Most of the decks I have done have been significantly older wood/decks. The deck I am doing this week is PTP approx 2yrs old with quality lumber but had heavy mildew caused from an abundance of shade from trees that were just cut down. I have only done one other deck this age and experienced the same problems. The problem I am having is the wood is very splotchy with grey areas especially around the summer ring marks and knots, almost a brighter patina in color in those areas. Also, stains from heavy mildew or pot rings that did not come up. I am using a Deckster and used a light NaOH that I think would be equivalent to about 3oz per gallon, SH of about 3% (plus washed with house wash prior), and then neutralized with Ox at 6oz per gallon. I did get some furring so I don't "think" my mix was too weak. The boards had beveled cuts so I used a 25 degree tip at around 470psi and a 65degree tip at under 1000psi to hit the bevels.
I washed it yesterday and today it looked terrible and had to do significant sanding to get the wood presentable. I will be staining tomorrow.
I feel like I am not handling the age of the wood right. The last deck that I had these problems with was very cheap lumber and using Wood Tux. Other than the problems the decks could not be different. Is there anything I should be doing differently with these type decks??
I would have attached pics but my computer just deleted the before and after pics of my last two jobs during the download from my camera somehow.
Most of the decks I have done have been significantly older wood/decks. The deck I am doing this week is PTP approx 2yrs old with quality lumber but had heavy mildew caused from an abundance of shade from trees that were just cut down. I have only done one other deck this age and experienced the same problems. The problem I am having is the wood is very splotchy with grey areas especially around the summer ring marks and knots, almost a brighter patina in color in those areas. Also, stains from heavy mildew or pot rings that did not come up. I am using a Deckster and used a light NaOH that I think would be equivalent to about 3oz per gallon, SH of about 3% (plus washed with house wash prior), and then neutralized with Ox at 6oz per gallon. I did get some furring so I don't "think" my mix was too weak. The boards had beveled cuts so I used a 25 degree tip at around 470psi and a 65degree tip at under 1000psi to hit the bevels.
I washed it yesterday and today it looked terrible and had to do significant sanding to get the wood presentable. I will be staining tomorrow.
I feel like I am not handling the age of the wood right. The last deck that I had these problems with was very cheap lumber and using Wood Tux. Other than the problems the decks could not be different. Is there anything I should be doing differently with these type decks??
I would have attached pics but my computer just deleted the before and after pics of my last two jobs during the download from my camera somehow.
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