RE-staining

[Kellyjames43 0]

I typically paint houses but I took on a deck/ patio/ steps and hand railing staining project. The options were,  a solid or a darker stain, he didn’t like either and he didn’t want to pay for it to all be sanded. So I told him I’d sand it a little and pick a  slightly darker or similar. My question is now that I took it upon myself to strip it. I found  a shiny pretty  orange stain that was originally on it 20 years ago but he doesn’t know what it was and whoever covered it since then did a **** poor job and used a way different color and product. What can I use to  put over it to what it was originally, Is it possible. should I use an oil base stain or water base and should I just go to Sherwin-Williams, Lowe’s, Home Depot or PPG and pick a  similar stain, its now  lighter but not Completely bare wood with a hint of orange that the stripper did not take off.  If this is confusing or I didn’t write it properly that’s pretty much how I feel about this job. I just want the home owner to get what he wants. The pictures are of what it is not yet stripped and the finished looking picture is the ceiling  of the gazebo I believe it  used to look like. 

Edited July 7, 2018 by Kellyjames43
Added pic

[Beth n Rod 1,278]

The Orange looking product may be Sikkens Dek. It was all the rage back then and if that is the gazebo ceiling you pictured, then I'd leave it as an accent.
The rest of it has to be stripped unless you offer to prime and solid stain it.
Don't bother wasting your money on strippers at H.D.

Go here:https://www.opwdecks.com/

and get a contractor grade product. You will need also this:633-ADD which is an additive that helps to strip acrylics and solid stains.
You can get it from here-http://www.acrproductsinc.com/

Tell them I sent you.


Meanwhile, inform the customer that this is not just a sanding job as you previously thought. That is part of it but not till you get the bulk of the stain off.
There will still be some stain in the cracks. No machine or chemical is able to remove. Keeping that in mind is why I suggested priming and solid stain to hide it.
The deck boards don't appear bad enough to warrant replacement so the options are limited based upon what the customer can pay and what he is willing to
accept as the end result aesthetic.
Stripping the ceiling will be the ultimate p.i.t.a. because gravity is pulling your stripper down and in order to get the product to loosen (there are likely 2 coats)
you will have to use a stiff bristle brush to agitate it while the product is working. Get the difficulty yet?

Just clean it as the manufacturer prescribes with bleach and tsp in water and then rinse. From that level on down, make a distinct separation from it for the
other color. If you do strip the entire deck and leave the ceiling alone you can expect a decent result but inform the customer of the potential you can't get rid of the
stain in the cracks without replacing the boards. That poses another problem. With any 'see-through' stain, you will have a noticeable difference in the aged wood and
new. There is no way to match them in most cases because in order to do so, you have to not only change the color on those new boards, you have to increase the
pigment amount to compensate as well. Unless you are practiced at this, I wouldn't do it because it is more trial and error and you end up with a bunch of color pigments
you may never use the rest of and it goes to waste.

Food for thought.
Rod