Why you should do a test spot before bidding the job!

[seymore 90]

Here are a few pics of a job i was bidding today with a beautiful Flood Acrylic cedar tone stain.I left the stripper i make myself dwell 15-20 min.I then scrubbed the few boards and then brightened w/oxalic.

The stain looks like it's wearing off and would be an easy strip but the test spot didn't come up so easy.This job was priced to clean pretty high due to the 6-8 hrs to strip 1800 sft. of this stuff off.

[Deck Guy 14]

I'm with you brother! Looks can be deceiving. No matter how much experience we get, there is no substitute for a small test spot when it comes to estimating the job.

[Chappy 138]

I did some condo decks last summer. did a test spot on similar product, acrylic, dk what brand. came up fine. but when I did the job, about 1/3 of the decks had an undercoat that wouldnt budge. I used F-18 Full strength and it wouldnt touch it. Ending up having to sand it to allow adheasion only and usied a solid stain to finish. Now that I know more, I would have sold a solid anyway or priced it to sand the whole deck. I dk if sanding would have made any difference though due to severe weathering, cracking, splintering etc. About 5k sf total deck space.

always do a test spot but some times it still doesnt help.

[Washaway 64]

Don't you guys include an 'oops factor' into your prices?

[seymore 90]

Jon, i know what you mean some sections clean up easier than others than there is the railling that's a another story.No 2 decks are ever the same when it comes to stripping them.The dwell time or chem strength will vary on how tough the old coating is still sticking to the wood in diff areas.

My oops factor is to bid the job an extra 2-3 hours for extra steps in cleaning.I would figure hourly rather than sqft. especially on tough strip jobs like this.

[Chappy 138]

Yeah, unfortunatly i hadnt done enough to experience that reality at that point. Still made money, just not enough and I hate using solids on wood. its 100 feet off the gulf of mexico. It was absolutely brutal doing this job. even with the ocean breeze, by 2 I could barely move.

here are some pix. http://forums.thegrimescene.com/showthread.php?t=4574

[Greg R 82]

Run into some ol' Spa N' Deck did ya Shane?

[seymore 90]

Run into some ol' Spa N' Deck did ya Shane?

Yep sure did Greg i'm looking forward to Wed. when i start stripping ths great stain! ;)

[seymore 90]

Here are some after cleaning pics of the Flood Acrylic stain being stripped and brightened.

[Don M. 14]

Shane, this might be a dumb question, but how did you prevent your stripper from going into the water?

[seymore 90]

I have my ancient cajun ways Don that i would gladly talk on the phone anytime you want just call.

"P.S No fish or ducks were harmed on this job " :cool:

[Neil_Asheville 114]

shane. i feel your pain, bro. I get real antsy waiting on stripper.

You mind clueing me in to what chem wand you use on your shurflo? I'm going through a few too many. Most seem to break off at the hose barb flange on the molded handle. I'm considering a few of these TriggerJet's from Rittenhouse http://www.rittenhouse.ca/asp/product.asp?PG=764

/neil

[seymore 90]

Neil,

I use the same trigger and yeah they are touchy and will break if you drop them that hose barb is pretty thin.I use a 4' brass wand with swivel tip for chems and staining.

[SQUEEKY 14]

what kinda coon-ass are you Seymore? Yankee Cajun from above baton rouge are one of dem from down south near grand isle? just striped and brightened first deck today. used HD-80... whoo- cest chaud!!!

[Barry M 73]

Shane, this might be a dumb question, but how did you prevent your stripper from going into the water?

What water? ;)

[racechaser 64]

what kinda coon-ass are you Seymore? Yankee Cajun from above baton rouge are one of dem from down south near grand isle? just striped and brightened first deck today. used HD-80... whoo- cest chaud!!!

He's a true "Acadiana" cajun. Houston has gotta be killing those Cajun ways slowly day by day. Shane are you trying to make due with crawdad burritos??

Scott

[seymore 90]

what kinda coon-ass are you Seymore? Yankee Cajun from above baton rouge are one of dem from down south near grand isle? just striped and brightened first deck today. used HD-80... whoo- cest chaud!!!

I'm from Cecilia/Breaux Bridge area and been in Tx.for the last 18 yrs.but i still bleed cayenne pepper!! :cool:

[Mike Sullivan 15]

Yep, I've learned the hard way, when in doubt do a test spot.

I had a customer who had a deck with old weathered stain on the floor and white latex rails. I recommended stripping the floor and staining it with her color of choice and just knocking off the loose white paint with straight pressure, sand smooth after drying, and priming/painting the rails with solid white latex paint.

After she saw how good the floor looked, she says "Wow, I never dreamed it would come out this good!" I changed my mind, I want the rails stripped to the bare wood also. GRRRR....groan.

So I had to make two more trips trying to please her and did my best to strip the extremely stubborn white paint with nasty/bad for the environment toxic Methlyene Chloride. Nothing else would touch it. After going over it twice and wasting my time and money, I respectfully declined continueing on the rails. Part of my problem was the weather. I forgot to read the can of stripper, it says the temperature should be over 65 degrees to work properly. It was in the high 40's, low 50's that day! No wonder.

Even still, I bet it would have taken a hundred years to scrape, sand, pick at all the paint in the cracks and corners. There was no way. I'll never do that again, I'll insist the rails with solid paint will have to go with another coat or two of solid paint on top.

The customer would be better off replacing the wood before stripping solid latex off their rails.

[dsp powerwash 14]

I wont strip paint, not worth the headache. One way to keep out of trouble is if a deck is tough to strip. i dont guarantee the customer that i will get it all off. I explain that the deck is heavily overcoated and that i will use proffesional strength stripper and i will go over the deck twice, at that point if it doesnt all come out. we will need to use something with a heavy tint to blend with the remaining stain, like cabot decking stain. if they want a guarantee then i wont guarantee a price, generally if you scare them that it might require sanding and lots more labor to get every speck of stain off, they will go with the cabot. dont get me wrong i strip a lot of nasty decks successfully, but some of the real real bad ones just arent worth getting stuck on. of course with that acrylic you have no choice to toptally strip, so you better do a good test. frank