Home Depot neutral cleaners?

[aloha one]

Alas, I had three different companies get fired from a job for bringing out a Bona bottle in front of a customer. One lady went so far as to post it on Facebook and trash the guys in her neighborhood group. It wasn't pretty.

Yeah but they were drunk and naked when that broke out the Bona!

 

[Common janitor]

Alas, I had three different companies get fired from a job for bringing out a Bona bottle in front of a customer. One lady went so far as to post it on Facebook and trash the guys in her neighborhood group. It wasn't pretty.

Moral of the story ?? Buy ZEP !!! Just use those unmarked bottles from Sam's !!
All the Best , Ed

 

[Mike Krall]

This is where your custom-labeled lines come into play. There are all sorts of formulas for hardwoods, countertops, pet spots, neutral spotters, you name it, and this way you're giving the customer a professional-grade chemical that they cannot go out and buy more of on their own - they must get in touch with you! Slick, isn't it!

You can thank Lowes and the unending battle between blue and orange for your megrims, by the way - every Depot has a Lowes within spitting distance, and in the early 2000s both companies took terrible hits in the safety department (customers died in both stores due to safety issues with heavy equipment and poor securing of heavy things like drywall and countertops). As a result, both companies suffered a good hefty smack in the ROI, and have cut way back on their staffing.

Our store went from two plumbers and three master electricians on staff, to none. Six high-end employees were axed over the holidays to make room for 23 part-time meat shields who didn't require insurance. Nowadays their labor hours are committed to the "racetrack" of concrete around the perimeter, and if you're caught in an aisle but not actively helping a customer during "Power Hour", you get written up. Part timers also aren't put through the company's extensive product knowledge programs, so they're kinda clueless. The company saw a minimal increase in sales, but since they cut their labor-related expenditures by over a third, their ROI skyrocketed. Hence the stocks going up.

The majority of what mental power is left is focused on the Pro Desk end, since that's where the contractors spend their big bucks on building materials. If you really want to find someone who knows what the heck they're doing, head for the Pro Desk and pray.

NO, Flooring associates are NOT on commission, despite the rumors, and they don't get kickbacks for selling any particular brand. However, their management staff bonuses based on cost-vs-sales, so they are pushed to go high-dollar as much as possible and aren't educated very well (or at all) on the differences between different types of flooring or carpeting materials.

Thanks for that write up Amy, very insightful! I always wondered why these stores are filled with people but have ghost employees.

Now if you could just explain the bent, twisted and knotted up 2x4, 2x6, 2x8 and other 2x dimensional lumber you'd be my hero

 

[Mama Fen]

Easy. They buy in bulk by weight, and the amount of lumber in any given shipment that meets a certain grade requirement can vary by up to 20% (for example, Grade 2 lumber can have up to 20% stud-grade pieces on the pallet after loading by weight). It's the responsibility of the lumber staff to cull the bad pieces, as the department gets a certain percentage of "cull shrink" every month, but when the department head is pressured to cut his shrink numbers his first instinct is to hold back culling. Stud-grade lumber is allowed to have wanes (bark), shakes (ring hollows), and twists up to 50% of its length, because these flaws may be ugly but they don't affect the strength of the wood when building.

We all know whitewood should be kept in a sheltered dry environment, but more often than not it's parked out back with the dimensional lumber in the lot for a few days til there's room for it. And then you've got the drivers who lost a tarp, or snapped a strap, or didn't shank one down tight enough and drove headfirst into a storm...

 

[Mike Krall]

Easy. They buy in bulk by weight, and the amount of lumber in any given shipment that meets a certain grade requirement can vary by up to 20% (for example, Grade 2 lumber can have up to 20% stud-grade pieces on the pallet after loading by weight). It's the responsibility of the lumber staff to cull the bad pieces, as the department gets a certain percentage of "cull shrink" every month, but when the department head is pressured to cut his shrink numbers his first instinct is to hold back culling. Stud-grade lumber is allowed to have wanes (bark), shakes (ring hollows), and twists up to 50% of its length, because these flaws may be ugly but they don't affect the strength of the wood when building.

We all know whitewood should be kept in a sheltered dry environment, but more often than not it's parked out back with the dimensional lumber in the lot for a few days til there's room for it. And then you've got the drivers who lost a tarp, or snapped a strap, or didn't shank one down tight enough and drove headfirst into a storm...

Man they might not effect the strength of the wood, but wait till the drywall goes on or you try to put a straight window in

I built a complicated coffered ceiling last year out of 2x6s. After those went up and we attempted to cover it in drywall I wanted to cry. Even with them all being 2x6s some of them measured 5" instead of 5.5" and we ended up laughing in disbelief.

 

[Mama Fen]

Yeah, lol, construction is like carpet cleaning - there's how it should be done, and then there's how it is done. My house had the world's laziest electrician do the wiring - he didn't pigtail anything off, he just stripped about an inch of insulation off the Romex, wound it once 'round the nut on the side of the switch, and proceeded to the next run. I rewired about 50% of my house the first year I was there, and I cussed him vociferously at every junction.

If you want to get your hands on the freshest, best lumber at ANY hardware store, find out what days their deliveries are (there are generally at least two per week direct from the lumberyards) and ASK TO SHOP THE STUFF OUT BACK. A good associate will understand what you're asking and will gladly let you grab from the fresh stock. An associate who doesn't give a darn, or who's been brainwashed by management to sell the oldest first to lessen their cull numbers, will refuse. At least then you know what you're working with, and can choose another hardware store.

edited to add: Also, look for stamps directly from the lumberyard (around here it's a bright blue triangle with GP, for Georgia-Pacific) on the wood, and compare how bright the ink is in the stamp. The brighter the ink, the fresher the wood. If the stamp has faded, the wood's been sitting out in the weather and the sunlight degrading. Avoid it. Don't bother comparing inks in the grade stamps, as they are usually applied separately after drying and stacking.

 

[Robert86]

Yeah, lol, construction is like carpet cleaning - there's how it should be done, and then there's how it is done. My house had the world's laziest electrician do the wiring - he didn't pigtail anything off, he just stripped about an inch of insulation off the Romex, wound it once 'round the nut on the side of the switch, and proceeded to the next run. I rewired about 50% of my house the first year I was there, and I cussed him vociferously at every junction.

If you want to get your hands on the freshest, best lumber at ANY hardware store, find out what days their deliveries are (there are generally at least two per week direct from the lumberyards) and ASK TO SHOP THE STUFF OUT BACK. A good associate will understand what you're asking and will gladly let you grab from the fresh stock. An associate who doesn't give a darn, or who's been brainwashed by management to sell the oldest first to lessen their cull numbers, will refuse. At least then you know what you're working with, and can choose another hardware store.

edited to add: Also, look for stamps directly from the lumberyard (around here it's a bright blue triangle with GP, for Georgia-Pacific) on the wood, and compare how bright the ink is in the stamp. The brighter the ink, the fresher the wood. If the stamp has faded, the wood's been sitting out in the weather and the sunlight degrading. Avoid it. Don't bother comparing inks in the grade stamps, as they are usually applied separately after drying and stacking.

This time of year, if I need lumber I pay more and go to a local building supply company. They are better about culling and storage. I've watched home depot and lowes both bring in pallets of lumber covered in snow and ice and just park them in the store for a few hours to melt!

 

[Mama Fen]

Precisely. I loved my time at Depot, and recommend it as a job to anyone who wants to pick up real-world skills for their own home upkeep. However, for the truly passionate carpenter, there's no replacement for getting it direct from the source. The downside to "big box" hardware stores is, unfortunately, quality control. Bulk purchasing simply doesn't offer the same rigid quality standards.

 

[EverythingFlooring]

Here at Bridgepoint, we have been testing some LVT products at the request of one manufacturer. There may be opening in the market for a product that we could develop together, private lable with your company's brand, sell through retailers that carry your product. Worth thinking about.

DM me your number


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[Ed Cruz]

I use Armstrong Once and Done concentrate for LVT.....Diversery is good too. LVT is easy money. Spray the Once and Done diluted per soil load, spray on and buff off with a floor machine.

 

[Smtwn janitorial]

The cleaner is OK, but I avoid home depot whenever possible. I will pay more at smaller town buisness.

 

[EverythingFlooring]

The cleaner is OK, but I avoid home depot whenever possible. I will pay more at smaller town buisness.

Agreed, but we sell products through HD, so what we recommend to end users must be sold there. I'm going to be testing products.


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[aloha one]

The cleaner is OK, but I avoid home depot whenever possible. I will pay more at smaller town buisness.

Hard to mess up a neutral cleaner...not a whole lot of secret chemistry to it! I always support the little local guy problem is there are none anymore where I live.