Category Archives: deck coatings

Hey Deck Expert-My installer wants to put "crickets" in the corners of my deck. I have a hard time sleeping now, won’t crickets keep me awake?

January 21, 2009 Bill Leys

Dear Reader,

Thanks for your question about crickets.
To help ease your mind about being able to sleep, the crickets your installer wants to put in are the silent type of crickets that don’t chirp all night long, so you’ll get plenty of rest.

So what are these “crickets” that our reader is inquiring about? Quite simply, in the parlance of the deck coating world, a “cricket” is a method used to provide reverse slope, or move water in a different direction than where it wants to go.

Water seeks it’s own level, so when a deck is pitched 2% from the wall out to the edge,
the water will run out to the edge and run off. That works fine in the case of an open railing system. But often times, a stucco or wood sided solid wall will be built at the edge. As seen above in the picture, water is trapped in a corner, mere inches away from the scupper (not visible in pic). By building slope into the corner across from the outside edge to the scupper, water would move off to the scupper instead of being trapped in a low spot.

Ponding water on a deck is not a good thing, ponded water can over time damage the waterproofing membrane and causes dirt stains and is unsightly.

Installing crickets in corners and in between drains or scuppers helps eliminate ponding water.

So in this case reader, get your self some crickets in those corners and get a good night’s rest too!

construction defects, deck coatings

CENTEX Announces sale of lots in Atascadero, next door at Southside Villas, the project is at a dead halt

April 14, 2008 Bill Leys

So the Tribune had an article in Sunday’s paper that CENTEX, a publicly traded national homebuilder has sold their remaining unfinished lots at Dove Creek in Atascadero to another developer.

At least that’s a better thing than closing down the project like so many others have done…next door at Southside Villas, a condo project that started several years ago, is dead in the water. Stopping by on Sunday, there are 2 finished buildings, and one unfinished 3rd building partially dried in, yet not dried in. Roof tiles started to get put down over the roofing paper which was left out in the sun for what seemed way to long…the decks and stairs are dried in with Desert Crete (I know because I sold the job through a previous employer, who still has the contract), the walls are covered in buiding paper that went on black and has now faded out to a light gray from UV.
Right next door to Dove Creek is Southside Villas and here is the all to familiar conundrum when it eventually starts back up…the underlayment weatherproofing that has no UV resistance to speak of is damaged now by UV. Will the paper and sheathing be torn off where damaged by weather? Or will a sub contractor simply go right over it? While the decks look ok for now, damage could happen due to contiguous building materials being damaged and water getting into the substrate beneath.
If the developer isn’t careful, they could find themselves in trouble too.
Remember the 80’s? That’s when a lot of condo’s and homes that were built had problems in construction, we had a big downturn then…and what do we have right now?
All I can say is that it won’t be bad for my business…

deck coatings

Life Paint Updates It’s Website and Life Deck Line of Deck Coating Packaging

April 14, 2008 Bill Leys

I was at Miners Ace Hardware in Atascadero CA on Saturday browsing the paint department and I noticed new labels on the Life Deck products that they carry. Curious, I checked out the new labels and logo (very nice looking BTW)
and then bought a gallon of cement modifier and a bag of white texture to experiment with.
This morning I went to Life Paints website to look at something and lo and behold, a new website has been launched to go along with their new packaging! It’s better than the old site and gives you a list of places where you can buy Life paint products, including their lines of paints and coatings.
Check it out and see for yourself.

deck coatings, educational events, JLC Live

A Review of JLC Live’s Conference Programs and Building Clinic’s

April 11, 2008 Bill Leys 8 Comments

So I got my copy of the schedule of events at JLC Live Long Beach next month. There’s a whole host of great clinics and seminars, including of course with all due modesty, my program…but seriously, there are some great things to see and do here. I’ve decided after looking through my brochure, I’m staying for 3 days minimum to soak in all I can…
For me, I’m interested in seeing Michael Byrne’s clinic on waterproofing a Tile Shower, and then I want to attend Waterproof Windows and Doors (I’m interested in the doors more than windows) by Mike Sloggat. I’d also recommend for many of you to attend the Managing Moisture at the Exterior by Andy Engel. Remember, decks and buildings all must be weatherboard built!.

The all day 8-3 sessions have some intense subjects that are very releveant-Automating Your Office With Quick Books and Project management is on Tuesday, on Wednesday the toss up for me is between Managing The Business End of Your Construction Business by Leslie Shiner, or Accurate Estimating and Job Costing by Dennis Dixon.
Then there’s the conference sessions like mine, a shorter 1 1/2 to 2 hour event that crams in more with less detailed infor on the bigger subject…can’t cover everything in 2 hours, but-Essential Contract Elements is a good one for every contractor great and small, Dealing With Difficult Clients is another and the best one for all of us is Understanding The New Building Code in Ca, including q & a with actual live building officials!

Make sure to save time at 430 pm on Thursday to attend the best ever seminar (sic) my Art of Waterproofing Decks! Forgo the Welcome Party starting at 5 to learn about waterproofing, who needs beer when a subject this interesting comes along?

Friday features a quickbooks short course and then I’ll be heading back home to SLO town.
Sign up today for full day courses, it’s by reservation.

deck coatings, deck expert

Deck Expert Buys .info extensions of major deck manufacturer’s

April 9, 2008 Bill Leys

Seeking to establish our presence even further on the web, Waterproofdeckcoatingadvice.com has purchased ten additional web addresses ending with the .info extension. “
“We hope that with these purchases we will generate even more traffic to our site and increase awareness in the market place that consumers have choices and now have good information available to them to make good decisions when buying waterproofing.” Said Bill Leys, owner of the firm.
Our purchases included http://www.desertbrand.info, http://www.westcoat.info, http://www.pacpoly.info and several other major manufacturer’s of deck coatings
While some manufacturer’s won’t like our owning their domain name in an .info extension, buying .info extensions and using them actively is a protected use. We’re not going to squat on them and hope to sell them back to a manufacturer for a profit. We will use them to help increase our presence on the web and direct traffic to us when someone is searching for information regarding their products. Any one could have bought the .info extension url’s names, including the manufacturer’s themselves…

deck coatings

Removing Old Urethane Coatings at 6th & Pine

March 28, 2008 Bill Leys

I sold this very large job in Long Beach; we have a courtyard of apx 14,000 square feet with old failing urethane coatings. In some areas they sloped the deck and the urethane is 1″ thick. Tough stuff!
So it was time to call in the big boy toy’s, thanks to Sunbelt Rentals, who consistently stepped up to the plate after a competitor of their’s in Anaheim dropped the ball on us several times.

Here is our first video post of a ride on scraper taking off the coating on part of the job. Uncut, raw hard hitting footage! Sic More footage shows a grinder taking off an old texture overlay and a cutter is featured last.

After scraping, scarifying and then we had Dyna Guard come in and bead blast the deck clean. Victor and his crew from Dyna Guard are great! I recommend them for your concrete prep work and will be using them again for mine. I’ll post up a movie with Dyna Guard beadblasting….

Call Bill Leys, the Deck Expert, for your next big job.805-801-2380 //www.youtube.com/get_player

DeckExpert.com – Your Source For Waterproof Deck Information & SB 326 SB 721 Balcony Inspections