Whatrs it gonna take? Ughhhhh

[fireandrain]

Im laughing because just last week I was bragging that I havent seen acyrilic out here in years. I knew it! SHould have knocked on wood... Was called out to a deck yesterday, looks like an acrylic. The HO said he had been having a huy come out EVERY year to "maintain', and re-coat this deck... Huh? Apparantly, he never stripped between apps of this finish.

The deck is unique in that the floorboards are built from 1x2 redwood. Looks more like an interior hardwood floor froma distance.

Anyways, Im needing to build a quote for this HO, and am nervous about the labor thats going to be involved in stripping this nasy stuff! Hopefully these pics will help with a dignosis... That'll teach me never to say never!

[fireandrain]

...working on the pics...just a minute~

[MMI Enterprises]

Ya forgot pics..here I'll substitute one for ya..lol:
(edit- nevermind..pics to large and intrusive.)

Been seeing same thing with high end customers being way too loyal to their high end painters. Eventually the painters have to concede that doing decks is not at all same as painting houses. This last one pictured took two strips and I have no idea exactly what the painter had put on it. Maybe conversion varnish for all I know. He found me and recommended me to the HO which I guess I should be thankful for.

[MMI Enterprises]

Oh that is gonna be tough Matt!!..

[bigchaz]

Dang dude theres some serious buildup on there. On the plus side you are doing horizontal so you can utilize a scrub brush on a pole and a much heavier dwell time than would work for verticals. Just keep putting on the stripper and keep it wet. Agitate with the brush every 15 minutes before wetting again with more stripper.

You may be lucky and not need the scrub brush, but do a test to see how well it comes off from chemical alone

[MMI Enterprises]

That kinda shine don't kick over easy whether ya dwell it or not. I'd rather hit it strong from get go to get through it...Acrylic luvs to go back to a solid as it dries.

[fireandrain]

Yeah, I figured I'm in for a real hum dinger with this one! The HO told me that when they bought the house, the decking was just weather a gray.... Wish he had called me over then! When I asked the Ho whether or not the guy he had returning every year for maintenance did any stripping, he said, " Well, not sure, the guy told me that he was doing some sort of acid wash before re-coating..." Pretty sad, this homeowner is a super nice guy, just had no idea what to be demanding from his deck guy.

I advised the HO that he should never allow this guy back on his property... Previous deck guy actually left all kinds of stain over spray on the side of the house, edges of surrounding concrete,etc... Absolutely ridiculous! And, he wasn't going the guy much of deal with respect to price for this crappy work... If I find this guy I'm apt to zip tie him to the handrails and call the authorities! Man.....

Anyways, as Charlie pointed out, good thing Im not going to be dealing with any verts on this job. The wood caps on the steel handrail framing I might just sand those, figuring that I'm going to get a fair amount of furring anyways... Id like to be able to isolate my heavy stripping to the floorboards...lots of plants around, like to limit the NAOH travel.

Anyone ever just hit a deck like this with a floor sander instead? I dont do much sanding, but since the floorboards are the only surface needing attention...

[MMI Enterprises]

Problems with hitting with sander first... Nails and screws need sunk, you'll go through tons of paper, and no stripping or cleaning is acheive between boards.

[fireandrain]

Thanks for those words of encouragement Kevin... This guy seems pretty sold on me doing the job for him, although he hasnt seen my price yet...

[fireandrain]

Originally Posted by MMI Enterprises

Problems with hitting with sander first... Nails and screws need sunk, you'll go through tons of paper, and no stripping or cleaning is acheive between boards.

The nails/screws are already sunk on this one.. thats why I was considering... Also, floor boards are 1x2, very little space between boards
(when asked, HO said he hasnt seen any puddling in winter...) Guess my point is that, with little to no visibility of the sides of these floor boards, and the screws/nails already sunk, would it be a more cost effective approach to just sand this one down instead of engage in heavy stripping/furring.... Just trying to find a way to save this HO some money, and perhaps, me, some serious aggravation...

[PressurePros]

Go to www.theprosealerstore.com
• Order one tub HD-80 and 2-3 gallons of Power Solve Injectable stripper, and some Citrallic or your preferred oxalic acid brightener.
• Mix HD-80 at 8 oz per gallon and apply direct.
• Downstream a layer of of the Powersolve overtop. Rewet periodically with the downstream mix so that total dwell is 20 minutes.
• Do test with 800 psi to see if it comes off easily. If not, wait another ten minutes.
• Neutralize with 10 oz oxallic (with surfactant) per gallon downstreamed.

Factor defurring as redwood is soft. Its sometime better to wait a couple of wet/dry cycles for the furries to looosen up. I like to wait 7-10 days.

[Beth n Rod]

Originally Posted by PressurePros

Go to www.theprosealerstore.com
• Order one tub HD-80 and 2-3 gallons of Power Solve Injectable stripper, and some Citrallic or your preferred oxalic acid brightener.
• Mix HD-80 at 8 oz per gallon and apply direct.
• Downstream a layer of of the Powersolve overtop. Rewet periodically with the downstream mix so that total dwell is 20 minutes.
• Do test with 800 psi to see if it comes off easily. If not, wait another ten minutes.
• Neutralize with 10 oz oxallic (with surfactant) per gallon downstreamed.

Factor defurring as redwood is soft. Its sometime better to wait a couple of wet/dry cycles for the furries to looosen up. I like to wait 7-10 days.

Thanks for sharing!
Beth

[Adrian]

Hey Matt,
all good points from everyone's input. I would have a concern though about the metal supports holding up the hand rails. The NAOH may take the finish off of them ( unless of course you sand). I would also ad the cost of repainting the metal into the bid as well. If not it could chew into your profits. That's going to be a tough strip to begin with and you don't want your efforts to be in vain.

[Adrian]

[quote=PressurePros;132225]• Neutralize with 10 oz oxallic (with surfactant) per gallon downstreamed.

Hey Ken,
If you don't mind, what sufactants do you ad to your oxallic ?
I have had good success spraying it straight. Just curious.

[MMI Enterprises]

Only way I would touch it with sanding would be with drum sander and then if ya have cupping at all you'll have to attack it really good with proper cross hatch methods as used on interior wood flooring. Call it $4+ a foot in such case.
I'd stick with masking things off real well with plastic and poly tape before wash/stripping methods.