Stripping a solid stain off of this deck.

[WoodDoc 14]

First of all I'd like to say how much I appreciate being a new member to this site. While I was waiting to be registered I've been reading quite a bit of info on here and this site is absolutely amazing. I had a customer call and ask for a quote on restoring his upper and lower deck and someone evidently tried to stain the deck with a solid stain and from the looks of it got tired of it and quit. So now I've got to strip the stain and basically clean up the rest of it and restain. I'm going to strongly recommend not going with a solid stain and instead going with a semi trans (Ready Seal). Here are some pics of the decks and any observations would be much appreciated. Any suggestions on stripper would be appreciated. Two of the photos are of a wet floor because of the rain I've not gotten to quote to the customer yet.

Edited February 14, 2013 by WoodDoc

[WoodDoc 14]

Yea a lot of the strippers that are powder based say to mix in warm water. Having a good sander on hand is a life saver too. Fortunately on this deck I'm tearing out all of the flooring, steps, and cap rails and replacing with pressure treated wood. All of the vertical wood will get a solid stain since it's already got solid on it and all of the horizontal wood will get semi trans of course.

[seymore 90]

There is an environmentally better alternative to 'anti-freeze- (aka-ethylene glycol)

Rod!~

Rod,

So is the polypropylene glycol " pink anti freeze" not environmentally safe? I found that tip here on TGS and worked great! I understand there are specifically made boosters for strippers but I was short on time not able to order some.

How about adding Butyl to strippers?

[bigchaz 157]

The enviromentally (or cat and dog) friendly antifreeze is your Propylene Glycol. Ethylene is the traditional anti-freeze, works but can be deadly to animals if ingested.

[Jake Clark 17]

In my opinion your first step to preservation is to bring it back to nature . Pray and meditate and oil with a one inch chineese brush . This will bring you to a place of peace and a understanding of preservation young grasshopper .......

James can bring direction to all of us lost soles at the Albany Seminar during his earthy wood restoration presentation seminar with Rabi Shankar, resurrected from the grave, playing background music.

Auuhhuumm,

Jake