I tend to only post on chemical threads…being as I’m a chemist and all 
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Potash…rinse …then acid lol
Most of the videos I’ve watch claim that using F-10, followed by F-8 will neutralize the PH level and brighten the wood. Some even say to apply the F-8 while the wood is still wet with F-10. No big deal, just stating what I’ve observed what people are doing for very clean results. Thank you again for all of your help, guys- especially CaCO3Girl!!!
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If you knew what I charged them for that deck, that’s all you’d want to do. LOL I should have added with the rain and 41 degree weather I’m spending a lot of time looking outside.
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So they are applying the pH of 10 stuff, and following it up with the pH of 3 stuff and that is suppose to neutralize the pH???
I’m sorry, my brain just exploded. I think we have run into another instance of neutral to me isn’t what neutral is to the rest of the population.
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I agree with Mark. If you don’t like doing decks, then you’re not charging nearly enough. Plus I schedule most my deck cleaning for the few slow months we have down here.
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Not wet with the F10 - you have to vigorously rinse then apply the neutralizer.
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That’s what I’m talkin about!!! Trying to add on extra services to earn a little extra. Only problem is a customers’ place of residence is no place for learning chemistry lol. Gonna practice on a few friends and families’ places before I throw it into my cleaning arsenal.
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I save wood from old repair jobs and use it to come up with appropriate mixes. Anything I put on here is a baseline that shouldn’t get anyone in trouble if they start there.
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Aight. Thank you, Rick! Between you and CaCO3Girl, you could start an alliance. Join forces as a couple of kick butt cleaning superheros. All to do now is think of a few superhero names…for Halloween’s sake, ya know?
I have some ideas. For caco you could be “Biogal”,“chemicalia” or “organogirl”. And Rick could be “hurricane racer”, “hydroman” or “the grey one”.
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@CaCO3Girl, I liked this post a lot, but, I just got a bit confused about the Elemonator PH 12, being added to the Oxalic Acid PH 3, won’t that neutralize Oxalic Acid? I mean does that mean neutral, to you? 
not the rest of the population.
Ah, good question. See, this is where chemistry is fun! Elemonator isn’t a 12 (and actually I got more like 11.2 in my lab) because of true alkalinity.
True alkalinity comes from things like caustic soda, potash, sodium metasilicate…etc. If you have 1% caustic soda you will get the same 13+ pH reading as if you have 25% caustic soda. pH is not linear. It’s not like if you have a 1% solution and get a pH of 12 then a 10% solution is a PH of 120…you only get 0-14. 0-5 is acidic, 6-8 is neutral, and 8-14 is basic/alkaline.
The Elemonator has a fake pH of 12. Meaning, one of the ingredients had a bit of alkalinity in it and because nothing else stopped the pH from rising, it rose to a 12. My guess would be the oxalic will overpower the pH of the elemonator in about a second. This would not be the case if you poured oxalic on a sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) stripper. Those two would fight, and it wouldn’t be pretty.
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Sorry for the delayed response. I meant to reply to this when you posted.
Not as many as you might think. On my website it says we only clean decks that have been sealed within the last two years and composite decks. We don’t clean any wood that has been neglected as the risk for damage is so high. I usually kill the expectation of decks and fences getting cleaned with a few questions on the phone.
Like you said, some decks turn out great. But it’s a crap shoot. I’d rather drive all over Kansas City to do 3 houses in a day, be off by 2:30-3:00, than ever spend a day on one house and a deck. My ADD and I don’t care how much money I’m not making by not cleaning wood. Lol
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@CaCO3Girl , Your posts are so informative. We’re lucky to have you on this forum! If I wanted to make my own super stripper using this 3/4 and 1/4 ratio, how much of this would you suggest I dilute in a gallon of water? Also since this is 2 years later, would you suggest a different ratio and maybe other chemical additives ? Thanks 
Well, I’m not in the industry anymore, so no new suggestions, but I want to caution you that this stuff will be potent.
First off, sodium hydroxide isn’t stable at anything over a 50/50 cut with water. 50% NaOH is common. For KOH, that’s usually sold in a 45% solution of water. It’s not advisable to get more than that in.
If I were making my own paint stripper, and again this stuff is HOT be careful! I’d probably use 1 gallon of water (which is 8.3 pounds), 3 pounds of sodium hydroxide and one pound of potassium hydroxide. This solution will heat up. I would recommend making it in plastic, Stainless steal metal is better, any aluminum container will be dissolved, so don’t do that. After it’s cooled to below 90F you can put it into a plastic jug and then you need to make sure it’s airtight. The more air that touches this the more likely you are to get undisolvable white flakes. If you leave it out like in a cup it will develop a thin coating on top that will be solid and even crack if you touch it. That top coating will never go back in and will cause chunks if you try to mix it in. If you develop this top coating it’s best to wear gloves and pick off the top coating and then strain the batch.
This stuff will eat up aluminum and many other things. Plastic is okay, stick with plastic or wood for a stirring implement.
Did I mention this stuff is really HOT? It can burn you, please be very careful.
Thanks for the advice and dilutions! If I do try this, I would probably make a 5 gallon of this and dilute it alllllllot into gallons I can take with me on the job.
Why would you ever need something like this? Admittedly I’ve only been doing this for 6-7 years, but I’ve never had the occasion to even consider cleaning something with a mix this hot and I’ve cleaned a lot of crap.
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I would never use it this hot, it’s just good to know the chems involved and I can dilute like crazy from there
Looking at the SDS sheet of Sherwin Williams Stain and Sealer remover, it contains sodium metasilicate. Would this be something to add to a home brew paint stripper?
