stripping nightmare OR piece of cake?

[rholman 14]

Latex paint currently....customer wants to go with a solid white stain...I'm worried about the verticals. Paint started peeling within a year(poor prep probably)How would you guys attack this job?

stripper?

sander?

primer?

I called sherwin williams and all they carry is latex solid stain...should i go with cabot oil? or is latex better for this job?

[PressurePros 248]

Scrape

PW with TSP and bleach

Prime with Cabot's oil primer

Topcoat Cabot's solid

That would be beyond a nightmare strip it would cost you a ton of money in paint stripper and take you probably 40 hours in prep to get that thing clean enough for a semi trans. When will people learn not to paint exterior wood?

For what its worth, I wouldn't touch that strip and reseal with semi for less than $5000

[rholman 14]

cool....thanks ken....what kind of ratios are you talking for the tsp/bleach? what's the easiest/best tool for scraping the floor?

[rholman 14]

also...so it's ok to put an oil based solid stain over top of latex paint?

[plainpainter 217]

Man - I am tempted to say that stuff would come off real easy with a hot water pressure washer - or better yet, one that puts out steam instead, along with TSP and Downy fabric softener downstreamed thru @ 200 degrees.

[PressurePros 248]

Dan, the floor.. maybe. Those rails look intact (and there is a lot of spindles going on there). I have never tried the hotwater/fabric softener combo but 200 degrees (water) seems way too extreme for wood.

Rick, your probably going to be removing most of that floor paint to almost bare wood so putting oil over latex there is not a concern. For scraping, we have threaded 4" scrapers we put on extension poles. Don't use anything with too sharp of an edge or you'll gouge the wood. Your goal is knock off anything not strictly bonded.

If you are going to apply direct.. 32 oz TSP and 2 gallons of household bleach in a five gallon bucket topped with water. On some decks you can eliminate the scraping step by using a stiff bristled deck brush and applying the cleaning solution that way. That deck is a mess though.

[Littlefield 65]

Just one note, if scraping and cleaning, get the dry chips out of the way before you introduce any liquids, or they stick like crazy.

Another solution that's been working for us on these jobs, is to cut down the railings, leaving the main supports where possible, rebuild with new wood, strip the deck, stain the railings on the deck, stand them up, and finish the deck. Just make sure you stain the deck as you go, don't get started with drying stain overlap marks... Finally, install the new railings, get the check.

[rholman 14]

Man - I am tempted to say that stuff would come off real easy with a hot water pressure washer - or better yet, one that puts out steam instead, along with TSP and Downy fabric softener downstreamed thru @ 200 degrees.

what does the fabric softener do? I will more than likely shurflo the chem on so what would be the correct ratio on your mix? I thought hot water was a big no no? Is it ok when stripping paint?

Ken.....thanks for the ratio on the bleach & TSP!

[plainpainter 217]

Personally I have never had a problem with solid oil stain over latex. My folks have converted their house using that method since the early 70's til now - where there is nothing but the solid oil stain on it now. My sisters fence which was a spindly latex mess - I pressure washed it with a turbo nozzle, scraped the bejesus out of it - and then sprayed several coats of cabots ultra white oil solid stain - still looks perfect a year later - eventually more latex will peel - but it would have peeled anyways, and probably more rapidly had I put latex on it - the oil solid stain doesn't 'tax' a surface with stress like latex does, which can apply a tremendous shearing force that rips the older layers of paint straight off the wood!

[rholman 14]

i'm assuming that i will have to neutralize with citralic after using the TSP/bleach mixture?....just making sure.

[Tmrrptr 164]

I'm with plainpainter... I think hotwater will clear off the flat surface after a reasonable soak... Ha! I can't wait for an opportunity to try his fabric softener chemistry. Steam?...nah. vert pickets in balustrade still gonna be hardest.

r

[Chappy 138]

Here is a dock I did recently. It had latex solid over acrylic. Stripped as much as possible with HD 80. Sanded off splinters and any loose latex. Pic #2 is after stripping 2x. thats all I could get off with boosted HD80.

Primed with Cabots problem solver and applied Cabots solid alkyd stain. all sprayed with an airless. Some of the wood is in pretty bad shape but he didnt want it replaced.

[charlie 14]

Here is how you do it.

1 Use a precarb on the deck to clean off mold.

2 Lightly sand with a 36 or 50 grit paper to remove off old loose stain.

3 Apply Benj. Moore Solid color stain on it.

4 Tell customer that you may get some peeling on it all they have to do is do a light sand on it and apply stain over the top.

If working around water do not use a stripper on it you may kill the fish.

[jeffex11 121]

I would sell the customer on solid white acrylic stain on the railings and the vertical step risers and outer frame boards. I would recoment to them a semi-trans parent honey gold or cedar natural finish on the decking and top rail cap IF and I mean specify _IF_ you can remove the white from the horizontal surfaces with a stripper and power washing. IF not then a white acrylic will do as well. I would not try and price a job to remove the white from the rails as they look like the paint is holding . If they want it all removed ask them if they have deep pockets.

[rholman 14]

thanks guys for all the advice! I pressure washed the deck today. I used the TSP/Bleach mix.....first i used a turbo nozzle on the paint chips(kept it far away as to not do any damage).....Next I applied chemical....let dwell for 15 minutes....powerwashed with a 40 degree nozzle and a dual lance.....to my suprise the paint on the floor board held in quite a few spots. I forgot to take pictures however....I may run over there tomorrow to take some....anyway the paint is bright white again and ready to stain.

I have a few questions....I don't remember the last time i used a solid stain, so i would like as much input as possible....

(1) do i need to sand the wood to taper in between paint and bare wood?

(2) should i use an airless to apply primer? Roller?

(3) do i need to apply multiple coats of primer on bare wood? Primer over the entire deck after that?

My main concern is to make sure the floor doesn't look blotchy where the paint held and then i will stain over top. I planned on using the Cabot primer and solid oil stain. What are the advantages of acrylic? By the way i bid this job at $1,500(so stripping it to bare wood was not an option)Please help...thanks!

[PressurePros 248]

No matter how bad the peeling there will always be spots that stick like that. Rick I would recommend using an oil primer and a latex topcoat. I prefer latex as it is a bit more forgiving with freeze/thaw. Others may have different opinions.

I would use some 40-60 grot on a random orbital to feather the edges on any spots you can't scrape up.

[rholman 14]

Ken....do you think Cabot oil primer is best? Does Cabot make a solid latex stain? I might have mis-read your previous post....I was prepared to go with Cabot for both the primer and topcoat....is that ok?

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Cabot makes a primer called Problem Solver. We have used it with success.

Beth

[PressurePros 248]

Cabot's Problem Solver (alkyd) and Cabot's solid decking stain (they make a latex)

[Tmrrptr 164]

Wow Jon!

How do you keep your chems out of he water?

Some of the wood is in pretty bad shape but he didnt want it replaced.

... Isn't that something? Dock looks much nicer, people gonna walk out on it more now, stub toe & fall in water... lawyer buys new boat next year.

r

[Chappy 138]

After shot