Nausea From Stain and other thoughts about deck restoration

[stefvell 14]

I spent 8 hours staining a deck with Armstrong Clark Transparent Natural Tone yesterday and I have been severely nauseous ever since. What is strange is that I was not so nauseous until about 4 hours after I left the job. I normally wear gloves when applying stain but this time I left my gloves at home so my right hand was in the stain all day. I am thinking that maybe the stain got into my blood stream a bit! Also, I noticed that this stain did smell strongly like gasoline compared to Wood Tux. I wonder if it was the vapors or the skin exposure. Has anyone else experienced this nausea and if so how long was it before you felt normal again. It's been a full 24 hours now and I still feel sick! I will post pics later...I think the deck looks great!

Also, just tried HD-80 stripper on my own deck recently and I must say that the furring was pretty bad and the stain did not really come up all that easily or completely. I was stripping some 2 year old Olympic Max Semi Trans Red Cedar from pressure treated pin that was new when I stained it 2 years ago. I used 8 ounces per gallon per instructions and applied evenly and let dwell for 20 minutes. What did come off came off with very little pressure but certain spots where just unmerciful even with high pressure. But you know, I have no problem doing a little more dwell or even a bit of sanding but the furring is just too much. I used very very low pressure and what I thought was appropriate dwell time, again around 20 minutes and I got horrible furring. I ended up having to sand all of the spindles and railings. It took me 4 hours! I was thinking that maybe higher pressure would have been better because it would have blasted away the fur! Is furring a bigger problem on newer decks than ones that have already seen a few restorations? Also, I read a post on this site with a link to purchase a deffuring tool from a site called ACR products. I can not find the deffuring tool for sale anywhere on this site. Where else can I get one? Is it any faster than sanding? I would think so but any real experience is appreciated.

As a result of my recent experience I am looking for alternatives. I haven't been doing this for a long time, this was my 5th deck, but I was watching two videos on Youtube that made me question the use of Sodium Hydroxide based strippers.

The

was some guy that used a citrus based stripper on what seemed to be a very thick coat of paint. II read here that the D-limonene will not cause furring either. There is even a product called Clean and Bright that claims to be designed for wood and it not only cleans but brightens in one step! As far as price is concerned I have found 5 gallons of 95% food grade D-Limonene for around $130 online here. Does anyone have any experience or thoughts about this.

The second video was by

. Apparently he is very successful and he uses Wolman Deck Bright and Wolman Rain Coat Tinted which is water based with Linseed and Tung Oils. The product sure looks nice and the video shows virtually no furring. I have used Wood Tux, Arm Clark, Timber Oil and Omax Trans and Semi and all of them perform well for me. I am shy to change when something works but this guys video makes it look very easy to apply and the results speak for themselves IMHO. What say you? Edited April 5, 2010 by stefvell

[ShineBrite LLC 14]

I like this post.

The most popular wood stain/sealer here and where you live was (and still is for some) desiel fuel mixed with burnt motor oil. Stops all sorts of pests, too. Not too good for telling your insurance company about. Real fancy folks might have mixed copper N in with it, just to add color and be snooty.

Really though, AC isn't so bad in the nausea dept. Although if you inhale anything other than O2 in large amounts for very long it tends to have adverse effects. Considering it went from winter, snowing here about two weeks ago, to summer and 89° today, the sudden sweat and sun burn has been rather nautious for me.

I assume you are on PT pine in NC. ???

[stefvell 14]

It was PT Pine. Very good quality though. I got over 250 sq feet per gallon this job. That's a record for me. I hear you on the sun and sweat though. I did the whole job alone with a 4" brush. Didn't spray at all. It was one heck of a day.

[ShineBrite LLC 14]

Working yourself too hard. Just like I did!

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Let me get this straight....NO PPE....and the symptoms show up 4 hours AFTER....and you think it is the sealer? We work with AC all the time, no ill effects. It is low VOC so no - there is not "gasoline" in the product.

Was it really hot where you were? Are you aware that one of the symptoms of heat stress is nausea? Were you hydrated and following OSHA's suggestions for working safe in the sun?

No offense, but I doubt it was the sealer. A burger at Mc D's will do the same thing 4 hours later.

Beth

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

http://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3154.pdf

Read this card.

Beth

[Surfacecreek 14]

Excellent information; especially for hot and humid areas of the country. rja