Conversion Factors and Formulas ChemMasters (www.ChemMasters.net) - Mfg. of concrete products such as repair mortars, cures and seals, concrete and masonry sealers, coatings and toppings, cleaners and solvents. - Conversion charts (about 15 pages worth) - Building material weights - Water/Cementweights - Temperature Conversion - Concrete Estimator - Solids Coating Coverage Call them or e-mail them for a copy of their catalogs.

I don't know about you folks, but anytime I'm willing to prepare my BBQ baby back ribs and fried red cabbage/sauer kraut dish, no one wants to go and eat at a restaurant. I had 3 satisfied mothers at our dinner table for Mother's day. I won't show you after photos as it got pretty ugly (never seen mothers fighting over ribs like that), bones everywhere. After the storm, they were all napping like babies. What a pleasant site. This is the first batch on the grill:

Can't stay on the floor too long now days, even the slow ones take it out of me. Torn ligaments in ankle, bad back (moved too much furniture and appliances by myself in my life - now I'm paying for it) not to mention a couple more things that slow me down. Water activities I can handle real well. I try local foods wherever I go. Florida lobster tastes different from main lobster (where are the claws?) - I like them both. I've tasted no less than 100 types conch chowder - liked maybe about 25% as (far as conch chowder goes) all the others were either tomato or vegetable soups. I'm a soup person myself. Ever try cold sour cherry soup? Best after it's refrigerated. I put Merlot in mine toward the end of the cooking process (keeps it from evaporating) and keeps everyone coming back for seconds. There are other cold fruit soups also for summertime - apple, raspberry or just about any other soup. Give me an example of winter food (I can't think of one at the moment other than hot soup). The swing will use up about all the calories you can consume. One set of our kids took up swing a while ago (he's 6'-4" 240 and she is 4' something - size 0 ) talk about lift and throw. My better half loves to watch ballroom dancing - she's got a few moves herself.

All that just to haul around a couple gallons of water (and a bulldozer).

Howard, Some days you step in it and other days it gets poured over your head. I've had many turns in the barrel. Lets just say I accentuate the positive. I like my beer glass half full. As for bonding with the Bubba's, those were the good old days. Talk about glasses - Today I backed over a couple of driveway lights in a customer's DRIVEWAY (I wasn't drinking - maybe that was the problem). Now I know why these guys don't let me drive a trailer, I would have backed over about 10 lights (might as well replace them in sets). No harm done, everyone laughed when I handed over some cash. In some circles I ran a few years ago, if you didn't hit a golf ball, you didn't get the work. I love any sport where you can drink and play and drive around a cart full of beer. Didn't care for the crowd - too restrictive - I like to play outside of the sandbox from time to time. Beth, I took some steps to disco myself and even line danced with my soul sisters and brothers. And it's always summer, if you want it to be - winter is the best time to vacation in the tropics. Eastcoast crab is great, but if you haven't tried stone crab claws, you've missed the boat.

This is my third try before I have to put my fat fingers on a diet - keep mashing a button that keeps erasing everything (I know... Type it in word and cut & paste), blah, blah, blah.. Any time you have a shady situation (same as with a house) the door is open for mold, mildew and moss. The moisture can not dry. The owners need to keep the leaves, branches, dirt, debris and standing water off the surface. Several cleanings are also in order, be it the owners or contract a pro. I would say at least in the spring and fall and keep a close eye on it inbetween. Whatever product you choose, consider adding mildewcide in addition to what is already in the product. If it was my (shady) deck, I would consider a Cabot solid with urethane. A primer coat and two top coats. Same cleaning and maintenance requirements, but your stripping would be minimized in frequency and with a solid, not all would have to come off. Some food for thought.

Observations: The house is on a corner of a 4-way intersection in a semi busy but upscale neighborhood where most lots are about 1 acre minimum. The garage doors are facing the street and several houses. The owner is maticulous. The owner likes restoring cars (has many trophies to show for it). The 3-car garage is the man's club-house. The owner has neighbors and friends that drive by and frequently make stops. Strategy: The cleaning of the garage front was given EXTRA special attention. Gutters shined, garage door brush scrubbed and the garage and garage entry door windows were cleaned inside and out. 2 hour B.S. session followed the completion of the work. The results were: The garage floor will be cleaned & epoxy coated. The driveway will be cleaned and sealed. (Old contractor out, new contractor in.) Walkways and porch will be cleaned and sealed. Owner's brothers house will be cleaned. Brother's driveway will be cleaned and sealed along with walkways and porch. Brother's garage will be cleaned & epoxy coated. 2 neighbor houses will be cleaned (they noticed the extra care and hand brushing detail work that was given to the garage doors. They also noticed the shiny new gutters and wanted ones just like those. Bottom line: $4,500 work lined up while drinking beer and talking about cars. This is the tip of the iceberg in this area.