My first impression of WTW

[Jarrod 22]

I stained my 460 sq. ft. 3 year old PT deck on Sunday. I used warm honey gold.

Appearance - Fantastic! My deck looks so good, I wanna eat it. The color is very rich and like a golden brown, honey tint. The wood looks very natural. I hate the way PT wood looks bare, WTW fixes that problem well. It gives it exactly what it is missing - a nice, rich appearance.

Application - It applied a lot like TWP. It is a bit "thicker" than TWP. It was very easy to apply. No back-brushing was needed after I sprayed my spindles. It did not lap on my floor either.

Method - I used an airless on my spindles and a flat 18" pad for the floor. I used a 4" pad on my handrails.

Spread rate - Last year, I used Messmer's on my deck. I used 6 gallons. This time with WTW, I used, are you ready for this? A whopping 2.5 gallons!

Time on the job - 1 hour. - By myself. (I'm a hack remember?)

Coats - 1 coat. Believe me, that's all you'll need!

Learning Curve - There is a bit of truth to this "learning curve" thing. DO NOT OVER APPLY THIS PRODUCT! It is not necessary. On flooring, spray on a light coat and back-brush with a dry pad. The floor will have plenty of stain on it. This product is so rich in solids and pigment that 1 coat is very sufficient. My deck ended up a bit tacky because I over applied the stain. I did this by dipping a flat pad in the stain and forcing it into the wood instead of spraying and back-padding. Celeste and Russell told me that some mineral spirits will solve the tacky problem.

So, was the deck wet or dry? - I'll admit, I chickened out on wetting my entire deck down before I stained it. BUT, I did soak the crap out of my stairs 1 minute before I applied WTW. My staircase is 6 steps by 10 feet wide.

I had water puddles all over my stairs when I stained them. At first, the stain turned yellow and looked wierd. At this point, I called Russell and told him what I saw. He said, "Just trust the technology." After about 10 minutes, the stain looked normal. Now, you cant tell the difference between my stairs and the rest of my deck.

Am I a WTW convert? - So far, I'm very pleased. I have high hopes for this product in my lineup this year.

[Scott Paul 164]

About the same in durability. The main difference is that the speed mop is "18 wide. A 400 square foot deck floor can be coated in 10-15 minutes.

[Celeste 341]

Order's in :) These little fellas get used on purple heart next week!

Celeste

[PressurePros 249]

Crap, I just ordered from Scott yesterday and forgot to try some of those pads.

Add OPW to the approved vendors list. This is the second time I ordered. I placed my orders right around noon and received both tracking numbers by later in the afternoon. Products came in perfect condition with heavy duty packaging. Very professional. Though I don't know if this is true on every product but Scott offers contractor discounts when you sign up for an account (you will receive coupon codes via email if you are a verified contractor)

I will not hesitate to do business with OPW in the future.

[bigchaz 157]

Another positive for OPW also. Ordered at noon the stuff was leaving the warehouse by 3. Also ordered before scott posted those coupon codes, so the charge was higher, but he switched it to the lower price!!!

Great company!

[Jarrod 22]

Scott's da man!

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Do I dare compare the speed at which my sample is coming to the speed at which an order will come?... j/k..good things come to those that wait..

[Celeste 341]

Heck I ordered this morning for stuff for a job next week - it's going to beat us to the jobsite :)

Celeste

[MMI Enterprises 289]

RS came from TX and been here for two days already. Now where is my Warm Honey coming from?.. Maybe Pooh Bear got it instead... :)

[acegot 14]

You guys that are trying the 18" staining pads, let us know how you like them. Itried them 3 or so years ago & didnt care for them. The tray is too small, too awkward, too many drips down the edges of boards, quality of application was just not there. That's my .02. I mostly brush with truck wash brushes, you can apply, brush the edges of boards & backbrush all with the same "tool" , except for edging at house ect. The brush is similar to the Deckster Hurricane brush which I also use.

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Wagner infomercial on the Fx channel right now beating the dickens out of staining pad or lambswool with their $90 Control Spray hvlp.

Wish I was spraying a wtw sample with one about now.....Oh well, RS samples in my $15 Ebay-Harbor Freight HVLP will have to do. Least til I get tired of filling up it's dinky 2 quart container..

..doo do doo..twiddling thumbs..thinking shurflow or large pressure pot is calling my name..

[Scott Paul 164]

The tray that comes with it is useless for a contractor. I would suggest a Wooster Big Boy Bucket or a normal 18" paint tray so that you can dip the pad much easier. We use the Buckets since they can hold about 3 gallons of stain.

[Scott Paul 164]

The bucket is in the corner of Jarrods Picture

[Jarrod 22]

Those buckets are real time savers.

[yazbird8 17]

I received the pads and used them the last couple days. I like them. They hold a good amount of stain and there is minimal dripping when transfering from bucket to the deck. It covers three 6" boards of the deck nicely and I get about a 8-10 ft length before redipping the pad, all in about 10 seconds. That is unless the wood is real thirsty. You can move along at a nice pace and it's comfortable ergonomically . After I covered the section I went back over it crosswise quickly to help the stain cover between the boards. It might not work well if the deck has a lot of cupping. I had some boards that were cupped and used the outside edge of pad to fill in. It held up really well on the decks I did but could tear up the fibers on the pad if the decking is in really bad shape. Overall I really like it and if I can get a bunch of decks done with one pad it is well worth the price to me to replace them at 13 bucks...I used Readyseal.....You will still need to cut in around edges but it gets super close......

Stephen Andrews

Power Washing