I have a job that has trex with about a 1/16" gap. That gap is jammed full with dog hair and debris. Too much for a putty knife to easily remove and the trex is too soft to try to use pressure to blast it out. Any one have a tip for me? Initial thoughts would be a dremmel or even a circular saw to cut through. Problem is that its so full that she has no drainage. Gotta figure something out for her
Tim is the deck level?? I could not clean a deck and get it to drain… Had to level the deck back up and the boards had gaps to drain then.
Its not completely level, but its the stuff in the gaps thats preventing it from draining. Cust stated that it was a skating rink over winter. I need to figure out how to clear the gaps.
Figure about four dollars a square foot labor to remove and reinstall the boards. Plus the cost to replace any boards that are not reusable. She didn’t have enough money to pay to have it done properly the first time, but she’ll have to find the money to pay to have it re-done properly.
Not every job is our job. Not every customer is our customer. He said in love 
Awesome idea Tim, thank you!
This customer has been a customer of mine for various reasons for almost 13 years. I will go above and beyond for her.
I respect that and can appreciate your dedication to the relationship. You just will be hating life when you realize that you’re working for $20 an hour.
There is plenty of work to do at the house as to where I can keep myself busy and have one of my guys working on that till I’m ready to clean it. I can pay my guy and still make a profit on it.
Sometimes it’s not about money…
On a side note, if I took Trex off a deck it would stay off. Put real wood down and apply some Ready Seal or Armstrong Clark.
Air compressor? Blow it out?
Does your area require a license for home repair? Are you properly insured for this kind of work?
They do but if I’m not technically repairing it, just lifting the board and putting it back down, would I still need a contractors license?
She must be a hottie for you to go above and beyond for her:) J/K couldn’t resist. Going above and beyond for someone us admirable but it could end up being your disaster where you now unfortunately our “Married to the job” where in the end the headache wasn’t worth the money you’ll get paid for this. Just to keep your worker busy can also cost you money. Been there and done that.
Unless you have excellent carpenter skills, like we tell our customers to hire us the professionals in Powerwashing, you may want to tell her to hire the “Professionals” who build/fix decks. Getting the job done right for a good customer is what they want the most. To them it’s not about paying the least which is probably why your there in the first place because you clean the right way which brings excellent results cause you are the “Professional” in that field.
I’m not sure why you couldn’t clean it like it is. I’ve cleaned 2 trex decks myself with ZERO gap inbetween the boards. You just have to rinse the mess out of them.
Does it drain when it rains? Probably not…
The stuff in the gap is completely impacted. Won’t blow out, couldnt pick it out with a putty knife without considerable effort. Its so impacted that the water doesnt drain through either. I think Tim had the best idea, but If anyone else has any ideas I welcome them too
From Mass HIC, for what it’s worth.
“residential contracting is defined as the reconstruction, alteration, renovation, repair, modernization, conversion, improvement, removal or demolition or the construction of an addition to any pre-existing, owner-occupied building containing. . . .”
Painters tool. Linoleum knife. Zero tip from below.
I don’t see the need for excellent carpenter skills to back a screw out of a board, lift it, then screw it back down. I know sometimes going above an beyond can be troublesome but for a customer of so long, I have trouble saying no
It’s just a wire to run says the unlicensed electrician…
Lol. I was a framer for a couple years, no one was ever shocked or was there an electrical fire as the result of anything that I’ve built. Only person to that ever came close to getting hurt was my brother who was standing too close while I was building a wall and the nail gun double bounced and he got hit by a stray nail.
I don’t think anyone is questioning your carpenter skills, just was saying about the part about being licensed to do it or have a building permit if required
