ESI Products Boost Review Removing Behr Acrlic

[Aplus 525]

Here was a 14 year old, extremely weathered, 10x44 cedar deck that had multiple coats of stain. The deck is located in a condo complex with rows of similar decks.

The last two coats, applied over the past two years, were Behr Alkyd/Acrylic. See here...http://www.behr.com/behrx/act/view/products_detail?prodGroupId=68&catName=Wood+Stains&catId=12

The homeowner indicated he washed the deck and applied the stain overtop whatever other finish was on the deck. It appeared to be a light beige finish of some kind, maybe Olympic, based on the color.

There were so many layers, the finish almost looked semi-solid, or opaque. The homeowner really wanted to get back the semi transparent look, and liked many of his neighbors decks, which I have been restoring for many years. It was to be TWP Cedar Tone.

Since the homeowner had a can of the nasty stuff in his garage, I was able to see exactly what the top two layers were, but didn't know for sure what was below.

I told Mr. homeowner I would need to conduct a test patch in order to see if the stain could be adequately removed to allow for a new semi-transparent stain to be applied, as well as look decent.

First I mixed up a small batch of HD-80 at full strength, and applied to some vertical surfaces as well as fascia boards, and an area of the floor. The mix was allowed to dwell about 20 minutes.

The washer was fired up, with a 2509 tip installed. At best, maybe 50% of the stain came off, no where near enough for the deck to be restained with a semi-tran.

So out to the trailer I go, retrieving a fresh gallon of Boost that I just ordered from Russ. I mix in an appropriate amount, and immediately, the pail of brew starts fizzing and hissing like a volcano about to erupt. Heat is emanating like crazy. The smell is so powerful that the fumes were burning my eyes, and I could slightly smell the odor right thru my 3m respirator. By this time, my helper was backing further away, fully aware of the powerful odor.

I start spraying the mix on another test area as well as the area that I previously tested, about a 5x10 area. Within 5 minutes, the old finish was visibly lifting and dissolving. We wait another 15 minutes and perform the finger scratch test.....the old layers were melting off.

So I crank up the washer again, and attempt another wash. This time, the old finish was washing almost completely off, a good 95% coming off with minmal effort, and about 600psi.

When applying the boosted mix to the deck, a white foam immediately appeared, kind of looked like the appearance when applying a percarbonate cleaner.

Four hours later, the deck was completely washed, rinsed about a million times, because the white foam kept coming back, and I felt sure there was still stripper lurking in the weathered craters....err cracks in the 14 year old lumber.

I applied a nice strong citric acid bath, and the old cedar deck quickly turned from almost black, to a pleasant orangey cedar look. It was what I fondly call, the Kodak Moment.

After all the brightening was done, a thorough inspection revealed that the boosted stripper worked quite well, only slight tell tale signs mostly visable around the knots in the wood. It was really difficult to tell just how well the mix worked until the brightening stage was complete.

As expected, the homeowner was quite pleased when I informed him that applying the TWP CedarTone would be no problem, and that the knots may be a little darker, but will still look good.

If anybody has any questions, don't hesitate to ask, but I can fully recommend that every wood restoration expert should have some of the Boost product in their arsenal.

Previously I reported that the Boost did not do an adequate job removing a solid latex stain, and I stand by that finding. However, as I did previously mention in other threads, the Boost is the ideal solution for many other stubborn semi transparent stains.

The attached pictures show a corner of the deck unwashed, the same area after washing and brightening, and a look at the Boost in the mix in a bucket, showing what it looked like.

I wish I could have taken more pics, and some during the action, but I had my hands full as it was just getting the job done. Plus, I didn't really want to chance getting any mix on the camera, even if it is only a cheapie 2mp job.

[sturgisjr 14]

Where are the pictures?

I've never used Boost, just straight HD-80 or F-18. With a little patience and at least one more application after 30 minutes, it usually (from my experience) will take at least 90% off.

I am debating on whether or not it (boost) will be an asset to me. If I use F-18, will the boost work with that? How much will it benefit me in terms of cost vs. time?

I did a Behr Hunter Green Solid Stain Acrylic Deck last year and was able to put down WoodTux Warm Honey Gold and it looked great. That deck was the Masterpiece of my first year as a wood restoration professional and am doing several of these kinds of decks this season. So far, so good, but I still debate on whether or not to have the boost.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Hey Tony, can't wait to see the pics.

Beth

[PressurePros 249]

Tony, you missed your true calling as a novelist. I was reading your story and my heart started racing. I couldn't read fast enough to find out the fate of the goliath Behr versus David and his rock or in this case the 80 and some boost. Looking forward to seeing those pics, thanks for sharing the story.

[newlook 265]

Pressure Pros ~ same with me. I felt like I was in the middle of a Tom Clancy novel :). I was waiting for a "STAIN MONSTER" to suddenly appear and take one of Tony's helpers ... :)

[Russell Cissell 65]

I was about to have a heart attack myself! I love this job!

Tony, I would like to talk with you about this experience when you've got a min. There were a couple of things there that I would like more details on.

We have found that the dwell time for laytex can be very very long as much as 30 min per layer (or color change). If you give it the dwell time. . .eventually. . .it will work. From what we have found in lab tests it would be slightly easier to just convince people to stop putting laytex type products on exterior wood.

As for most other finishes HD-80 with the liquid BOOST seems to speed the process up quite a bit.

I appreciate your product review!

Best of Luck

Russell

[Russell Cissell 65]

Sturgisjr-

Do not use BOOST with F-18.

Do not mix any of ESI's products with or use in cobination with any other products. The only exception to this is that you can use any acidic neutralizer after HD-80.

We develope very specific formulations here and they are not cross compatible with many other cleaners both on the shelf and on the web. Feel free to call me direct any time you have a question or would like help with something. Remember, the most important thing is SAFETY. Safety before profit every time!

Best of Luck

Russell

[Aplus 525]

OK......Believe it or not, my internet connection crapped out last night, and I was unable to get the pictures posted because they were too large to upload. Well, I shrink them down, and try to upload, and poop.......thank you Comcast.

Anyway, here are the pictures......

[Aplus 525]

Here are some more.....

[Aplus 525]

And the final one...

These pictures really don't do the justice that I would have liked, but have to settle with. I'll post completed pictures when available.

[sturgisjr 14]

Thank you Russell... That's why I asked. I want to make sure I use all my products correctly.

I will be in contact with you soon.

APlus... That is a great result and your review on the boost encourages me to want to add it to my arsenal for a deck I am doing in 2 weeks.

[reed 500]

Tony or Russ, with the boost added, how is it to spray? Is it thick and will have trouble getting it through my deckster?

reed

[Celeste 341]

Tony, other than the fumes, did you have any other pointers for us that are going to be trying out the Boost? Is this stuff something that you should be wearing full body protection with? We don't want to scare the homeowner to death :)

Celeste

[Aplus 525]

Reed,

It sprays exactly the same. The boost additive is a clear liquid with a consistancy of water. The only difference we noticed is tremendous foaming, and we had to rinse many many times, and still felt like it could have been rinsed more. Any more water and we might have created another Great Lake.

Celeste,

Hopefully Russ will expound more, but the observations were this: The product became very hot inside the bucket as it was mixed. The odor was very strong, and at times I could smell it even through my quality 3m respirator. The fumes were strong on the eyes. I wore goggles, and thick quality rubber gloves that went half way up my arms. I always wear tall rubber boots, a hat, and respirator, so it was not a big inconvienance. Fortunately, none of the chemical touched my skin, so I can't say anything in that regard.

As is the case of any other deck restoration, I have the customer keep all windows facing the deck area closed during the process, and completely rinse the entire area upon completion.

I was surprised that as strong as the chems seemed to be, there was minimal furring, much less than other jobs have produced. Of course washing at about 500psi helps too.

Here are the final pictures, some showing the deck stripped and dry, and the others with TWP applied and still wet. As I mentioned, the camera is not the greatest, and when I tweaked the size to allow me to upload it, the quality seemed affected as well.

[Aplus 525]

Here's the last....

[Celeste 341]

Lovely work as usual Tony! ( I still think those four years of taking anything that came along had to have helped:))

Celeste

[seymore 90]

I see some missed spots in the cracks ;)

nice job :cool:

[Aplus 525]

Shane,

There were a few spots where some of an old beige stain would not come off with the chems alone.

Those areas in the cracks that look missed are actually areas where some of the old stain didn't remove completely, and the TWP couldn't penetrate. I'm going back with a 4" putty knife to clear the area between the boards, and do a light touchup.

This deck was not sanded or detailed before staining. It is 15 years old, and very poorly cared for. There was a fair amount of rot happening on the wood, very splintery and rough, with chasm like cracks in it. Carpenter bees have whittled away, and many of the knots have fallen out, or are rotting. With over 76 linear feet of railing, it was not cost effective for the customer to spend the dollars for all the extra labor that would have been required. If the wood on the deck had been in reasonably good condition it would have been worth it for a complete detail. Not this stuff. The condo owner hoped it could be made to just look reasonably good for another two years, when it will be replaced.

The Boost product allowed me to deliver the service the customer wanted, at a price he was willing to pay.

It is possible that other products could have worked if extended dwell times and multiple applications were employed. Time is money. If I can spend the money to add in a jug of Boost which allows me to achieve above average results both faster and easier, then I'm all for it.

The right tool for the job.

[seymore 90]

I'm just messing with you Tony i know how it is geting the old stain out of the cracks.That's why sometimes i'm happy my stain is darker for that same reason.

You just made a very happy homeowner they have a new deck again :cool:

[Celeste 341]

Nice job Tony.

Roger

[PressurePros 249]

I was driving by the local high school and I heard..

Tony, Tony

.... he's our man, if he can't strip it..

........... noone can! yeahhh Tony!

I wondered what that was all about. Nice Job Tony, thanks for the report.

[glbrown2 15]

What is Boost? Where do you buy it?