Pressure Washers - Keep Off My Wood!

[RPetry 564]

Beautiful, well designed and built clear western red cedar deck, about 2 years old. Received a call in late October of 2011, "The stain is peeling off my new deck!" was the message. Well yeah, some brain surgeon applied a lousy water based stain on the cedar two weeks after it was built! So in November, stripped, neutralized, and did a light sanding. Job done for the year, the wood has to weather over the winter prior to staining. Came back in April of 2012, did a light cleaning and stained. Everything is hunky dory.

Received an email last month, "Help, the house washer messed up my deck!". Oh boy, this sounds like fun.

Come to learn the customer contracted a Pressure Washing Service to clean the exterior of his home. Included in the job was "Do a light cleaning of the deck surface to remove the dirt". Woodies will know where this is headed. The company blasted the snot out of the cedar, with wand marks and some minor gouges, trying to remove the existing stain with high pressure! Jesus Christos!

After some effort and customer expense, we were able to whip the wood back into shape. Stain is Ready Seal Light Oak. If anyone likes these horror stories, we're working on one now.

[steven 37]

I love the title of the thread. cant wait to hear your next story.

[Beth n Rod 1,278]

Great story Rick!!!

Beth

[RPetry 564]

I love the title of the thread. cant wait to hear your next story.

In July, received the following email from my website:

Message: Help! I have a 5-year-old cedar deck that needs to be restained. I have the feeling the contractor we hired does not know how to properly handle cedar. He powerwashed to remove the old stain and was unable to get everything off. Now he wants to restain over the parts where the old stain still remains, and everything tells me this is the wrong approach! He also did not use a cleaner/brighter -- just the pressure. I am desperate for help! This is the third contractor we've used over the years to treat our deck, and no one I've contacted in my area follows the procedures you outline on your website. Is there any chance you would come up to XXXXXXX for a job? If not, do you know of anyone in my area who could handle cedar in the correct manner? Thank you so much, XXXXXXX

Customer name and location redacted to protect the innocent.

Short story. 5 yr. old clear cedar deck. Lord knows what the 1st "contractor" did, but the stain did not last long. 2nd "contractor" applied Sikkens to the horizontal cedar and a Cabot oil to the vertical wood. Lord knows why the 2 different stains. The Cabot's lasted for two years, though dark from linseed eating mildew. The Sikkens started getting bare spots after a year. Not good. Probably due to improper wood preparation or applying the stain to high moisture content wood or both. After all, why use a moisture meter and do the job right when they cost $150 and you just want to get done and paid?

Ran up a few weekends ago to look at the mess and provide an estimate. Very sad. The 3rd, current "contractor" did as described in the above email. Blasted the cedar with just water pressure to strip Sikkens! And the Cabot oil!

Add insult to injury. Said "contractor" applied 3 different stains (1 some waterbase and 2 some oil based stains, to 2 handrails and ~ 7 cedar floorboards. I guess these were gigantic "samples". And this was over partially removed Sikkens and Cabot stains!

Where do these no nothing, foul ball "contractors" come from? The local insane asylum?

Edited August 9, 2013 by RPetry

[Patrick Rhea 15]

Cabot clear stain can turn cedar pretty dark over time I have seen, recently.

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