That looks so much better than last time. Nice. Were they happy? And by happy I mean tip.
HA! @Dirtyboy
In our area honestly deck stains are going to last 3 to 5 years max! 100 degree summers and 10 degree winters with 90% humidity do a number on outside wood coatings. Contractors are paying probably 35ish per gallon of stain at roughly 200-250sqft coverage. Decks tend to pay well here for staining, your pretty much going to have to pressure wash here if you want the job staining, so it gets figured in to the whole job.
Now stripping decksā¦ thatās a horse of another color, Iām sure folks do it, but thatās a set down and discuss and write up expectations job, no if and or buts. Wayyy to much you can get in to if you dont have a plan going in.
1 Like
You want to know what the funny thing is, and the lesson I learned from this is?
Older people (not all) like to do business with friendly people or family/friend associates. She liked the guy at the blue paint store, said he was nice, that is why she insisted on it. Not product specs, not longevity, no tangible logical reason, just that he is nice and apparently a chatty cathy. I have already gotten inquiries from people at her church, and I havenāt started yet.
3 Likes
Oil is easier to strip than water based. As soon as you hit it with hydroxide it smells like someone is making lye soapā¦
I once stripped an entire fence of SW oil based semi-solid stain, using potassium hydroxide and then oxalic. I thought it looked hideous the way the wood took it the oil based stain. Customer was āokā with it. Took me about 4 hrs to strip it, let it dry and re-stained using water based Super Deck. Customer was thrilled and have done two jobs for them since.
2 Likes
Thatās something big blue pushes pretty hard. Your expected to be up on product knowledge, but the soft skills of customer relations is pretty huge. Employees from the ops manager all the way down to the part timer are given a lot of leeway in how they handle issues that might pop up, thereās a yearly training on basically how not to be an ā ā ā ā¦ (They send me quarterly) , and they put out constant training programs to build product and application knowledge.
Honestly Iāve heard itās a great place to work, just not a lot of upward mobility.
Iām a big fan of ready seal
1 Like
Not true
Thanks man. I still need to restain it. I didnāt get a tip but got a learning experience from it. Oxalic is now one of my favorite chems. After I spray and back brush the oil base stain and do a good job with that (hopefully) Iāll feel a lot better about all of it. @dcbrock I am no longer using sh on any stained deck that isnāt going to be re-stained. People who just want it cleaned I will use powersolve (thank you @Hotshot) on it or another non-chlorine real soap (without hydroxide). In Cali thereās hardly any mold as we rarely get humidity and using sh isnāt really needed here like it is everywhere else. Just like pricing, the use of chems should vary almost as much depending on the region. Wish I would of known that going in! Thatās not to say I donāt use SH. I go through 100-300 gallons a month for roofs and house washes, pre and post treating concrete etc. But for wood, blue, red, brown, green houses or other sensitive finishes Iām moving in the direction of just soap.
1 Like
Curious, when you guys are mixing and spraying oxalic, do you get fumes that burn the lungs? Should I be wearing a respirator?
Absolutely. I have one that covers eyes too, the slightest bit of powder will burn them bad. 3M Ultimate FX Full Facepieceā¦ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009POIVWG?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
And these filters that specifically for chlorine but work for most everything we use 3M Mercury Vapor/Chlorine Gas Cartridge/Filter 60929, P100 Respiratory Protection (Pack of 2) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009POHL7W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_jeprEbDHGC8R5
4 Likes
Yeah I have one, will definitely be wearing it around oxalic.
If this is a career you see yourself doing for many years to come itās wise to wear this stuff, side affects from this stuff will catch up to you in the later years when health matters the most. I personally only occasionally wear PPE and is something I need to work towards like most people in this industry.
2 Likes
Ok, maybe I should have quantified, if you dont remove all the old (solid color)coating, including all of it between the boards and in any cracks, and choose to go with a transparent or semi transparent finish, then you run the risk of the old coating showing through, or not accepting the new finish.
I may not have been clear with my advice above that I was referring to removing solid color finishes.
2 Likes
I know this stone restoration specialist who has been using solvents and chems for 30 years. He tells me the same thing that when he was young the fumes didnāt really bother him. He didnāt wear masks for a long time and now even a whiff messes him up. Best advice I ever got.
Since you live and work in an environmentally friendly state, why are you not using citric? Oxalic that much better for your job? Were there a lot of rusty screws and nails? Just curious is all, not trying to start a debate.
Good point. There was no rust. Another perfect example showing that I should be using something different than āthe normā here in pwra land. Iāll buy some Citric this week. Ox is expensive and needs to be shipped where I can get a 50lb bag of citric locally for $99. How many oz per gallon is that do you use? Does it work just as well if there is no rust?
Please donāt take my advice, it was a question. I have an analytical mind and a āneedā to know thought processes and procedures. I donāt work in this field and you are out there hustling. Ask someone else before you buy anything, I am just a padawan not a jedi.
Just mix Citric the same as Oxalic. Iāve tried using both on the same job a few times just to see if there was a difference between brightening. I couldnāt tell a difference at all. They both worked equally as well. Now, if you come across rust from nails or some other hardware, stick to Oxalic. To be honest I usually just stick to Oxalic most of the time. Thatās probably mainly because I always have so much of it on hand because it has a lot more uses.
2 Likes
We use citric all the time, better environmentally and health wise. It works the same to me, minus if you have rust, it wonāt touch that. So I try to use citric if I can. Try it out, see what you think. I like it myself.
2 Likes
What was your oxalic ratio?
