Is F 18 a good deck stripper?
I’ve used it on my own deck and it worked great….I don’t strip decks though, just my own…
It works. It’s hydroxide.
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I forget ya’ll in the south east do mostly pine, I do mostly cedar. Pine is much more forgiving of pressure than cedar is and it doesn’t have the tannin stains etc.
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Hey y’all! This has been a great thread. I haven’t been able to get my phone to ring yet (going to a small business meet-up tomorrow I’m excited about.) So, I’ve been spending time reading on here and wanted to post a pic of my own fence soft wash done yesterday.
2 coats 1.5%SH HWmix and a rinse with my 12v fan tip j-rod about 8inches away. No oxalic. Still some little bits of lichen hiding behind boards along the top rail. I wanted to see if it might fall off with rain on its own… Because rinsing was taking a while and it was my own fence anyway.
How do you think it looks? And any thoughts on the little lichen bits, would you have pained yourself to slow down and knock off each last bit? It was probably a worse chore because the way the boards are spaced out.
It looks like you did it exactly as you said you did. Shadowbox fences, which is what you have, are the hardest to wash because when you’re washing it, you have to hit even board basically 3 times. Once from left angle, then from front and then from right angle so that you get in behind each board. You wouldn’t want to leave a customer’s like that.
Do you not own a pressure washer? See my post about - you need to aggressively rinse
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Lol, yeah I have a pressure washer. 5.5gpm. My main concern was spending too much time, but with your explanation, I’ll be sure to allocate the extra rinse time on a customers’ fence. Thanks!
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Go out and practice on a section of yours, post new pic. Quickest way is walk down a section shooting the left hand side , end of section, come back shooting right hand side, then final pass hit center. Move on to next section, Use 40deg tip, about 6-7" width stream at point of contact. You’ll be amazed. But it’s a lot of work. On shadowbox fence price is about 200-250% of standard fence. When you explain to client, they understand why usually.
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Where can I get Sodium Metasicilate?
Thanks
Use the code “contractor” for a discount code.
Super old thread but I wanted to add my two cents since I see a lot of misleading/inaccurate information here. I’ve used every single chemical under the sun possible on fences, I’ve brushed percarb on, I’ve pump sprayed NaOH, I’ve sprayed SH, SM, oxalic, citric, vinegar…I’ve premixed my own homemade cocktails and I’ve tried a few premade wood cleaning products. I do around 10 fences a year for the past 10 years. I’m convinced that the chemicals are really not super useful for fencing. Nothing works like pressure (on pressure treated pine which is the only thing we have here in WNC for fences). Throw around 1500 PSI on the pickets one at a time and go away, let it dry and come back and stain with an airless sprayer using a modern hybrid oil stain or if the fence is just really bad or the customer wants it to match siding/trim/whatever then use a solid latex stain.
So, you can experiment all you want but imo after you try everything and compare it to what is possible, then you’re going to end up back just using good ole pressure and calling it a day on the prep.
