Sarah

Thank you all very much for your help. I will give this some more thought and see what other options I might have... I also called Messmer's to get thier opinion today too. They too recommended that I leave it alone for at least 6 months, and then power wash it, use the cleaner, and LIGHTLY restain. OR for a quick fix I could get some paint thinner and a cloth or a brush, and try to "blend" the blotchy spots. And to put a thin coat of the rest of the deck with a sponge mop or something similar to get the other lightly "tacky" spots out... this seems to be the most appealing/simple option thus far. Anyone else ever tried or heard of doing this? Thanks again for your help with this.

This is going to be lengthy and I apologize, but I want you to know the whole story to get the best advice... We finished building our ipe deck on Sunday (42'x13'). We didn't know much about ipe except for what we had read, so after all of the decking boards were down I lightly sanded with an orbital sander, swept all the dust off, and applied Messmer's UV Finish with a roller (I didn't know any better at the time). I let the deck sit for about 30 minutes before I began toweling off any stain remaining on top of the boards. It was around 5pm on Sunday afternoon and it looked great!! Well, around 11am Monday morning an unexpected rain shower came through leaving puddles here and there on the deck. When I got back in the afternoon, the deck was blotchy and has a oily filmy look on top of many of the boards. I assumed (I know, bad idea) that this would go away with a little more rinsing, and since I needed to pressure wash the house anyway I figured now was a great time! (wrong) After pressure washing the siding and gutters with Krud Kutter, I tried to spray off water/soap remaining on the deck. So herein lies my problem, especially on the boards closer to the house I think the Krud Kutter may have lightened he stain on the boards. There are splotchy spots on the boards closer to the house and toward the middle of the deck. I am so upset. I know the potential of this wood and it is absolutely stunning (and was for a short while anyway), so I will do whatever I need to do to get it back like it is supposed to be... minus all of the splotchy spots and oily looking stuff on the surface. We're having friends and family over next Friday and I REALLY want it to look like it should. Thanks so much for your time and help. Please help! :( asap