RPetry

Two separate applications of Ready Seal redwood only stain, medium red color, was applied on subsequent days. Initially, even with the #80 brightener, the stain looked quite dark. But after a few hours the color lightened up to normal. The #80 acid did its job, as the finish was even, without the dreaded blotchy look so prevalent in tannin rich woods, particularly western red cedar, after a hard sanding. The customer was thrilled, just overwhelmed at the finished job. So am I. With regular 2 yr. maintenance, there is no reason why this old growth redwood deck cannot last another 50 yrs. First I want to thank the unknown deck builder, that my customer originally called, who recognized that intact wood 50 yrs. old was something special, and recommended that the customer call my company for an evaluation. My customer originally thought the deck had to be torn down and replaced. She had already gotten 2 quotes for a new pressure treated SYP deck before she called us. Thanks also to Peirce Fitchett, the national sales manager of Ready Seal, for coming up and helping on this unique job. Thats Peirce in the previous post sanding! Thanks also to Raul Hernadez of Forever Redwood in California, for the fine old growth redwood replacement boards. Unique, challenging, and unusual jobs like this are what make wood restoration fun and interesting. Can't wait for the next one!

After carpentry work and replacing the rotted wood, the deck was cleaned. Two separate sodium percarbonate cleanings were required to remove all the built up dirt, mold, and mildew. Ready Seal's #80 brightener was then applied to the wood. This is a mix of various acids, designed to keep tannins in check. A bit expensive but well worth it for this job. After the acid dried, took a good long look at the wood. Much of the original wood surface was rough, as weathering over the years had, not quite sure how to describe it, "delaminated" some of the top surfaces of many of the redwood deck boards. There is a close up pic of this near the beginning of this thread. A tough call, as tannins in redwood, especially old growth wood, are notorious for "blotching" the appearance of stain, but decided to belt sand the entire deck surface. Once the sanding was completed, again applied RS #80 to the redwood to keep the tannins in check. Worked perfectly.

In 8 years of business, this job was by far the most interesting and satisfying project. An old growth redwood deck, very unusual here in NJ, and documented by neighbors to be at least 50 yrs. old. Had not been maintained for many years, possibly decades. As can be seen from the attached photos, mold, severe mildew, and even moss covered the wood. Some of the wood was rotted. One small deck board, as well as a 2"x12"x12' bottom step tread had to be replaced. In addition, the end grain of the step treads, as well as the top deck boards facing the stairs, was rotted. This end grain wood was cut back and sanded. A 2"x2" redwood sill was fabricated and installed with stainless steel screws. The stair stringers, full fascia, and all undercarriage joists, were all fabricated from old growth redwood. Even the posts are made from heartwood redwood tree trunks!

Celeste, I know nothing about weatherometers, I am just passing along information that I received. The point is stated in the last sentence, This simulated "maintenance" was done with the toners, not the original, full bodied stain.Jon, The first (left) picture is before application of the respective toners, the right picture, after.

I received the following info yesterday from a long time contractor located in the Western US. Email quoted is verbatim. ________________________________________ These are some Armstrong-Clark sample color boards we made up on 1X4 cedar (tied together with light rope). The guys really abused them for about 6 months (throwing them in trucks, trailers, etc.) In a nutshell, they were beat to hell. I replaced them with new ones and placed these beat up ones in the weatherometer for a simulated period of approximately 2 1/2 years in the Arizona mountain climate. As you can see, they faded quite a bit. The before left to right: Sierra Redwood Semi-Transparent; Redwood Tone; Cedar Tone; Cedar Semi-Transparent and Rustic Brown. They were then recoated with their respective toners (1 coat). Cedartone on Cedar Semi-Transparent, etc. The after left to right: Redwood Tone; Cedar Tone; Redwood Semi-Transparent; Cedar Semi-Transparent and Rustic Brown. In retrospect, we should have recoated the Rustic Brown with a blend of the Rustic Brown and Natural since there is no toner in that shade. This should lend some insight into the maintenance aspect of the Armstrong-Clark Stains.

Jim, I tend to agree with you. Who can forget the eastern WRCLA's rep, Ed Burke, and his diatribe on using diluted bleach and soap as a cleaner? But for Dale, a homeowner or deck builder unfamiliar with finishing, their guide is a good starting point. He has to decide what type of finish to put on his cedar. If it was my deck or customer job in British Columbia in September, I would let it weather over the winter and finish it in the spring with Ready Seal. Contrary to the WRCLA stance, at least for paraffinic oil stains, I think it is better to let cedar naturally age and weather for a while, prior to prepping and staining.

http://www.wrcla.org/pdf/WRCLA_Guide_to_Finishing.pdf

Carlos, Great! I think Tom and Barbara of ACR are doing something in the fall, possibly a bit more informal than prior round tables. Look forward to seeing you again. You must be racking up the frequent flier miles! Bring a coat, its starting to get cold up here in the Northeast. Enjoy the warm breezes of Myrtle Beach.

Wish I was a pressure washer. Cold ones by a pool sure beats trying to finish up wood season! Is that Carlos and Scott Millen? Have a wonderful time in Myrtle Beach. There is no doubt that Jeff will be a terrific host.

Jim, You said, Well that is a bit irritating. You ask questions, someone is kind enough to spend time and effort to try and help you, and do not even check for a response. My last advice is to just leave your ipe' as is for the winter. Strip it and do the job right next summer.

Don, A pump up type sprayer will work for both stripper and acid application. If the stripper concentration is not to hot, flooding the surrounding brick with water should be fine, rinsing as needed. Same with driveways, but more care should be given if asphalt. The wood will probably fir a little bit from the stripper. With the detail windows/doors from your pictures, a light buffing with a Makita 9227C or similar and special 3M pads (ACR Products carries them) would probably be faster than a nylon or fine wire brush.

Have fun Rick. My wife is leaving for 2 weeks to Italy next month, leaving me with two puppies and a fridge full of Heinekens. Should be interesting, as I do not cook!

Don, Nice doors, although the width looks a bit narrow for a car. Wood contractors here on TGS generally use sodium hydroxide based strippers to remove oil based stains. That is your first determination, the type of stain on the doors. Most semitrans exterior wood stains are oil based, usually linseed oil, but over the past several years water based stains have become more prevalent. Check the banner ads here on TGS. ACR Products, The Sealer Store, Extreme Solutions, Inc., and Sun Brite Supply all provide NaOH based strippers, as well as citric, oxalic, or a combination of acid used as brighteners/neutralizers. These strippers come in powder form so you may adjust strength. Mix up a quart of water with 2 oz. first. This would be the equivalent of 8 oz. per gal.. Apply to a door area with the most intact stain and let dwell for 5 minutes or so. Scratch the surface with a mixing stick to see if the old finish easily comes off. If so, you may want to halve a new mix to 1 oz. or 4 oz. per gal. equivalent and reapply on another area. The trick is to use the lightest effective mix to keep down firring or raising of the grain. You can also increase dwell time of the stripper before washing, 20 minutes or so is reasonable. But you must keep the stripper wet on the wood, either by applying more, or misting with water from your pressure washer. As Beth stated, let the stripper do the work. A pressure washer for wood is little more than a glorified rinser. Low pressure with lots of water will help keep the firring of the wood down. After stripping, apply your acid. This will help neutralize any remaining sodium hydroxide and also brighten the wood. Most rinse the acid off after 10 or 15 minutes. Stain selection is varied. We all have our favorites, and there is a lot of information here about different exterior wood stains. The vendors listed above can help in mix concentrations and process. Feel free to call or email me if you need additional assistance.

Celeste, Jake and company did send a sample kit. Did not think about trying to match pigment with the other test stains. Probably for the best anyway. She is not too thrilled with using the middle of our deck for a bunch of test stains and various colors! As my ipe' gets a lot of sun, the darker A-C may have a slight advantage, but to be honest ipe' is such a tough nut for any stain, in a year I'm not so sure that it will make any difference. Yeah, teak furniture staining with lambswool is a piece of cake. Especially when you are in the shade under a maple tree when it's 90F out.

Celeste, It was not my choice of color. Jake Clark and company were kind enough to send me 10 gals. of stain gratis. Rustic brown was the color sent. 5 went on a customer's WRC deck. About 1 gal. will go on my ipe' deck. You sound like my wife Judy! She likes the RS light brown, she actually lambswooled our teak furniture with it this morning. Now, if I could only get her to help on customer's wood! I am not thrilled with the color either, but that is beside the point. Ipe' and any stain is a crucible. It is a test to see if A-C can live up to its newly found following on a tough hardwood.

Closed on a nice deck job yesterday. When getting ready to leave, up comes the "Oh, by the way, would you look at this". Very upscale house, nice customers. Solid wood entry doors, am not sure of the species. As can be seen from the pics, they need a sanding of the poly and stain, and complete refinishing, including I would guess numerous coats of exterior poly over the new stain for protection. One side only. Of course, the interior side of the doors is nearly perfect. Temporary doors will be installed so that I can remove these two to restore. I have access to a heated workshop. A few questions. I would assume that sanding is the only option, especially given that only the exterior side will need work. Are there any detail sanders that are effective in removing poly and stain? There are 32 panels on each door, with numerous surfaces, including rounded, in each panel (see closeup). The labor to hand sand effectively, and try to clean each corner, would be prohibitive. Any suggestions on process and real good, effective sanders or tools would be appreciated. I purchased a cheap "detail sander" sometime ago that is basically worthless, even for decks. I do not mind spending money for good tools that will actually work and speed up the job. Pricing advice would also be welcomed. I know this will take a ton of time and have no clue as to how much this type of work is charged in the marketplace. Thanks.

DrDoor, Holy Smokes, you are the real deal! Appreciate all of your suggestions, and am amazed that anyone could restore doors such as these in a day. Then again, I guess after a few hundred.... As far as a finish that will both be attractive and last a while, any suggestions? Just poly, stain and poly, or something entirely different? The doors reside under an ~ 4 ft. roof overhang so aside from moisture wicking from the bluestone, I do not think they get wet much. As can be seen from the pics, the upper half of the exterior has not degraded as it is in shade most if not all of the daytime. Thanks so much for your help.

Beth, Makes sense. Had a tele. call from a contractor suggesting dry ice blasting. Sounded like it had potential, but found this bit of info from: Remarkable dry ice blast cleaning - Enviro Blast Can CO2 be used to clean wood? Dry ice blasting will raise the grain on the wood, leaving a finish similar to that of sandblasting. If you need a smooth wood finish, dry ice blasting is not the answer. The primary interest here has been in lead paint abatement. We are currently working with the Air Force to develop a program to remove lead paint from wooden buildings. Most other removal methods create too much additional toxic waste. Because dry ice disappears as it strikes the surface, the only waste that must be disposed of is the paint itself.