Robert Fisher
New member
Well this section doesn't seem to be very active but hopefully I can get a response here instead of posting it to the general forum...
The people involved aren't quite sure of the accuracy of these details, but this is the story they gave me:
A neighbor/friend put an water-based Behr (possibly) sealer on his deck about a year ago. They felt it needed to be done again so they asked 'their contractor' (a licensed handyman/remodeler type and the guy that built the deck in the first place) to re-seal it. He apparently used an oil-based Thompson product directly on the deck without any prep.
Now they have a dirty oily film on the deck that is coming up on their shoes, their kids' clothes, etc. They know, of course, that I have a pressure washing business so they asked me what I could do about it. This is one of those situations where we have done each other's families many favors over the years, and while nobody's keeping score I figure we owe them one for some recent considerations.
I mostly do hoods, gas stations and sidewalks; I researched decks some years ago but came to the conclusion that there weren't enough of them around here for me to move to daytime work, so while I haven't done much wood I'm somewhat familiar with the basic process. This situation, however, sounds like one of those tricksies that can turn into a nightmare so I thought I'd sound out the experts before I went any farther with this.
My inclination is to strip the deck, give them the information on how to properly seal it and let them do that, but I may wind up doing the whole thing. The deck is redwood and fairly new, so I'm particularly concerned with the integrity of the wood, and not making fuzzies and that sort of thing. I definitely don't want to create a liability for myself and/or screw up their deck over a favor.
Any tips, tricks or advice will be greatly appreciated (I've already thought of 'run far, far away' but that's not really an option). A general blow-by-blow or a link to one would be helpful as a refresher, but I'm particularly interested in the issues this combination of oil/water sealers (and wood) presents, if anybody has some experience with that.
Thanks in advance,
Robert
The people involved aren't quite sure of the accuracy of these details, but this is the story they gave me:
A neighbor/friend put an water-based Behr (possibly) sealer on his deck about a year ago. They felt it needed to be done again so they asked 'their contractor' (a licensed handyman/remodeler type and the guy that built the deck in the first place) to re-seal it. He apparently used an oil-based Thompson product directly on the deck without any prep.
Now they have a dirty oily film on the deck that is coming up on their shoes, their kids' clothes, etc. They know, of course, that I have a pressure washing business so they asked me what I could do about it. This is one of those situations where we have done each other's families many favors over the years, and while nobody's keeping score I figure we owe them one for some recent considerations.
I mostly do hoods, gas stations and sidewalks; I researched decks some years ago but came to the conclusion that there weren't enough of them around here for me to move to daytime work, so while I haven't done much wood I'm somewhat familiar with the basic process. This situation, however, sounds like one of those tricksies that can turn into a nightmare so I thought I'd sound out the experts before I went any farther with this.
My inclination is to strip the deck, give them the information on how to properly seal it and let them do that, but I may wind up doing the whole thing. The deck is redwood and fairly new, so I'm particularly concerned with the integrity of the wood, and not making fuzzies and that sort of thing. I definitely don't want to create a liability for myself and/or screw up their deck over a favor.
Any tips, tricks or advice will be greatly appreciated (I've already thought of 'run far, far away' but that's not really an option). A general blow-by-blow or a link to one would be helpful as a refresher, but I'm particularly interested in the issues this combination of oil/water sealers (and wood) presents, if anybody has some experience with that.
Thanks in advance,
Robert