How was your season?

[yazbird8 17]

How did everyones season go?....Did you make what you hoped to make?..I had two terrible months, a great month, and some ok ones...I hope everyone has a great 2007....

This job has a very large three level deck that was originally stained with a solid color stain (dark and medium brown). The Gazebo and Pergola were added this summer/fall, along with the stairs and railing work you see in the picture....I stripped the flooring on all levels of the decking with HD-80 and Rip-It....I used my X-Jet for the rinse....I feel more secure using the X-Jet on Cedar work.The stain I used was Ready Seal Light Brown....

I was over taking pictures yesterday and I plan on using this deck for post cards...The owners were ecstatic and have voluteered themselves to a photo shoot after the holiday season...That should help some....This job (almost) saved my season....lol.......Phewww !!......

Stephen Andrews

Power Washing

Home & Property

Care & Maintenance

[yazbird8 17]

Here are some more pics....Thank you Beth for your help...

Stephen Andrews

Power Washing

Home & Property

Care & Maintenance

[RPetry 564]

Yaz,

Wow. Terrific job! Stripping a solid stain off of cedar is a real challenge and quite an accomplishment. Something I have yet to tackle, and I'm quite happy to wait...

Notice anything different with the Rip It? I used a sample this summer on a PT job, and it mixed and performed well, kind of reminded me of F-18. Seemed to be "buffered", that is it did not seem quite as harsh or less "firring" on the wood compared to most other NaOH strippers.

RS light brown on cedar looks amazing. See if you can sell the customer on a very light cleaning and additional oiling this summer. That cedar will look even richer in color.

Had a good season with year to year growth, but no where near what the business could be. Have to start making some efforts in marketing instead of relying on organic growth. A good part of August was slow, and the constant rain here in the Northeast for nearly two weeks in late June and early July hurt a bit.

Looking forward to the 2007 wood season.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

It really is a beautiful job!!!

And you are very welcome for the help. ;) I love looking at before and afters of people's work. They can be very inspiring.

Now is the time when we plan for the coming year. I love this time of year for that.

Beth

[Jeff 232]

THATS EASY, I could do that NOT!!!

Very nice work !!

[Celeste 341]

I love the shot with the ceiling fan and pine tree branches - takes your breath away - NICE WORK and nice photography!

Celeste

[PressurePros 248]

VERY nice.

[yazbird8 17]

Thanks for the great compliments Rick, Beth, Jeff, Celeste, Ken......Compliments coming from you guys is a huge honor for me...All of you in your own way has helped me in more ways than you know ....Thank heavens for TGS........

Stephen Andrews

Power Washing

Home & Property

Care & Maintenance

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Isn't wood care fun? I love it! It may sound odd, but I like working with my hands and helping to transform wood that didn't look so hot to wood that the owners love and take pride in.

Beth :groovy:

[yazbird8 17]

Rick,

The Rip-It did seem to be a little less harsh then the HD-80...I am not sure though since the HD was used on the first half of the job when I had a little less knowledge of how it would react to the stain..I was to weak to start and to strong on a few batches....By the time I started using the Rip-It I kind of had the formulation figured out pretty well...I was told that the two products were pretty much identical....They both worked fine for me...I did sense though that Rip-It might be easier on the skin....I always wear shorts...and I always manage to get a drop or two on me......As for the maintenance..I have the customer on a 1k yearly plan...This coming year they will get a wash and a re-coat of the deck surfaces and the handrails..Plus strip a set of stairs.....Two half days of work..... What do you think of the X-Jet for the striping/rinsing part?...What do you use? I think the X-Jet is a killer tool...It left not one line on the soft wood..Plus you get more water volume...

Stephen Andrews

Power Washing

Home & Property

Care & Maintenance

[yazbird8 17]

Beth,

I love the challenge firstly...And being in someones beautiful backyard..But I also love it when a customer is Genuinely shocked with the results.....Genuine shock is priceless........It's then that I like to ask for their repeat business via a maintenance plan.....

Stephen Andrews

Power Washing

Home & Property

Care & Maintenance

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Yes!

And also get your testimonials then. Testimonials are wonderful. While you are at it, ask them to refer you business. If you ask, you would be amazed at what these folks will do. Not everyone thinks of it on their own.

Beth

[yazbird8 17]

It's funny you should say that...This particular customer said some pretty nice things.....I asked if I could quote him....He said absolutely.....Like I said earlier..I have a photo shoot with him and his wife after the holidays...He actually wants me to use the photos in my marketing.....It's a good feeling....He has referered a friend of his......It sure beats a cubicle..........

Stephen Andrews

Power Washing

Home & Property

Care & Maintenance

[seymore 90]

Great job Yaz! :cool: :cool:

[RPetry 564]

Rick,

The Rip-It did seem to be a little less harsh then the HD-80...I am not sure though since the HD was used on the first half of the job when I had a little less knowledge of how it would react to the stain..I was to weak to start and to strong on a few batches....By the time I started using the Rip-It I kind of had the formulation figured out pretty well...I was told that the two products were pretty much identical....They both worked fine for me...I did sense though that Rip-It might be easier on the skin....I always wear shorts...and I always manage to get a drop or two on me......As for the maintenance..I have the customer on a 1k yearly plan...This coming year they will get a wash and a re-coat of the deck surfaces and the handrails..Plus strip a set of stairs.....Two half days of work..... What do you think of the X-Jet for the striping/rinsing part?...What do you use? I think the X-Jet is a killer tool...It left not one line on the soft wood..Plus you get more water volume...

Yaz,

Yeah, I'm not too sure either. When I first started, I used HD-80 and a few other strippers. Switched to F-18 a few years ago, and this past year have been using 760, a private label NaOH stripper from Tom Vogel at ACR. Have an unopened 50 lb. bucket so I guess I'll be using the 760 for a while!

I think my perceived differences in various strippers may be due to experience. Over time, you just learn concentrations, dwell times, and most importantly water pressure applied to the wood. After all, they are all sodium hydroxide based, with probably little true performance or material differences between them.

I have no idea of downstreaming, x-jets, hot water systems, etc. I only work on exterior wood. But for wood, a dual lance wand is in my opinion the most valuable tool for pressure washing wood.

[yazbird8 17]

Rick,

I have a dual lance also.....but I'm left handed and the handle is on the wrong side for me.... That freaks me...lol

Stephen Andrews

Power Washing

Home & Property

Care & Maintenance

[StainlessDeal 16]

QC the lance to the gun, and you can spin her any way you like. I use both hands, but my right is pretty weak these days, so I've had to build some ambidexterity!

BTW, very nice work on the wood, and the photography.

[yazbird8 17]

Thanks Seymore........Another TGS legend....

Stephen Andrews

Power Washing

Home & Property

Care & Maintenance

[RPetry 564]

Yaz,

Left handed? Doesn't someone make an ambidextrous pill? These friggin' drug pushing pharmaceutical monsters have 21st century snake oil for everything else.

Kidding aside, you have to talk to Tom Vogel of ACR Products. The guy is a pure wizard at anything in PW, and if someone doesn't make it, he'll fabricate it.

[yazbird8 17]

Rick,

Of course it might help if I actually tried using it....I had it out of the truck and looked at it once..I thought I could fix it...No luck.........So I put it back in the truck...I'll give it an honest try in the spring....If it's better than the X-Jet.....then....I'll come and do all your decks for you...lol.....

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

It's funny you should say that...This particular customer said some pretty nice things.....I asked if I could quote him....He said absolutely.....Like I said earlier..I have a photo shoot with him and his wife after the holidays...He actually wants me to use the photos in my marketing.....It's a good feeling....He has referered a friend of his......It sure beats a cubicle..........

I'll second that one!!!

Rod!~

[yazbird8 17]

Yup...Starting and managing a start-up business is stressful and sometimes physically "hard as heck"....But sitting inside a cubicle, day in and day out, with deadlines and demands bombarding off you like your playing dodge-ball....And then company meetings....ughhhh !!!......I REALLY ENJOY being my own person....It's ALL about the FREEDOM !!.....AND THE UNLIMITED POTENTIAL....for the big..... Cha-ching !!!!!.............Anybody agree?..

Stephen Andrews

Power Washing

Home & Property

Care & Maintenance

[yazbird8 17]

Well.......it's 4 months later and the jobs are starting to come in nicely for 07... I have nearly as much work lined up as last year...and I haven't even advertised yet or taken into account the repeat business.....On another note..Can I get some feedback on using a Dual lance wand for the deck cleaning process as opposed to my use of the x-jet.....Can I get a show of hands on which makes more sense to use.....Rick P swears by his dual lance...Am I missing something??

Stephen Andrews

Power Washing

[seymore 90]

Well.......it's 4 months later and the jobs are starting to come in nicely for 07... I have nearly as much work lined up as last year...and I haven't even advertised yet or taken into account the repeat business.....On another note..Can I get some feedback on using a Dual lance wand for the deck cleaning process as opposed to my use of the x-jet.....Can I get a show of hands on which makes more sense to use.....Rick P swears by his dual lance...Am I missing something??

Stephen Andrews

Power Washing

Glad to hear your biz is picking up Stephen...we haven't had to advertise in the last 10-15 yrs since Home Shows :cool: I do get refferals from deck,custom home builders tho.

Where the deck staining pics?? You still using RS?

I still like using my shurflo for chems to be able to control the overspray and strength.

[Greg R 82]

We use dual lancers as well however like Rick (Im assuming) we dont use them for chemical application or anything. They just give you some serious control at the wand for adjusting the pressure needed to clean wood. Every deck, fence or siding job is a little different and you have to find that "sweet spot" sorta speak. Too much pressure and you'll fur the wood.... too little and you may not remove all you need to. The dual lance wand is a huge timesaver over having to change out tips or adjust unloaders. I wont do a job without one.

[RPetry 564]

Stephen,

Dual lance wand for the deck cleaning process as opposed to my use of the x-jet

Like Greg said above, I only use the dual lance for PW off chems from the wood. Do not do any downstreaming. Once you blow off the stripper, percarb, or bleach mix, its great to just twist the handle to dump tip low pressure high flow mode to rinse. Its like switching from a PW to a garden hose in 1 second. Works great for horizontal wood.

For balustrade, fascia, most vertical wood I use a standard gun maybe 3 feet long with a hp flex hose on the end. Its a lot lighter and will bend maybe 60 degrees to get those weird angles.

I am thinking about getting an M-5, which is I think a variation of the x-jet. Tom Vogel of ACR has made some in house changes to the ones he sells but I do not know what they are. I just know I trust Tom as the guy is a wizard. The M-5 will be used to apply my citric acid only. Figure it will be much faster than using my shurflo setup.