Beth n Rod 1,279 Report post Posted January 29, 2005 What do you find breaks down or wears out most in this field? I find that sprayers are my biggest downtime creators. Rod~ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Pams Pressure & Clean 64 Report post Posted January 29, 2005 Yup.. Pump-ups seem to fail faster than just about everything except regular disposable type items like pads I found that for the most part, spending big bucks on the newest fanciest sprayer does not guarantee anything.. As a matter of fact, the best ones we get seem to be the $9.00 ones from Kmart. We do take them apart pretty regular tho to clean and lubricate the rubber packings in the pump body and that seems to help for long life.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 seymore 90 Report post Posted January 29, 2005 My shur flo pumps have problems every now and then.I like to carry 2 extra pumps for cleaning and staining.I actually carry 2 of everything wands,pumps,pick up tubes,batteries etc. I did have a hose on my wand burst on me the other day shooting sealant allover me that was fun! It was a good thing i was not near the house or any stone.It happened out in the middle of the deck Whewww! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Beth n Rod 1,279 Report post Posted January 30, 2005 $9.00 !!! Thats unheard of Cujo... I'll have to check that out. Last time I bought a cheap sprayer, the hose was about 2 1/2 feet long and the seals leaked around the fill spout. Seymore, We had a connection break on a peice of equipment that was hooked up to our Decker 5'er and it pumped out a huge amount of sealant all over the deck. We scrambled!!! I urgently told everyone to grab a stain pad and start spreading it out, I flew down the stairs to shut off the unit, ran back up and helped. We had about a half a gallon that went between the floor boards down below but fortunately, we had already placed a tarp below to protect the landscape gravel and various homeowner pieces of equipment. We added a length of 4 mil plastic below it to prevent leaking through the tarp. Another horror story from the field! :) Rod~ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 seymore 90 Report post Posted January 30, 2005 Rod, WOW that must have been scary!! I was lucky and didn't have anything under my deck but dirt. The only bad thing about my problem was the stain was gushing out allover my face.It made me realize how important SAFTEY glasses are!! :cool: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 newlook 265 Report post Posted January 30, 2005 I would be interested to hear more on the K-Mart special. We buy our pumpups from Ace. They always have something going wrong with them. I never even considered going to K-Mart to explore this option. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 seymore 90 Report post Posted January 30, 2005 What do most of you use pump up's for spraying chems or stain? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 newlook 265 Report post Posted January 30, 2005 chems for me Shane...I do not get into the wood/staining business too much. I am still a novice in that area. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Pams Pressure & Clean 64 Report post Posted January 30, 2005 Go look in the back garden section of KMart.. You will find the El Cheepo type of 2 1/2 gallon sprayer.. I try to wait till they are on sale and go get a few of them.. Understand that this is exactly what the price implies.. an el-cheepo sprayer. The hose is a bit short, the tank is small, the wand is plastic and all the other stuff you don't get with a $50.00 sprayer.. but it's virtually disposable. I have no less than a half dozen sprayers in the back of the shop that I paid upwards of $30.00 to $50.00 each for. ALL of them are now junk.. Busted seals, broken pumps, bad triggers..all that type of stuff.. And replacement parts are so hard to find that it's hardly worth the effort..I just have to find it within me to put them in the trash.. So, for my money.. it's the El Cheepo brand.. use 'em till they puke and chuck 'em. The odd part is that they seem to last longer than the high dollar ones.. :rolleyes: go figure!! Shane, I use pump ups mostly for chems..for up close and careful application.. otherwise it's the X-Jet or the Deckster. Very rarely use a pump up for stain.. Again it's the Deckster for that and hand brush or pad when the necessary. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Henry B. 4 Report post Posted January 30, 2005 I may have to check out the deckster, I've heard a lot about it and the hurricane brush but I guess I'm just an old school pw guy..lol For sprayers, I use one from northern tool it's a yellow backpack sprayer and it holds about 4.5 gallons. I buy new ones every year for about $50 each and they usually last all year long, with minimal maintenance (or none..lol) I'm sure they would last longer if we took better care of them but we use them SO much I just decide to abuse them and trash them when they start having problems. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 CCPC 26 Report post Posted January 30, 2005 I have a flomaster back back sprayer from Home Depot which I have had returned and replaced 4 times. They have a 5 year warrenty on them so everytime one breaks I take it back to home depot and they give me a replacement. I will continue to do this till I get my five years out of them as promised. I don't however, voulenteer the fact that I use some caustics which the documation says the sprayer is not supposed to be used for, but thats never been the reason for them breaking so I don't feel as though I'm cheating them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 newlook 265 Report post Posted January 30, 2005 Thanks Cujo I will check it out. I have had the same experience with the sprayers that we paid good money for...after a few times squirting chemicals they just stop working. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Pams Pressure & Clean 64 Report post Posted January 31, 2005 Carlos, Yeah, for some reason the high dollar sprayers that are supposed to take just about any man made substance just crap out after about 5 minutes.. The El-Cheepo has been sitting for as many as 3 weeks with concrete cleaning acid in it and worked like a champ.. I dunno..>>shrug<< Henry, You might not want a Deckster... Once you figure out how much time you could have saved over the years.. your going to want to fire the boss.. :):):) We figure our deck efficiency has jumped no less than 40% since we got the unit. Fences?? Efficiency ratings absolutley off the scale.. I have done both sides of a 6' tall and 250' long pressure treated privacy fence with 2 coats of Ready Seal in a little under 3 hours. Cujo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Henry B. 4 Report post Posted January 31, 2005 Henry, You might not want a Deckster... Once you figure out how much time you could have saved over the years.. your going to want to fire the boss.. :):):) We figure our deck efficiency has jumped no less than 40% since we got the unit. Fences?? Efficiency ratings absolutley off the scale.. I have done both sides of a 6' tall and 250' long pressure treated privacy fence with 2 coats of Ready Seal in a little under 3 hours. Cujo The sprayers we use now will do about the same on fences if not a tiny bit faster. But they do have advantages and disadvantages. They hold a lot of sealer, you don't need power to use them and they put out a high volume of spray with very little air or pressure. But, sometimes they can leak if you don't check them first and you will have ready seal on your clothes..lol They can also get heavy too! Decksters are battery powered or are they run with cords? Either way, what if you don't have power or your battery dies? That's always been my biggest concern, not everyone has an outdoor outlet and running it from my truck with a converter could be done but it's one more prep step. I created a type of spray flag we use for railings and fences and it's excellent at stopping overspray and it blocks the wind also so you don't have to worry about that either. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Beth n Rod 1,279 Report post Posted January 31, 2005 You will need a spare battery. When you use the battery all day and have sealed several thousand sq. ft. of area, and sunlight is fading, so too will the battery. If you have 100 sq ft left you will kick yourself for not having one there. Always...keep an extra battery. It's no different than extra o-rings. We sell the Decker, and will have a sale on them this spring. Keep your eyes peeled!!! Beth:dancing: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Beth n Rod 1,279 Report post Posted January 31, 2005 They now only come in dc models. We prefer the battery model due to the uncertainty of power at the residence. Many like the protable unit that sits atop of a 5 gallon pail. It is a space saver for those who do not have a lot of room to transport and store them. Rod~ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Pams Pressure & Clean 64 Report post Posted February 1, 2005 Henry, I was tounge in cheek when I said you might not want one .. sorry.. Anyway.. We carry a spare battery. As Beth said you don't want to be without at the end of a long day... We have not ever had to use the spare, but it feels much better to have it and not want it, than to want it and not have it.. I have run mine for a whole day on a single charge.. The Decker looks to be a dead copy of a DeckSTer.. (I'm guessing that the DeckSTer is the original..if I have my time line off, plesae correct me) If true, it should be a great unit. Either way you go you will NOT be dissappointed.. I would definitely suggest a Hurricane Brush to go with it. It's pretty cool to be able to stain in the wind :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 newlook 265 Report post Posted February 1, 2005 We involve oursleves in redwood overheads/gazebos...meaning we build them as an upsale with our concrete work. We stain them before we construct them with a airless sprayer. We put the different pieces on horses and spray away. Quick question....how does the decker clean up for you. What do you run through it after you are done for the day. I will try to post a pic of one of our jobs :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 Henry B. 4 Report post Posted February 1, 2005 Hey Cujo, There's nothing to be sorry about, I knew what you meant so don't worry about it.. Even if I didn't agree it wouldn't bother me but, don't think I'm not interested just because of my comments. There is always another way to do things and in some cases the Deckster and hurricane brush would be much better than what were using now. I'm always interested in hearing what works for other people and there's always something new coming out that I may not hear about... Post away and share your knowledge and experiance! Henry,I was tounge in cheek when I said you might not want one .. sorry.. Anyway.. We carry a spare battery. As Beth said you don't want to be without at the end of a long day... We have not ever had to use the spare, but it feels much better to have it and not want it, than to want it and not have it.. I have run mine for a whole day on a single charge.. The Decker looks to be a dead copy of a DeckSTer.. (I'm guessing that the DeckSTer is the original..if I have my time line off, plesae correct me) If true, it should be a great unit. Either way you go you will NOT be dissappointed.. I would definitely suggest a Hurricane Brush to go with it. It's pretty cool to be able to stain in the wind :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 newlook 265 Report post Posted February 1, 2005 Here is one look at a gazebo that we did....oh check out the concrete also :cool: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 newlook 265 Report post Posted February 1, 2005 Heres one actually being built...peek over the fence line and you see another one that was done by us Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 seymore 90 Report post Posted February 1, 2005 Great looking arbors and patio Carlos :cool: I wish i could stain my arbors before they build them but i don't get that lucky! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 seymore 90 Report post Posted February 1, 2005 Oh yeah what kinda stain you using on those arbors? You don't wrap the post to hide the anchors? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 newlook 265 Report post Posted February 1, 2005 Shane, We used to build them first and then stain them...what a pain in the ~ you know what. Now we set up two horses ~ tarp the area off ~ and go at it. We have them stained in about 2 hours. One guy spraying (carefully) and the I have another go behind him and roll it with a 3/8" mini roller. Bt the time they are done we have the braces and studs already in place. Pretty smooth operation. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 newlook 265 Report post Posted February 1, 2005 Behr Premium - Cedartone. Tell me a little bit more about wrapping to hide the anchors? What would I do? Thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
0 seymore 90 Report post Posted February 1, 2005 Ahh ok Behr is that a oil based never used it before? I've seen some guys wrap the post with 3/4 or 1/2" cedar which is mostly what i stain. For those arbors with anchors you could make a trim on the bottom to cover them.Take some 2x2's and cut @45's to trip the base. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
What do you find breaks down or wears out most in this field?
I find that sprayers are my biggest downtime creators.
Rod~
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