Masking Non-Working Areas.

[Paul B. 523]

I bid on a project that entails stripping stain from a landing/steps that is adjacent and above wood that needs to be protected during the stripping, neutralizing and sealing process. My main concern was the stripping, rinsing and neutralizing process as I envision the fluids running down the surfaces out of control.

I have a basic plan on an approach, but I was interested too see what others may have in their repertoire of tricks that would allow me to improve my skills.

Thanks for any and all input!

Attached are 3 photos.

[Paul B. 523]

Photo #2

Areas of concern.

[Paul B. 523]

Photo #3

The area under the landing is enclosed at the top.

[ron p 500]

wedge in some strips of alum. flashing. Then duct tape and plasic sheeting.

Pre-wet wood to get a cling between plastic and sideing.[add some dawn to the water]

[Paul B. 523]

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!

[Dale 16]

Paul

I did some with a similar look and was worried about the same thing..the stripper running down the channels of T-111, but if its latex paint on the siding you should be o.k. if you tape and tarp with .3 mil plastic carefully and tight.

Dale

[Johny 14]

Hi !

I wouldnt tape anything.I would use hd-80 ,8z per gal,apply sligthly carefully with a garden sprayer.Wet down the siding before i start,right after it's applied,with

a garden hose or pump up.Neutralizing,i would use citric and spray all over the place with x-jet,wouldn't hurt a thing.

I did a deck like that this spring,wet the siding,apply stripper with x-jet,got it on the siding,and rinsed off after few minutes ,no problem at all.

You are not gonna stripthat solid off in few minutes,you might clean it if got mold on it

Johny

[Johny 14]

Also when i start powewashing the stripper off i wet the siding often

jOHNY

[Aplus 525]

I would have a helper stand by keeping a constant stream of water on areas you don't want stripped.

[Littlefield 65]

Paul, lots of good advice above. I have used both methods, prewetting/ taping.

In this situation, I would probably prewet, spray stripper, and while letting stripper dwell, soak down siding.

Had a good experience of how much the stripper can be diluted, just by having water on the siding ahead of time. Stripper didn't touch it, had to wait for it to dry. This is why stripping twice in a row doesnt do much. The second application is so diluted, you're just cleaning the second time around.

Just a thought, if you prewet with an acidic solution, it would neutralize as the stripper hit it.....

[Paul B. 523]

I'm hearing a lot of good ideas - that's what I was after. Thanks!

To be honest, the stain is very faded and has been well worn off, other than a couple of areas. Wetting is most likely all that will be done. I will be there anyway on this job, as the man is a retired military person and we'll be trading stories (he's a story teller). He also has a deck on the back of the house that runs the full length - couple of trees going thru it. The deck is in total disrepair - although the lumber is in good shape. I'm going to be working to get that job - it's probably about 1600-1700 sq ft with railing and steps, etc.

I like to spend time with the customer - it's my job, it can be fun and rewarding.

[Guest rfitz]

I had a job exactly like this 2 weeks ago,

what I did was I went to the dollar store and bought shower curtain

liners, they are big and only a buck, I bought like 15, used staple gun,

and everything worked out great..

[Greg Rentschler 14]

Hi Paul,

I wouldn't even use a stripper on this job other than maybe as a booster to a percarb. There doesn't look to be enough product on there. I would mix up a stronger percarb based cleaner (maybe 12-14 ounces per gallon), test a spot, and if needed boost the percarb. I would bet it would come off :)

Greg Rentschler

TimberSeal, Inc.

866-966-3227

[Paul B. 523]

Greg, I'm with you. There is a small area on the top railing and spindles that may need some stripping action but I would have the guys try a strong mix of cleaner first. I have EFC-38 that will work on this.

Thanks!

[Joe Chadwick 14]

Greg

When you say boost the percarbs with stripper , how much do you add to the mix?

Joe

[Aplus 525]

Joe,

There is no exact formula for boosting a mix. Experience tells you a starting point, and you go from there.

[Joe Chadwick 14]

Thanks Tony. Just a little more elaboration on the boosting. From your experience what would be a good starting point be, say with a five gal. container of cleaner? And what would be your limit?

Joe

[Greg Rentschler 14]

I cant speak for any products other than our own but we normally will boost our percarb with around 3-4 ounces (volume) per gallon of TimberStrip.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

EFC-38 has already been boosted. It's got some attittude in it. It's a light duty stripper as well as a percarb. So, you could boost it, but then you are raising your cost per square foot to clean, so you may as well just use the HD-80 if a percarb is not doing it...for example if EFC-38 won't do it, hit it with HD-80. You can use less of it to do the job at a lower cost per square foot that if you boost the EFC. But if you are using another percarb, I can't speak for the contents and in that case you might be best to boost it with HD-80. I hope this helps. I have had about 2 sips of the coffee...

Percarbonates are cleaners by design and meant to clean not strip in the same fashion that a Heavy Duty (HD-80) stripper will. When you are stripping, you are removing finishes (failed or not).

Hope this helps... I sure hope there is more coffee in the pot...

Beth:cool:

[Stephen Carlson 14]

For the whatever its worth department. Painters when using paint strippers will cover the stripper with plastic to trap the moisture inside. Perhaps in this job you could lay plastic on the stripper to keep it moist so that the stripping action can continue and not dry out. Once it is dry it will not work. Or lay the plastic on the most difficult areas.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

If the stripper is designed to eat away at petroleum based products, then you may find it will eat through any plastic sheeting you lay down. We've seen it happen. Just a heads up....

Beth

[Paul B. 523]

Follow-up on the original post. I'll attach the original photos again as it looks like they were lost in the shuffle. If you are interested, bear with me as this will most likely be fairly long (my typical posts).

This was a major headache restoration even though it looks simple.

- The steps are poorly designed to the point where water stands on the boards, having no place to drain.

- The steps are 100% in the shade and only get a glimpse of sunshine as the wind blows the branches apart for a peek at the sun.

- Very high humidity as this is in the middle of heavy woods.

- The gutters were always overflowing onto the steps.

- Leaves and branches were always on the steps.

The customer cured some of the problems:

- Cut back tree branches.

- Replaced gutters with a covered type system.

- Sweeps steps regularly.

- Selected Genesis as their restoration and maintenance contractor.

- Selected Ready Seal "Dark Brown" as their stain.

[Paul B. 523]

What to use to strip the failing finish and how to mask the surface below to keep from stripping the gray finish were a few of the original questions as we started this project.

We tried a boosted percarbonate cleaner that cleaned some areas but did nothing to remove the finish in some of the areas that were protected from failure.

We also tried EFC-38, wetting the surface below (without masking) and quickly found that the mix was starting to strip the gray paint. We switched gears, and quickly masked the areas below the steps. EFC-38 did not remove the stain so we switched to HD-80. HD-80 quickly removed the Behr semi at 8 oz. per gallon. The steps were ready for neutralizing with Citralic. Citralic was applied at 8 oz. per gallon.

[Paul B. 523]

As you can see from these next photos, the step design is poor, not allowing the water to drain.

[Paul B. 523]

Another area of trapped water.

[Paul B. 523]

This photo shows the masking (typical for washing and staining).