dbfreq

So, we just moved into a new house on the East Coast from the Left Coast. My wife came out early and found the house. Before I'd seen the house / deck in person, and before I knew anything about restoring and sealing a deck, I announced that I was going to restore and seal this deck. Now, I'm stuck. The deck is MUCH bigger than I'd anticipated and it's in pretty bad shape. No one can tell me what the original finish was, but, from the pictures I've seen, there was clearly something on it five years ago when the deck was built. So, I cleaned with Benjamin Moore Restore, Penafin and an OxyClean blend (each on different sections of the deck) and brightened with Benjamin Moore. I didn't notice much difference between the different cleaners. I've still got a fair amount of green and gray on the deck and some start and stop marks from the pressure washer. The pressure washer is a little electric unit with a max 1900 psi. I never had the fan close enough to the wood or narrow enough that it didn't cover at least 4", so I wouldn't have thought it would leave marks, but it did. None of the marks are indentations in the wood, just darker spots. In facts, those start and stop marks look clean to me, whereas the rest of the deck does not. I'm at the point now where I think I need to sand. I noticed that many if not most of the boards are cupped. I thought I'd even those out and make a nice, flat surface that would allow the stain to spread out more evenly. But, running a 6" ROS across the edges of two boards seems to result in over-sanding -- the very edges of the boards start to yellow before the ROS hits the interior of either. From what I've read, this will result in an uneven stain. It also means that I won't be able to use a floor-standing sander to make the project move along more quickly, doesn't it? So, after all of that, my question is: Should I forget about trying to even out the cupping? Or, should I take each board down to yellow? Or is there a third option? I can't tell from the sanding pictures on this forum what color I should be going for. Ipe seems to have a number of colors. I start with a silvery-gray board, hand sand down to reddish-brown board and ROS down to almost a bright yellow. I've decided to lightly hand sand a small area of each board with 60 grit to see what color that particular board is in that particular area and then try to stop when I get to that color with the ROS. This is a 1,600 sq/ft deck. There must be an easier faster way. If I could hire a pro at this point, I'd be glad to do so. But, given that I've started and invested so much time in it already, I feel like I need to finish it and finish it in a way that will make me happy each time I step out onto it. Thanks for any feedback. Brad

Correction on the stain. It's Wood Tux that's available in Brown Sugar. Ready Seal would be Medium Red.

As I mentioned in the first post, the start and stop marks look clean to me -- there's no gray in those spots and the wood doesn't look damaged. Is it possible that I need to use the pressure washer and a little more pressure than what I have been using? If I'm not scoring the wood and if the start and stop marks where a little more pressure was applied do look clean, that would seem to indicate a little more pressure is required, no? Maybe I try the OxyClean solution, let it stand, scrub it in after 20-30 minutes, then rinse with the power washer. That's the only combination I haven't tried. I'll be careful not to score the wood. The worst thing that can happen is that I have to sand out of a few marks, which is pretty much where I'm at now, anyway...

As for the Festool, I have to admit I have a bit of a problem. I'm a Festool addict. I don't have as much time for woodworking as I'd like, but I like building loudspeakers. After having "an incident" with a table saw in the past, when I saw some high-end finish carpenters using some Festools on a job site with an MFT/3, I was sold. There are still ways to hurt yourself with the Festool system, but you kind of have to work at it. Used properly, they're extremely precise and fast to setup. And, I really admire the engineering put into each of these tools. They're definitely not inexpensive, but working with them is so enjoyable it's worth it.

Thanks for the responses. I tried a few different cleaning solutions that were readily available (i.e., things I could find at local stores), including OxyClean, which, as I understand it, is sodium percarbonate. I mixed 1 1/2 cups of OxyClean powder with 2 gallons of water, spread it on with a mop, lightly brushed it in with a broom, let it stand for about 15 minutes, worked it hard with the same stiff-bristled broom and then rinsed it off with a garden hose. I immediately applied Benjamin Moore Brighten (which contains oxalic acid), spread that around with the broom, let it stand 15 minutes, worked at it with the broom and then rinsed it off. That section of the deck isn't clean, either. I tried multiple cleanings and brightenings with the Benjamin Moore products on other sections of the deck with about the same results. I guess it wouldn't hurt to try the OxyClean again on that section. It would beat sanding. Initially, I was thinking of using Cabot Flame Mahogany. I like the initial look, but I wonder if the build-up over years of application would start to look too dark and a little weird. After reading more in these forums and seeing a nice-looking deck, I'm starting to lean towards Ready Seal in Brown Sugar. It seems to have a rich color with a slight reddish hint to it, seems to go on easy and may last a little longer than the Cabot. Would the RS BS show the start and stop marks? Thanks again.

Close-up of the cupping. It's easier to see it in person -- it doesn't show up quite as well in the photo. Running the sander over these uneven surfaces seems to be causing some over sanding in the middle of the boards while the middle of the sander isn't in contact with anything.

Part sanded, part not sanded.

Sanded boards with Festool RO90 for color matching (color shows up differently on different computers, but maybe people can use the Festool blue as a reference color).

Start and stop marks.

Deck before I started.