Paul B.

Looked at the weather forecast and they are calling for rain everyday over the next 7 day period. Time to polish and maintain the equipment and do some team building. We'll wait a couple of days before starting to build the boat.

Being in agreement with Beth & Tony, I would like to add as a general statement the following: Testing a small area first is the best method to find out what strength stripper should be used on each job that will give you the balance of speed and desired results. Some of the pros like to use a mix that is the least distressing to the wood and minimize opportunities for furring, which in effect minimizes the need to de-furr / sand. The size of the job will also help to determine if testing is a worthwhile effort.

Sounds interesting. Have you used Dawn for this type of application? I was thinking of a sheeting agent. I was concerned of trapping stripper between plastic and the wood. I think the top landing is the only area that proposes a headache. If it was flat wood, it wood be a piece of cake. The recesses make it a bit more challanging. Thanks Ron!

As I said, try warm to hot water in a small area to see what effect this may have. Additional rinsing should help if it's salt that you are seeing. May want to let it sit for a few days and check other areas if it's bleaching then these should darken with time. Attached is a photo of an anodized aluminum pole that was left in a swimming pool for a day (maybe 2). You can see the salt build-up from the chlorine (I tasted it).

Photo #6 (last one): This shows the opening off the bottom of the X-jet where the small proportioners would get inserted. As I said, we don't use these, as it's much easier to do some pre-calculations of ratios and mix everything to the proportion in the pails. Fire at will with any questions you may have. Others may have different or better set-ups, so hopefully they will post also (we'll see).

Photo #5: Aluminum hand cart folded up.

Photo #4: This is the 5 gallon pail set-up. Again the QD does not come with the pail (too bad, bacause without it, screwing the top on and on is next to impossible and you don't want to push and pull the hose on and off the barb all the time). The QD was our add-on.

This is photo #3: This is our 20 gallon tank set-up on an aluminum hand truck (truck weighs about 9 pounds). We replaced the hose that comes with the kit with a 50 ft long hose and placed a plastic pick up filter on the end of it. Hand cart can be purchased at Home Depot and other hardware stores. The 20 gallon poly container can be purchased from several places including ESpec or Ron Strickland at Xterior Ron also sells the X-Jet and the 5 gallon pail that I'll post a photo of also. As a matter of fact, other than the hand truck and bunjees, Ron could supply you with all the parts you would need to put it together. If you make him an offer ($$$) he can't refuse, I'm sure he could even provide those for you. Make sure you get Xterior's catalog as it has lots of photos and a wide selection of parts to look at.

Here is photo #2: This photo shows the X-Jet with the Close-up attachment in place and the QD disconnected.

Here is photo #1: From Right to Left: - Wand with 1/4" QD - X-Jet Nozzle with 1/4" QD (hose T-ing out of bottom is the chemical pick-up line) - Far left is the close-up attachment which screws into the dicharge end of X-Jet From Top to Bottom: - Pick-up hose to 1/4" QD (this is our set-up that we added - is not provided in the kit) - The plastic Ball Valve to shut-off flow of chemicals during rinsing (We replaced the plastic hose clamps with stainless steel ones as they hold much better).

Joe, The X-Jet kit gets hooked on to the end of the wand via 1/4" QD (quick disconnect). It works on a venturi effect and sucks the chemical thru an attached tube that T's out at the bottom. The draw amount or ratio of draw is different for each pressure washer so you should test it with your set-up. The line that T's out of the body of the X-Jet has a 3/8"ID (inside diameter) poly hose attached (I believe the kit comes with about a 19ft hose). On that hose, about 2 feet from the X-Jet is a plastic ball valve (comes with kit) that can be used to shut off the flow of chemicals when pre-wetting and rinsing); opened when you want to apply the chemicals. The other end of the hose has a filter that gets placed into a pail of your choice. I have some photos attached to go with the descriptions to make it a bit easier. The X-Jet when properly sized to your unit should exhaust (spit out) a stream that should shoot about 20-25 ft in the air (without wind). The kit also cames with a set of proportioner which plug into the end of the pick-up T orifice. These are used to achive different draw rates such as 1:10, 1:16, 1:25; 1:40 to name a few. I believe it comes with (14 different color coded proportioners). Personally, we dont use these, but mix the chemicals in the pails to get the desired proportions with the X-Jet in the open or un-proportioned manner. I've seen it both ways, so you should ask when you purchase for the Close-up nozzle which screws into the discharge end of the X-Jet and allows you to use it to spray close ups such as ground floor of house siding; applying solutions to driveways; some folks also use it to apply solutions to decks. Our set up changed proportions as we went from X-Jet open to Close-up attachment so you should check your set-up also. Folks I talked to say the ratio should stay the same, but the numbers don't lie (We've lived with it and made adjustments, but I'm working to resolve it.)

Photo #3 The area under the landing is enclosed at the top.

Photo #2 Areas of concern.

Wet in southwest Ohio too. My notes for my estimates are unreadable from the rain. Need to get the scuba board and grease pencil out. Thank goodness for photos and tape recorders though. I got caught in a rainstorm yesterday also. Two estimates in the rain. I'm like the post man - except I head south in the winter. It was pooring down in sheets. Topped off my pool; save a bit on the water bill - of course I'll spend 2x that on gas for my lawn tractor. Grass grew 5 inches in 2 days. I swear I'm cutting it every 2 days. Grass cutting is not bad when there's someone to hand me a beer on every other pass. I need to rig up my cooler like I did last year. Everyone wanted to cut my lawn for some reason. Paperwork sucks, especially when it's nice outside. That's why the laptop comes in handy.

I have not heard of 16 gallon size drum either. But I've seen the the rectangular ones. I thought the 42 gallon size drum was a bizzare size but that's how they ship crude oil. My world is getting larger every day!

As I stated, SH is date sensetive - 90 days max. avg. from date of mfg. and strength decreases daily, even unopened. (SH works better in sun than in shade). I purchased 6 cases from a pool supply house last year and used 3 on my pool over a 2 day period w/o results. I had it tested and it was flat. Needless to say I dont buy from anyone alse except people that turn it over quickly - I have one supplier. I would also suggest getting a supply of EFC-38 from TheGrimeScene as it's not only a good cleaner for decks but also can be mixed as a stripper and also mixed for use on house cleaning. If I ever saw a product that was flexible, this would be it. All the directions are on the tub so the mixing is easy even before your first cup of coffee in the morning. Like I said try some warm to hot water on a few spots to see how it reacts before spending a bunch of time on the whole deck. Test small areas then go full scale. Good Luck!

I have a couple of estimates to do so this is brief (I'm heading out the door). Will follow up this afternoon. Salt and Efflorescence behaves in that fashion on other substrates. When you wet it, it disappears but as it dries, it reappears. Warm water will help dissolve it quickest but should be careful with it on wood. Again it could also be a bleached effect that you are seeing. But Sodium Hypochlorite (12-14% content) has a pH between 11-13.5 at 20 degrees C. Yes, acid based cleaner should neutralize the salt. I use acid based cleaner to remove efflorescence from bricks. Local Sears hardware has Wolman deck cleaner brightener that's a percarb based crystal (off the top of my head I don't recall the comparative content to EFC-38 - EFC-38 is overall a much better product).

One thing that is curious about Ready Seal: They didn't (don't) offer color charts or the fan type wood color sampler (like TWP or SuperDeck). Or has that been changed? I was going to make up a sampler package on photo paper from the color selector on their web site but their quality has a lot of room for improvement. (I'm aware of all the hazards of color variations but I like to have a basis or point to start from.) I was told I could have samples to make my own. I have product samples, but it's hard to carry the shadowbox fence to the customers house. Like I said, I'm only an average sales person - I look for all the visual aids / help I can get (I believe a piture tells a thousand words). I have color charts for all the stains I present to the customer. Is anyone willing to share good quality photos of RS in action for my customer presentation? A couple in each color would make for a good start. I will promise not to claim it as Genesis work. (I'm trying to be creative so I had to ask.) I wish the manufacturers and these distributors would try to help make the contractor's life a bit easier. Where are the old days when they would literally trip over you to help? When I find a good service oriented distributor I try to reward them as they are few and far between (sorry to say that). This is a general statement and is not intended to reflect on any specific distributor.

Tony, Sent you an e-mail. Appreciate all input and info. Ready Seal claims 85-90% solids content (by weight) TWP's (2003 info) claims 30% solids their previous claim was 34%-42%. Wolman F&P claims 68% solids content (by weight). Cabot 1400 series Solid Decking Stains claim 34-44% solids (by weight) Cuprinol claims 18-20% solids (by weight) What is solid content of Wood Tux? Quality 1st, ...then price. That rule is overridden only if quality difference is minor and price difference is significant.

Sodium Hypochlorite comes from salt and then turns back into salt as it breaks down. There is a large debate about using it on wood as it CAN break down the wood structure. It has a bleaching or whitening effect. You could be seeing that. (Personally, I avoid using it on decks.) A photo would come in handy in this type of situation. What protection or sealer / stain is on the wood now? Is it in good shape? Sight unseen, I would agree with Morgan on rinsing, rinsing and if the problem persists, try a light mix of EFC-38 precarb cleaner apply and rinse with low pressure (no more than 500-800psi). Another issue with Sodium Hypochlorite is that it only has a shelf life of about 90 days from time of mfg. (give or take). It's a shame that most containers are not date stamped. I purchase my supply from a local pool supply store because he buys it directly from the local manufacturer and can provide expiration dates for me. I date all our supply.

It's amazing the priority a dictator like Saddam has, while people go hungry and the average worker makes about $2 per week: 50 palaces - spent 90 billion dollars on them in a 10 year period. Now this from a newsclip from AP this morning: "The entire country is almost like an ammunitions and weapons dump. And they've placed them in places you would not expect," he said. "There are weapons here from every country in the world that makes weapons." In the northern city of Mosul, 153 arms caches had already been found, one containing 1.2 million mortar rounds and 65,000 artillery shells. Some 150 arms and ammunition sites have been discovered in Baghdad." Trade the weapons in for food & medicine!

With all that money, they could have afforded to buy or build their own bank (1st National Bank of Saddam). Of course that would leave a paper trail. What's interesting is that they didn't care about leaving a paper trail of the executions, killings and top secret stuff, but they were careful with the money trail. Do you know that it is very hard to hide money trail in this country (especially large sums). Any amount over $8K going through a bank is reported to the feds. Checks leave a large paper trail; credit cards leave a paper trail. I like to play mental games (I know, I need a shrink) sometimes and see what it would take to get around things and with the systems that are set up, big brother would not have trouble keeping an eye on 90% of the population in this country. The only thing to slow them down is the magnitude of info, but even that's not a barrier anymore with the speed increases in computers. I was watching this program where they were opening criminal cases from 10-15 years ago - with the new computer systems they are able to search and find in 5 minutes what they struggled with for months (finger prints in specific was one area). In 5 minutes they are able to search and cross check in a data base of 5-7 million. Manually, this would be the preverbial needle in a hay stack scanerio.

I have a couple sources, but I would have to dig a bit for it if you still needed it. Sounds like you took care of it the round-about way.

Memorize that handbook and you can take the equivalency test to become a professional mechanical engineer. They allowed people to do that in the 70's and 80's but I don't know if that has changed or not. I still use it quite a bit. What edition is yours? I worked with an old timer that had like the 7th eddition. We had to buy him another one so he could keep up with the new technology.

We were kicking around a few company mottos today and our winner was: "Genesis Pressure Cleaning - We Promise Not to Hose You!" ...OK, so there was beer flowing ...there were other ideas also, but the barmaid took the napkins and ........