Sunday, August 17th, 2008
Like I mentioned yesterday, this morning’s task was to seal the lower portion of the driveway. I had twenty five gallons of Latex-ite Driveway Re-surfacer on hand and was hoping that was enough. I think I read that each five gallon bucket does around 300 square feet, which isn’t much.
Ok, here is how it went. I started off at about 11:30AM and began by cleaning the entire working area with my spankin’ new pressure washer. If I didn’t have this pressure washer, I would’ve wished that I did. It did a great job.
In the photo above, you can see the dry driveway. I didn’t spray it yet and you can see the dirt on it towards the end. The reason that I cleaned the driveway is pretty obvious…the get the surface clean so the sealer really sticks to it.
This is the cleaned driveway. Lots of dirt, sticks and acorns came off it.
Driveway sealed with five gallons of sealer
My brother was right. Keeping the driveway wet is better than not. The moisture really helps keep the squeegee spreading smoothly. Also, the sealer goes much further. The photo above is after I spread the first five gallons. It did about half the area I wanted to do.
This is a photo of the driveway after I spread ten gallons of sealer on it. You can see that I didn’t get as much covered as the first five gallons gave me. Also, when the driveway is dry, I noticed that the sealer doesn’t get down into the pits of the blacktop. For that to happen, I had to go over it a few times, using up more sealer.
Driveway after fifteen gallons of sealer
The last five gallons of sealer got me the least. It covered the smallest area because the area was dry and cool. The coolness didn’t let the sealer “run” like the others. The good news is that I only used fifteen gallons of sealer for the lower portion of the driveway. That means that I have ten gallons left and I can estimate that I need about another ten gallons.
Tonight, I am going to clean any cracks in the upper driveway and seal them up with the crack sealer. If I run out, I can pick some up when I am buying the rest of the driveway sealer.
By the way, I did this project bare footed. I recommend wearing old sneakers because the blacktop gets hot and the sealer splashes naked feet.
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Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
Today was another day of running around. I had to head up to Tile America in West Hartford to meet the tile installer. After that, I had to go over to Pat’s Power Equipment in Tolland for a new backpack blower.
I am sure I will write all about the tile in another post. Now, I would like to share an awesome new tool I got today…the backpack blower. When I bought the pressure washer, I wasn’t too enthused. I mean, yeah, I’ll use it when I need it. The backpack blower on the other hand, is something I will actually enjoy using when I need it.
Take a look…
This is the Stihl BR 550 backpack blower. It’s the second most powerful one they have. I just used it on the driveway and the walkway and am very happy I got one so powerful. I have recently heard good things about those hand-held ones, but was skeptical. I used to use a commercial backpack blower and knew what it was capable of. I couldn’t imagine me trying to blow leaves out of the gardens, come Fall, and me not getting wicked mad at one of those hand-held machines.
Here are the specs:
DISPLACEMENT: 64.8 cc (3.95 cu. in.)
ENGINE POWER: 3.0 kW (4.0 bhp)
WEIGHT: 9.7 kg (21.4 Ibs.)
FUEL CAPACITY: 1400 cc (47.3 oz.)
AIR VOLUME:
With tube: 900 m3/h (530 cfm)
Without tube: 1490 m3/h (877 cfm)
AIR VELOCITY: 89 m/sec. (199 mph)
I think the things people look at are the “air volume” and the “air velocity.” Those are the two things that actually move stuff.
I like getting Stihl power equipment. When I do so, I never have to worry about if I just bought junk or not. I know it’s not.
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Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
A few weeks ago, I realized I needed three new tools…a pressure washer, a leaf blower and a snow blower. I am going to have to wait on that snow blower, as they are pretty hard to find these days.
Yesterday, I picked up a RIDGID 3000 PSI Gas Pressure Washer. I got a pretty sweet deal. I had a 10% off coupon as well as $100 worth of Home Depot gift cards, so I didn’t feel too guilty buying this thing.
I put it all together this morning and let ‘er rip. Everything works as expected, but the soap is a little quirky. I can’t get it to turn off. I am going to have to look at that. I tried it on one side of the house and I think it worked ok. I may have not been using the soap in the beginning. All I know is that the green stuff needs to come off the siding. I got some of it off, but not all of it. I will try again in earnest another day. My fiend also does this a lot, so I will ask him for advice.
This machine came with four nozzles. The first one is for soaking with the soap and the other three are high pressure, “tear your hand off” nozzles. I have to be careful with them.
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