Quit Smoking 1 Year Later
5 days ago
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Ipe deck stain job with Restore-a-Deck and TWP116 - 1 year later
Comments (41)Jim, I just cant see you diging up really old posts, going on and on about it, with out some type of goal. Exactley what are you trying to prove??? Go to my site, All the ipe projects have 116 on them. As you can see they are not Red or Redwood or anything close to that. Saying it is makes me Mad clear and simple. Now if you put 116 on say preasure treated,garapa or any light color wood then Yes its going to come out a different color than 116 on ipe. This is basic 101 wood finish. Any of the resin base twp products can be mixed together to come up with a different color. I have used combos like that when puting finish on Garapa and other woods. I put cedar tone natural on ipe one time because the Wallet asked for it the result was bad but I did what they wanted however for ipe its most always the 116. Ipe itself is not one color it ranges from almost black to a light tan 116 levals out the differances but the result is not Red. Any color chip you get from Any finish store is going to be different on another kind of wood other than the wood used on the chip you cant expect them to have samples of finish on every kind of product. Just get off it Man. Its up to the Customer to know if one finish is the right one for them. There is no way twp is showing product online / samples / or color chips that dont match up with what they sell. You might not agree with what they call it if so just pick another name for your self and call it that but it Defentley is what they say it is and what they say they sell is what they sell. The JonMon has been a little tense latley after a long term project was real hard on me. This is a mixed site if I could I would edit my last response but O Well. J....See More1.5 years later antiqued/honed Black Pearl is staining
Comments (24)Hi repaintingagain, I promised an update. Bottom line: our absolute black leathered/antiqued counters will require a lot more care than I was led to believe, I hate them because of this because I am so not the type to patrol the countertops-that's why I sensibly talked myself into them and out of what I thought were higher maintenance materials (marble and soapstone.) So, the expert came out (kind/knowledgeable/professional) and basically there is a choice between the lesser of two evils: 1) leave unsealed and have to deal with darker fingerprints/oil spots darkening the counters (much like what I was trying to avoid with unoiled soapstone) or 2) use an enhancing sealer that helps to minimize/mask darker oil marks BUT the sealer still etches from acidic substances which show up as lighter/hazy marks on the granite (much like I was trying to avoid with marble, and what you have going on with your countertops, repaintingagain.) As we suspected, expert guy used acetone to strip off all the previous sealer, and then the counters looked mostly fine until people started resting their hands on it and it looked splotchy/dirty again. So we had him put an enhancing sealer on one area (we left the rest unsealed) and he gave us the weekend to conduct various "mess tests" on the different finishes to see what looked/cleaned up best. (we used ketchup, olive oil, and a lemon wedge.) The enhancing sealer (Dupont Stonetech product) did NOT make the counters wet/shiny as I feared/was originally told. The color difference was slight, not dramatic, but enough to help minimize the oil spots/look of darker stains. We left half a lemon wedge on the color enhanced countertop with a round circle of ketchup next to it for 15 minutes and both left lightened/hazy/etched looking areas that could not be cleaned up with dishsoap and water (repaintingagain, these spots looked like the spots on your counters.) The olive oil cleaned up well and fingerprints did not show. On the unsealed side, the lemon wedge and ketchup left for 15 minutes cleaned up well and I was so excited, but the olive oil left a splotchy blotchy darker mess that could not be cleaned up with dishsoap and water and fingerprints were a problem. (This is NOT to say that a stronger "grease cutter" product might not have worked-I don't know-we were just using some regular Joy dishsoap) Since we have young kids who will be leaving little fingerprints everywhere, we opted to use the enhancing sealer, (because they eliminated the dirty fingerprints look) and we're figuring we are just going to have to be extremely careful not to slop any acidic substances on the counters. (Again, we are not naturally neat/tidy folks, so this is extremely disappointing.) Confession: My 4 year old saw me crying over the counters and said "Mommy, what is wrong???" with such fear on his face that I felt just awful. So having to explain and reassure him that everything is fine, these are just counters was a good reality check for me. But I am deeply, deeply disappointed to have wasted hundreds of hours of my life researching countertops-not to mention thousands of dollars- to be stuck with countertops that don't meet my expectations for the next 30+ years. My husband feels terrible for me that I'm blaming myself for making a "bad" decision and has committed to periodically just stripping the enhancing sealer all off and reapplying when our etching gets too bad/the counters look too dirty. He likened it to power washing the deck periodically, just a part of the maintenance of the item. Which did help me feel better. I just didn't know we'd have to deal with this, so since we do, I wish either 1) I would have put in a harder soapstone (Original P.A. was the hardest we personally tested, but I understand Julia and Belvedere are two that perform similarly. I'm sure there are others too) or 2) that we would have selected the antiqued/leathered Virginia Mist/Jet Mist (around here it was renamed "Nebula") because at least the veins/movement would help to mask both the oil spots or the etching (depending on whether we'd left it unsealed or sealed.) repaintingagain, I did want to tell you that you/your husband could certainly strip off your sealer with acetone and start fresh and experiment with whether you want to leave your counters unsealed or seal with a regular or color enhancing sealer. Our guy did it with his bare hands and a cloth, I was in the room and the odor wasn't bad with any of the products and I'm fairly sensitive to smells/chemicals. For any lurkers who've read this far, I hope my experience helps someone else. Interestingly, we have gotten lots of compliments from some of the subs that are coming in at the end of the project finishing up details saying how cool our counters are and how great they look in the kitchen etc. Absolute black leathered/antiqued could be the perfect quiet, non shiny, non busy countertops for someone who is prepared to accept their maintenance as part of life. I wasn't and in the end our satisfaction with things are really just a result of how well the result meshes with our expectations....See MoreIt's still a sore spot 1 1/2 years later!
Comments (11)wildchild - makes you wonder how two brothers can be so completely different, huh? We are also lucky with the care and compassion at our vet clinic. I don't think I've ever been to any kind of facility to find as many loving people as we have at our clinic. With Quincy, and as much time as we sometimes spent there, they would often charge only for the meds. A couple of months ago I stopped in to pick up some Frontline. The receptionist handed it to me, and when I went to pay she waved me off and said "you need a break". Hope all your Furs are doing well! carla - leave it to me to not give enough details for someone to understand. We did not leave Quincy that night so therefore, there was no bill. The estimate that the Dr. gave us should not have been much different than the first 3. Even in a worst case scenario, Quincy would not have needed surgery, xrays or any extensive bloodwork. And yes, it is the ER Dr. that works up your estimate. When we asked the receptionist why the estimates were so much different from previous visits, she stated different Dr., different estimate. She went to the back to get the Dr., as we wanted to talk to him, she came back and just shrugged her shoulders and told us the estimate remained. He was in it for the money....See MoreAnyone stopped smoking after years of smoking?
Comments (38)I have been a lurker here forever...never posted. I know how hard it is to quit smoking. I smoke for over 20 years about 2 1/2packs a day. I quit 5 years ago. I had tried to quit several times but always went back. I quit by picking a date.I told myself that it was going to be hard but every day would be easier. I also read that when you quit smoking your body is over the withdraw from nicotine 48-72 hours after you last smoke. I told myself the first 3 days would be the hardest and after the 3 days it is all a mind game. I really believe that is what help me stop smoking is knowing that my body did not need the nicotine, that it was my mind. i did take a mini vaction from work, some people say they get very tired from not smoking.... The first 6 months are hard....you will give yourself every excuse to smoke again...it has been 5 years and once in great while i will still get the urge to smoke...I know I cannot smoke or even try to smoke...because I will be right back where I was. I wish you the best of luck...See More
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