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11/11 Latest In Season I Ever Cleaned A Deck
- Thread starter jeffex11
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PressurePros
New Member
Very nice Jeff. Other than October, this season has had the perfect weather. Jeff, on that second picture, was that the partial sealing homeowner handywork? It looks like someone started sealing then figured out what a PITA it was and stopped.
Henry Bockman
Member
I'd switch to ready seal or wood tux.. I prefer products that home owners can't get so easily and that I won't have to strip each time I do maintenance service.
Here's why I like SW stains Maybe you can sell me on ready seal.
1. #1 question on my stain is "how long will it last?" 3yrs generally!!
2. water based so it is easy on grass and plants and ME too
3. I can appy same day to keep price down andnot have to come back
4. the service at my SW store is 1st class rt. 40 catonsville They let me try new stains and colors and realize giving my customers service is my goal. and there are stores everywhere. i have been in Montgomery Co and needed more product and calle my guys in catonsville and they gave me directions to the store nearby andset up the order.
5. no linseed oil in product it attracts dirt and pollen and turns the floors black after 1 yr
one drawback to water based stains is they are hard to geteven and require back brushing especially on the floor. I found that by doing the deck right after you wash it ite absorbtion rate of the stain is more even and penetrates the surface vs only laying on top. Just my experience!!
1. #1 question on my stain is "how long will it last?" 3yrs generally!!
2. water based so it is easy on grass and plants and ME too
3. I can appy same day to keep price down andnot have to come back
4. the service at my SW store is 1st class rt. 40 catonsville They let me try new stains and colors and realize giving my customers service is my goal. and there are stores everywhere. i have been in Montgomery Co and needed more product and calle my guys in catonsville and they gave me directions to the store nearby andset up the order.
5. no linseed oil in product it attracts dirt and pollen and turns the floors black after 1 yr
one drawback to water based stains is they are hard to geteven and require back brushing especially on the floor. I found that by doing the deck right after you wash it ite absorbtion rate of the stain is more even and penetrates the surface vs only laying on top. Just my experience!!
Henry Bockman
Member
jeffex11 said:
Wood tux can be applied when it's wet also..
Wood tux and ready seal are not linseed oil based.
ready seal requires no back brushing, leaves no runs or drips.. why don't we run a poll on this or just check around on the boards to see the favorite sealer. If I remember correctly most contractors I know prefer ready seal. It's completly up to you though, I'd at least give it a try if I were you.
PressurePros
New Member
I have never seen a water borne sealer hold up for three years. OIls condition the wood and help to prevent checking, cupping, cracking and general warping. A water borne sealer will not really do this. If you are looking for the best of all worlds (ie deck in a day) Look at Wood Tux. It is a proprietary formulation that can go on wet wood but still is an oil. It is loaded with first rate mildewcide as well. The downfalls are: You cannot get it locally so you will have to keep an inventory. Number two, though I don't consider this a downfall anymore, you have to tint your color. To me it's a positive because it allows me to get the color right on someone's deck and locks them in to using PressurePros if they like and want to maintain that color.
I can see where it works for you. I would have to try it out first but the availability factor is a big negative for me. I can only speak about the success or failure I have experienced with products and My customers are happy with the Sherwin williams products so far. I have only used the newer Deckscape in the solid color stain so far because I bought up all the old uv sunblock I could get. I personally use "no oil " as a sales pitch and I explain the reasons to the customer but mostly they want their deck to look like so and so's that referred them to me. I try new products all the time on my deck and fence. I also wash a board , stain it ,then leave it out for the winter to see how it does. I think your mistaken that the product I used was just a sealer. It is a semi-transparent stain. For just clear water seal jobs I use Ace hardware clear wood seal. I can get it for $11 a gal and it works great. I tested several water seals on a board over one winter and the Ace brand did just as well as any others. I do very little wash and seal jobs because of no UV protection. I can usually up grade the sale to a semi-trans stain job.
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PressurePros
New Member
Stain/Sealer = Synonymous. Think of it this way. You put oil on your skin. It stays there for awhile replenishing and holding in the right kind of moisture. If you put water on your skin, it evaporates and it's gone.
Work with whatever you feel comfortable. I can't see the logic in trying to educate the public to a misnomer though. I sell oils on the science of their application. I would follow up a guy touting water borne sealers and land the job every time. Be careful of the words you are putting on the street, they may come back to bite you.
Work with whatever you feel comfortable. I can't see the logic in trying to educate the public to a misnomer though. I sell oils on the science of their application. I would follow up a guy touting water borne sealers and land the job every time. Be careful of the words you are putting on the street, they may come back to bite you.
Henry Bockman
Member
There's one thing you said that I picked up on and I imagine the rest will also. You said you test your stains and sealers on fences.. Vertical surfaces recieve less sunlight so they will always last longer than horizontal ones. Even if you don't apply an sealer at all!
Give me a call sometime, it's nice to get to know the other guys in Maryland.
Give me a call sometime, it's nice to get to know the other guys in Maryland.
"DECK and fence" and the board I test lays flat. I test the fence because i also do fences and can sell the stain lasting longer because of the very fact that you point out. I realize ready seal and wood tux are sponsors of this forum and I'm sure they are great products. Oil stains look better when applied the first yr. but my experience with them is that the sun heats up the deck and bakes dirt and pollen into the surface that the oil attracts. I had complaints of the floors turning black premature. I switched yrs ago to no oil and had no complaints. I didn't just start doing decks! I have been pressure washing for 14 yrs. I'm not saying my way is better than yours . I wish you all the succes in the world. Someone just asked me what I used and it works for me and my customers. The science I learned from a product called "Weather Boss" many years ago out of California made sence to me. The cells of the wood are like little cereal bowls and they are turned gray by the uv rays just like tree bark and fill with dirt, pollen and mold. Pressure washing removes the dirt and also the top cells of the wood to expose new cells. Color in stains and toners helps block the UV rays from turning the wood gray and parafin wax[water seal] fills the cells of the wood to keep out moisture and dirt. As trafic on the deck wears the product off it fades and looses effectivness over time. water seal also helps wood in freeze zones from freezing and thawing water in the wood that causes cracking and splintering. I have seen decks that are treated with Cabbots and they look great. it is agood product but due to its labor intensive application process my customers choose the value of a balance between price and how long the treatment lasts. When I used stains with linseed oil I got complaints of the decks floors turning black so I swithced . Seemed logical to me!!! If ready seal is the next best thing then I would love to try it but I wont sell it until it works on my own deck first. if there is an oil stain that doesn't turn black then I'm in!!!!
PressurePros
New Member
A simple rule of thumb is, if I buy it at a paint store it's probably a decent product. If I get it at a hardware store , Blowes, or Home Cheapo, it's probably an inferior product with cheap pigmentation (as opposed to transoxides) and has little mildewcide. It's not the type of oil that tells the story of whether or not a sealer will hold up. Linseed oil comes in different forms (boiled etc) As a contractor performing deck restoration and maintenance, it is my professional obligation to use the right products (which may or may not be the easiest to apply), to know my products Solid stain acrylics may appear to last longer, but when they peel they are a disaster to strip.
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get a load of this http://www.fiveminutefence.com/
Just to be clear Jeffex11 ready seal and wood tux are not sponsors of this site/forum. Also I do hear great things about these stains. I never tried wood tux or ready seal.
How ever I have used penefin and thought the floor look like crap, regardless of how many coats I applied. It also looked black.
How ever I have used penefin and thought the floor look like crap, regardless of how many coats I applied. It also looked black.
OOps!! sorry about the sponsor reference. I have no problem with trying other brands of stain Thats how Ifound SW products. I'm not even trying to claim they are the best. Just that it works for me. If a sponsor of this site had a good product I would try it and sell its bennefits . Thats just good business and what my customers expect of me. I think the info I give to my customers is true and accurate and is evidence in the # of years the stains last and the quality of the finish.