The Nelson Project Blog

By our favorite South Austin contributor“Patti P.I have a really hard time aiming a leaf blower in the right direction.   My last attempt sent leaves blowing backwards up against our window screens.   And, yep, the windows were wide open.   While the dogs on the inside got a kick out of snuffing up & identifying all the lovely leaf  particles plastered on the screens  (Yo, Dusty, Rikki the spaniel left her calling card on our lawn-woo hoo! ) I aimed the blower toward the sky and yelped for help.  

So when I recently  entertained the idea of renting a power washer to scrub the exterior of our home, my husband replied (and with kindness), œare you nuts?   Hmmm, no, not nuts but we both know I am dyslexic (right is left, back is forward, off is on and up is down¦) so being armed with a power washer kicking out water at 2500 PSI (pounds per square inch) would definitely be a little too much pressure for my cross-wired noggin.  

But since I™ve already researched quite a bit about power washing, I shall pass some good tidbits on to you“the DIY™er who is without directional challenges and a possesses a phlethora of common sense.

Why power wash your home?  Well, why exfoliate your face?   According to power washing experts, grit on the exterior of your home can œgrind away like sandpaper in the wind & rain.   Ouch.    So whether your goal is to rid your house of cobwebs, bird doo, mold & mildew  to give it a face lift and make sparkling ready for sale or just performing regular maintenance, power washing sounds like a must-do.

Planning on doing it yourself?  Some important tips:

1.You can use a power  washer on houses made of stone, granite, bricks, steel, aluminum and vinyl¦but be especially careful if using on wood-sided homes.   Be sure your wood is wood and a hard wood at that.   Cedar  can be too soft, and  fiber board  would surely look like  swiss cheese after a few well aimed water  shots.    If your house is sided with horizontal slats, don™t spray the water under the slats“you™ll end up lifting them right up (and maybe off!). If your house is hard wood and painted, be very very careful to move the hose along the house; don™t hold the spray gun at one point for extended periods“this is how contractors REMOVE paint from homes for repainting!   Have lead paint?   Call in a professional for safe removal.

2. Use a power washer that sprays between 1800-2500 PSI (again, pounds per square inch).   You can go a little lower than 1800, but lower than 1200  won™t do the trick  and higher than 2500 has potential to blast holes in your house.   To give you an idea of the pressure behind these pounds, your average garden hose flows at 60 PSI.

3. You™ll experience some recoil from the water pressure so you™ll need your feet planted firmly on the terra. Don™t ever stand on a ladder using the power washer.   I™m serious.

4. Power washers filled with clear water (and not mixed with chemical cleaners) will still do a good job of cleaning your house.   You certainly would not want to drench your lawn & shrubs around the house with any chemical cleaner coming out of the power washer.   Even using just clear water, you may want to put some plastic cloths over any tender plants near your foundation¦(but you know here in Texas not to be planting right up to your foundation, don™t you?).  Another œDon™t: never  put bleach in the power washer“it can damage parts of the washer.

5. In Austin, you have to use a cold water power washer.   Because we live on Aquifer recharge zones (natural underground water resources: see Edwardsaquifer.org)  hot water power washers are reportedly illegal“the hot water releases too much dirt into the sewer systems.   Using a hot water power washer in Austin is reportedly a fineable offense at the tune of $10,000 fine to the contractor (if you hired someone to do it) and another $10,000 fine to you“the hiree or homeowner.     Hint: if you are dead set on using hot water in your power washer in Austin, you can ONLY use hot water with a filtration system (that removes the dirt before the drainage heads for the sewers).   You™d have to be really compulsive though as filtratrion systems cost about $4,000.   And you™d have to be really hard hearted to let hot water pour down on your plants & shrubs.   So hot water in Austin is only for the compulsive and cold hearted and deep pocketed.

6. Never point the power washing wand (it™s not Darth Vader time) at a person or animal.   Again, I™m deadly serious.   (Notice how I switch from puns to severity?   It™s not intended to make your head spin, and I sincerely hope you can keep up¦)

7. DO NOT operate the power washer close to overhead power lines“stay at least 10 feet away, and have a buddy with you to ensure you are clear of power lines at all times.   I lost a high school buddy who tried working alone after school“he died instantly when his machinery touched a low power line.

8. Prepare first:

• Cover all electrical outlets & avoid outdoor lighting fixtures“water in the fixtures could cause a short circuit and you could blast holes in glass fixtures.   Use plastic bags over your light fixtures and seal good with duct tape.
• Take off all shutters (and watch out for spiders and wasps when removing).
• Seal any tiny holes in the exterior of your home.
• Notice any black spots on your exterior?   Test it first with some bleach.   If the black spot fades, then you have mold(a blasted fungus that I am becoming all too familiar with“in my nose, not my house).  In the case of correctly identified mold, you™ll have to get out goggles, repirator mask, rubber gloves, bleach/water, wear funky clothes or put a  plastic garbage bag over your clothing, and grab a scrub brush.   If your test reveals that the black spot does NOT fade, then you just have dirt which can be removed with the power washer.
• Practice BEFORE you attempt to wash the house“use the driveway (without cars & kids) as a practice ground.   Start with lowest pressure  until you get the handle¦

9. Ready to wash? (I so admire you!).   Make sure you pick a good day (not a windy day). Back away 3-4 feet and use a downward spray (a 15-25 degree nozzle reportedly is best).   Start power washing from the bottom and work your way up.   And, no, this is not a misprint.   I admit my cross-wired brain had to question this method for a minute.   When you wash from bottom up you eliminate all the dirty streaks that would come streaming down your house siding.   When you™re ready to rinse, THEN you wash from the top down.   If you have used any detergent in your washer (make sure it™s biodegradable and kind to people, plants & pets) you need to rinse within 10 minutes.

10. Oh, and never spray at your windows or you™ll soon be like little house on the prairie (with quaint little calico fabric  pieces waving in the breeze in place of your former glass  windows).

Whew!   Think you can handle the pressure?  

Best of luck to you with your power washing project.   Please be safe and use your head.   If you rent the washer, make sure you get a  complete demonstration before taking it home.   Me?   I™m destined to call in the professionals.    And if you have any hesitation at all“please consult a professional.   Thanks for reading.   Patti P.  

This is an ongoing series of homeowner insight & advice on repairs, upgrades, & add-ons, sometimes do-it-yourself (DIY), sometimes not, chronicling what went well, what did not go so well and advice for the rest of us. Please feel free to submit your repair chronicle to the www.TNPBlog.com ¦ we would love to hear your stories and advice. If you wish to submit, please follow this format: (Oh, and we reserve the right to edit and publish or not publish as we see fit. By submitting to the TNPBlog Repair Chronicles, you agree that we can edit or publish and/or not publish as we see fit.)

REPAIR CHRONICLE #1:
STAINED CONCRETE FLOORS
Patti P “ Shady Hollow / Austin, TX “ submitted 02/08

Q1. What was the scope of your project? [fix a leaky faucet, add a 2nd story]
The entire main floor of Casa Przybylinski (other than kitchen & bathroom) was carpeted with allergen hugging Berber loops when we purchased the home in 2004. By 2006, having mustered my way through 3 sinus surgeries, my husband & I knew the Berber had to go.

Q2. What was the general budget (initial)? [do not have to disclose]
After paying over $20,000 out of pocket for medical bills that our insurance carrier chalked up to deductibles, our general budget was merely a piggy bank. Piggy squealed when we peeked at wood, laminate or tile floors. Even getting a contractor to do the staining job was out of our reach: we received average quotes of $4000.

To get the job done, and silence the squealer, we figured that if we researched staining pre-carpeted concrete floors on the web, we could pull up the Berber carpet and stain our dining room, bedroom, hallways, and living room by ourselves for about $500.

Q3. How close did you land on budget? [nailed it, doubled it, refused to add up the receipts, in denial]
We stayed under budget by doing all the work ourselves and returning any unused (unopened) product to respective stores (we hung on to those receipts like a ribbon won at field days). Examples of product that we were able to return; initially we were quoted needing 5 gallons of stain to adequately cover 1000 sqft. Quality (fresh) stain runs $60 a gallon, so right out of the starting gate we plunked down $360 for stain. {I added on one more gallon as I graduated from the school of œMore is Better.} But, by preparing the floors well, and mixing the stain as directed 1 to 1 with water, we were able to return 4 gallons of stain unused and recouped $240.

Q4. $ for $, what was the best money spent?
The money on the stain was the best money spent”it was fresh, and absolutely the right brew of penetrating reactive stain that beautifully combined with our freshly cleaned concrete. We used BAS-14 œCordovan Leather from Butterfield Color. It™s available to the public by a great concrete firm (super personable & helpful employees) on St. Elmo across from the City Hazardous Waste Center. How convenient.

Q5. $ for $, what was money not well spent?
A paint sprayer that we purchased at a local hardware store was a clunker”because you can™t use metal when working with acid stain, we searched high and low for a sprayer that did not have a metal wand. We finally found a sprayer with a vinyl hose, hurrah! But when we got it home, a clunk sounded in the box and we instantly realized the uptake section of the hose was metal. Worthless for this project, and the store would not take it back.

We didn™t waste time with haggling”we were on a compressed time schedule”it was Memorial Day weekend, monsoon humid rains were coming and our 2 dogs were raking up the meter at the kennel and surely shaking with each thunder boom while we transformed the floors. Just knowing how uncomfortable Mr. Dooley & Dusty (our family hounds) must have been with storms over furry heads and unfamiliar grounds under furry paws made us work feverishly with our own furry paws to get the job done and get them home.

We went back to several home improvement stores looking for a proper sprayer without success, so we pulled a MacGyver and bought two wooden mop poles (without metal screws) and duct-taped (Garrison Keeler would love us) lambs wool window cleaning thingies to the poles, dipped the contraptions into a commercial rolling bucket and proceeded to stain our floors in great sweeps of color. Hint: you know that you have prepared your floors correctly if the stain turns a shocking fluorescent chartreuse foamy color as soon as connects with the concrete. The stain mellows in a few hours to the chosen color”again, in our case, Cordovan Leather.

Q6. If you had it to do over, what would you do differently?
I would have whispered incantations over the piggy bank (and/or put my hair in a pony, jumped out of a bottle and blinked for extra cash) in order to hire a crew to come in and help with the initial floor preparations.

When pulling up carpet in an 18 year old home that was built in the crazy œbuild ˜em fast housing boom in Austin, there was no hint of what we might find underneath in terms of the shape of the concrete.

Thankfully, the concrete was smooth as our piggies flank, but the project was almost doomed from the start due to the plethora of paint, compound, and swiggly glue from the rug in staging areas in each room (including an apparent spilled can of varnish that a contractor walked through¦I know his shoe size and have memorized the tread of his boot.)

In order for the stain to permeate the concrete, we had to clean every speck of paint/glue/compound from the flooring. At first inspection, we were ready to throw in the towel. Instead, we got on our hands & knees and many towels for 5 days and tried every cleaner (starting with less toxic) and kept fans circulating and windows opened. Simple Green worked the best. Oh, slide back on one of those towels for a minute”it must be like childbirth, how fast we forget the pain”before cleaning could start, all the tacking strips that held the carpet down into the concrete had to be removed.

My husband & I tried screwdrivers hammered under sections of strip, but that method was way too arduous (though it did create some awesome sparks!) Julie Nelson graciously lent us a floor scrapper on a pole (for leverage) and I admit I took great pleasure in whamming that scrapper under the tacking strips. It pulled up a few satisfying lengths, but still too slow. So we bought a new sharp edged shovel (I had cracked the handle on our previous one), and by using my considerable weight and force, the tack strips finally started flying up”complete with chunks of concrete. I figured we would deal with those concrete holes later”I would not look up until I completed an entire room wall, and then my husband would take a turn. Such focus!

Q7. Advice for the rest of us?
Wear a baseball hat during this project. Not just to protect your hair, but to act somewhat like horse-blinders. Keeping your head down and working on one section of floor at a time (completing that section before moving to another) was our saving grace in completing the job. If we had popped our heads up and fully realized the œmiles of work ahead of us, I think our floors would still be left undone.

Have a clean place to rest each evening during the project. Thankfully, we have a 2 story home and were able to climb the stairs into a warm shower and clean sheets each night.

Make sure that you don™t stain yourself out of the house; e.g. if the cold beverages are in kitchen fridge”make sure that entrance way is clear and unlocked. I can™t tell you how many times we™d forget and lock the door and find ourselves biding our time parched on the front porch while the May rains pounded down.

Q8. Was there a contractor, plumber, electrician, innocent bystander [fill in the blank] who deserves an oscar for best performance?
Best performance in a documentary probably goes to the next door neighbor™s kids faces when they poked their little noggins into the garage to see what we were up to for the long weekend. We were suited in gas-like respirator masks, full length plastic gloves, professional wrap around eye goggles, and baby boomer mutant ninja turtle kneepads. As I was not in the mood to whip off my gear to give a lovely lecture on why Mrs Przybylinski was looking like a transformer, needless to say, those kids skedaddled but quickly.

Q9. What™s next on your list?
Replacing the gold frames around sliding mirror doors in master bath”perhaps with sleek wood; putting some film on the acres of mirror, and figuring out a way to inexpensively replace our gold framed shower stall with a sleek frameless one”like an epoxied terrarium. (Not that I want plants to grow in my shower”nothing green or black there, please!) How hard could that be? Perhaps we could use some auto glass from the salvage yard¦ And also plan on painting the 80™s gold sink fixtures with some spiffy stainless steel (ok, brushed nickel-ish) paint. No concrete sinks for this chickie.

Q10. Your name or alias? Your neighborhood?
Patti P. Shady Hollow. SW before there was a SWE.

If you are in the process of buying a home and have chosen to purchase (or the sellers are providing for you “ even better) a home warranty, then we would like to help you assess your options. Remember that a home warranty is not the end-all to home repair or home headaches as they do not always help you or apply when you need it the most, but for most folks it™s a nice little insurance policy to have in your back pocket. We recommend that you go online and look for a chart outlining the coverage options and compare. Here are the basics in no particular order:

American Home Shield
www.ahswarranty.com
1-800-735-4663
ServicePlus Package: $415
CoveragePlus Package: $391
*Trade Service Call Fee: $60 per repair visit,
or cost of actual service, which ever is cheaper

Everything Residential
www.everythingresidential.com
1-800-592-9702
Base Contract Coverage: $380
*The homeowner is responsible for paying a $35 service
fee per claim for the first two claims. Service fees in excess of two
will be a rate of $100 per claim.
*12 months of coverage

First American Home Buyers
Protection Corporation
www.FirstAm.com/warranty
1-800-444-9030
Basic Contact Coverage: $329
First Class Upgrade: $399
*service fee: $60
*12 months of coverage

LandAmerica Best Home Warranty
www.bhwc.com
800-443-5599
Standard Plan: $325
Maximum Upgrade Options: $400
* Trade Call Fee: $60

Allied Home Warranty
www.AlliedHomeWarranty.com
(866) 791-1200
Standard Coverage: $320
Premium Upgrade: $355
Gold Upgrade: $495
*Trade Service Call Fee: $60

Fidelity National Home Warranty
www.homewarranty.com
1-800-862-6837
Standard Plan Coverage: $320
Comprehensive Plus Plan: $355
*Service Call Fee: $55
*12 months of coverage

Home Warranty of America
www.hwaHomeWarranty.com
888-492-7359
Gold Coverage: $325 – $55 service fee
Diamond coverage: $380 – $75 service fee
**13 months of coverage**

OLD REPUBLIC Home Protection Plan
www.orhp.com
800-445-6999
Standard Coverage: $350
Silver Upgrade: $400
Gold Upgrade: $400
* Trade Fee: $60. See website for details

Is the Austin market scary?   It’s all relative as we were in such a sellers market for years and that is what everyone is accustomed to.   But now things are compartively slow so word on the street is that it is a buyers market in Austin. Statistically the Austin market is quite balanced, some neighborhoods are a buyers market, many are not.   The Austin economy is one of the healthiest in the country, we do not have a bubble that needs popping and the greater
Austin area is going to double in population over the next 20 years.   Sound like a formula for a little optimism and not an excuse for buyers to remove themselves from the market.   Neither mortgages nor the
Austin economy are scary propositions but speculation and paranoia ¦ now that™s scary.

Welcome to Julie Nelson’s Blog! This blog will provide you with valuable information, tips, and general insight into the real estate market in Austin.