HD-80 and Sikkens

[Johny 14]

I had a slight problem this morning.I tried to strip a deck that had old,peeling Sikkens on it.I mixed 16 oz to a gallon,applied with pump up.It stripped ok but on the railings there still was some residue,thats after i applied it 3 times.

Don't get me wrong it stripped it fine,looked 100 times better then what it did,but the owner is very picky and expects all of it to come off.I just did one section of railings and quit,i knew i won't be able to satisfy the man.

Question #1 How strong can i mix this stuff to speed up the process.What happens if i mix lets say 1 lb to 1 gal,shouldnt it work better??

#2 Is it apropriate to go up on price if it takes 3-4 applications,i can't be there for the price of 1,i would rather walk.Have too much work lined up to spend all day strippind a little deck.This guy is gonna be a real pain anyway,thats why he can't find anyone else.If i don't do it,nobody else will

Thanks Johny

[Littlefield 65]

Johny, you can only mix HD-80 so strong. I think my bucket says 8oz by weight to 1 gal of water. If you mix too strong, youj will get lots of surfectants, and not the right ratio of other ingredients. In other words, you made it a lot weaker by mixing too much powder in it.

Weird, I know. Try mixing the rate it says on the bucket, and let it dwell for 15 minutes for each layer. that would be 45 minutes to an hour of keeping it wet with stripper only, without using the PW at all. Then, try it....

Hope this helps,

[Aplus 525]

Johny,

I've had several decks with Sikkens that I couldn't get the railings acceptably stripped. Sometimes it happens no matter how many coats of HD-80 you use.

Every time I bid on a job requiring Sikkens removal, I tell the customer that I may not be able to remove all the stain, and we need to evaluate after the stripping is complete.

Typically, I find that if the Sikkens finish to be removed is two or more years old, and gets alot of sunshine, it removes easier than a deck where the finish has prematurely failed within a year, especially areas that my be in the shade more often.

I've had times where the Sikkens finish laughed at HD-80. Fortunately that doesn't happen too often. But I never walk away from a job. It's the prefect opportunity to upsell to a special two tone finish. Don't leave money on the table.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Rich,

That's an excellent point! You can only get so strong. My understanding of why, is simply this...

Water has a saturation point. You'll end up with not all of the product disolving. Having said that, what Rich said is right on. You can have too much of another ingredient added to the formula.

Take a plastic container. Stick it on a scale. make marks on it at every 2 oz. increment. Now you have a dry weight measurer. Liquid weight measuring cups do not work. Measure 8 oz. per gallon of water.

Let dwell 15 to 20 minute per coat. Take a paint stirring stick and scratch the surface. Watch for darkening wood, watch for product running, depends on what you are stripping.

Keep the surface wet with more HD-80. Never use water. It dilutes it. Remember, time is on your side. No joke, we went through 7 coats of sikkens cetol dek. It took a while. But it worked. You can charge 3 times what you do for a wash just to strip a deck if you are the only person who knows how to do it right.

Hope this helps. ;)

Beth

[Johny 14]

I stripped it today,worked fine,some residue on the railings,but after i finally set the right expectations and told the man i want to get pain regardless if all of it comes off,he was fine with the job.

I think another application after wood dried would have removed it completely

I am glad i asked about mixing,i always mixed some 12 oz per gal thinking its gonna work better

Johny