Exactly what I did on this deck step by step

Shane Clardy

New Member
The deck is 224 sq ft 14x16 pressure treated greyed real bad ,but look deep past the weatehered grey around the bottom you can see a tinge of grey color stain . I asked the lady ,she said her son-n- law stained it 5 or 6 years ago.

The cleaner I chose was restore ( sodium percarbonate) because its a wood cleaner I was afraid of a bleach water mixture because I felt the old stain needed to be stripped.

ok I laid out my several pre stained 6" decking boards and showed the lady the different stains, benefits etc. Ready seal ,Olympic ,cabot , superdeck ( she really liked the extra info )she chose super deck oilbase natural cedar semi transparent.

the day I washed I pulled up (I had mixed my powder chemical before I left so it would be desolved ). used my surflo went and presrayed the deck good with the restore( didn't wet it first (usally do chose not to this day ) ??

went back to my trailer while the cleaner was working and set up for the washing 20 min or so .

I washed with about 1700 psi about 10 to 12 inches away ( thats not much contact pressure that for away , you can put the palm of your hand under that )

I set my water temp at 160 deg. new technigue for me jim Bilyeau told us I liked it .

As I washed the deck I used the 72" lance from the ground to get the outside pickets etc.and switched to a 36" lance with a straight gun to wash the floor


the deck dried great the lady said she told everyone at work about it .


Well I am getting long winded I may post my staining method later.

The reason I did this is if anyone can show me how to improve please do if this helps others then great ..

Please remember I love constructive critisim ( except for spelling ) and grammer
 
H

hotwaterwisard

Guest
That was a long day indeed . I have never done a deck. The meathod sounds like alot of work. I'll bet it took alot of patients and came out great.

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Hotwaterwizard@aol.com John DeRosa
 
M

Mike@Everclear

Guest
Technique sounds good, but that deck is more then 224 sq ft. When estimating a job like that, you need to figure in the railing and spindles also....did you?

If you dont, you're losing out because they take the bulk of your time!

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Mike Hughes
Everclear
Souderton, PA
 

spraymasters

New Member
Hey Shane,
That is exactly how we do our decks. We do pre-soak the wood before applying our cleaner though. And the dwell time is left to around 10 minutes before starting to rinse. We use about the same pressure also. We also show the customer the before/after sample wood we have. That works really well. We only use ready seal so it is easy to have the different colors there to show. I have not used the hot water though on decks. I did read the post about it but thought it was only for stripping a past sealer and not used just to clean. Could use alittle guidance on that one please anyone? Anyway, sounds like you are doing it right...I hope so cause I am doing the same thing!!
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:!!
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Dennis

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Living Life On the Edge Makes Us Dizzy...WE LOVE DIZZY!

Dennis A. Cormier and Gloria A. Wagner
North Georgia Spray Masters, Inc.
spraymasters@hotmail.com
 

Dan Flynn

PWN Founder
Shane,

Make sure you check that the old stain you are talking about completely came off. Restore is a cleaner and not a stripper.

For instance some clean old weathered decks with bleach and water, followed by oxalic acid to neutralize and restore the natural look of the wood. The bleach, will eat through the mold and mildew, with little to no pressure. But it also whites out the wood. If followed with oxalic acid you will restore the woods pH level and bring the natural color back to the wood. How ever, it will not help any with removing old failed finishes.

Others use sodium percarbonate for severely dirty decks with out a previous stain or sealant.

If you know there was a previous stain or sealer, regardless of how bad it has failed. I would recommend that you strip the deck and follow with oxalic acid. To ensure the surface is ready to except the new stain applied.

Also your time spent on the deck mainly waiting for the chemical really seems to be way to long.




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Dan Flynn
Flynn Service Pro
www.powerwash.net
708/715-4206
 
C

Craig/PowerWashUnlimited

Guest
Shane,

Sounds like a good technique to me. I do it pretty much the same. I do not prewet the deck, since that further dilutes the cleaner. Just my preference. Also, i prefer around 1200 psi and use a 40 degree nozzle and work closer to the wood. Might work the same as what you did, i clean one board width at a time, cleaning half of two boards in one pass time, length wise, which gets the gap in between the two boards, rather than having to hit the edges seperately. Did that make any sense?

Did my first roof of the year, usually don't touch them, but they insisted. I remember now, why i swore off them.
boom.gif


Keep up the good work.




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Craig Knight
Power Wash Unlimited
www.powerwashunlimited.com
 

Expert

New Member
A couple of questions/ comments...

What did you charge for this restoration?
What was your total time on the job?
I tend to not give the customers as much of a choice as to which brand to use. Of course, if they have a stated preference we certainly will work with it. I love your idea of giving them as much info as possible, and the visual aids of well prepared sample boards is wonderful.
Thanks DAVE

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Dave Simpson
"90% of Customer Problems Can be Preempted by Excellent Communication and Organization."
 

Shane Clardy

New Member
Hey Dave the cost was 320.00 and I also cleaned her driveway with my flat surface cleaner 790 sq ft for 79.00 this deck price was probably a little low and soft but I will increase now that the sason is getting started . She also runs an interrior decorating business in town so I expect future business from her since she is in alot of houses .
I found its good to have these kind of clients .

Oh yea it took about 1.5 hrs to setup & clean and leave and about 3 hrs to stain



<FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">[This message has been edited by Shane Clardy on May 14, 2000 ]</font>
 
M

Mike@Everclear

Guest
Shane,

It's great if you get more business from her because of her line of work, but the bad thing here is she's going to expect you to work that cheap all of the time now. What is she going to think if the next job you do for her costs double, or whatever?

When working for people that you expect to deal with more in the future, you have to price wisely, because any increases in price will probably have to be explained. Consistency is crucial.



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Mike Hughes
Everclear
Souderton, PA
 

Shane Clardy

New Member
The great things about our business is the flexability of price. some decks are old some are new some are tall and some are low, some have shrubs that have to be worked around some have mold some have old stain.

So the price can change from job to job in a safe since but I do know what your talking about mike

Besides I figured I charged 50.00 an hour for just me , is that to cheap ?

I don't need for the two to meet in the grocery store and talk about there deck price ,with out being able to explain myself.

<FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">[This message has been edited by Shane Clardy on May 15, 2000 ]</font>
 

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