Removing fur thats been sealed?

[big mike 14]

OK,

Got a call today to fix a homeowner goof. Evidently the deck was washed and then sealed with Penofin (goof 1). Looks fair, but I believe theres some mildew entrapped under the stain - spotty(goof 2), and there is a good amount of fur on the spindles and a little on the floor(goof 3). Does this deck require a complete strip & reseal? Is there any way to remove the furring from the spindles or will time do the trick? Can I do a light sanding and then a thin coat of seal over it? This is a friend, so I want to go the least expensive route. I will definitely get the next maintenance job for this guy, so I want to impress on him that I know my stuff. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[seymore 90]

If you want to get all the mildew from under the stain it might not a bad idea to strip and reseal especially if you are going to use a diff.sealer.

Are you going to put the same Penofin back on?

The least expensive route is just kill the mildew light sand the fuzzies and real seal.

[Russell Cissell 65]

Mike-

I'm going to have a little fun with you! Hopefully this will help someone not make the mistakes that I've made and it sounds like you are about to.

Agreeing to do work for a friend (goof 1) most often leads to burger flipping wages at best. Thinking that your friend will be impressed even with the most excellent result (goof 2) most often results in hurt feeling to match your lack of compensation. Doing a job cheap (goof 3) on the promise of future work is a loosing proposition unless you can charge double your going rate when you do get hired. Agreeing to provide maintenance for a deck that you didn't do start-to-finish (goof 4) will land you responsible for the quality of someone else's work.

If you are going to maintain this deck long term the best thing you can do for your friend is to charge him a reasonable price that will compensate you fairly and make you feel good about doing the work. Take charge of the job and strip it completely, remove all the mold and mildew and apply the same finish that you intend to use on maintenance jobs. Impress your friend with your professional business manner. If he finds this unreasonable, politely offer him some pointers and wish him good luck.

Surface preparation is the single most important factor in the longevity of any finish. If you try to maintain what is there now, you are going to be fighting and uphill battle and will probably never be completely happy with the results. Wood restoration and preservation is a system of steps coming together to produce a predictable result. Cutting corners is never the answer if quality results are your goal.

For the record, I have made each of these mistakes myself more than once! That doesn't mean you have to!

Best of Luck

Russell

[big mike 14]

Russ, Shane,

Thanks for the replies. I do realize that a complete strip would be the best route. I am however, reluctant to do that because overall the finish looks pretty good. There is mainly some furring that's been sealed, and will eventually disappear anyway right? I want to spend as little time on this as possible, because time=money. I am doing this as a favor to this person, but i don't have a lot of time - and he doesn't have the money. Basically what I'm asking is, if I sand off the fur, how bad is it going to wreck the seal job?

[Russell Cissell 65]

If you are able to knock the fur of with a brush in such a way that it does not compromise the integrity of the finish you might be all right. If you find yourself sanding, you will most certainly need to do some touch up sealing. Depending on the finish of the product being used this should not be too difficult if you rag the product on and avoid over lapping areas that were not sanded.

[Aplus 525]

Additionally, if there is mildew trapped under Penofin, your friend is in for a real whammy. Penofin contains what they advertise as "Brazilian Rosewood Oil". Whatever that stuff is, it's food for mildew. In no time, the mold will start eating the oil, and as we know, anything that eats, also excretes.

That pretty Penofin finish will start during darker and darker, from all the "poop" trapped below, and the finish will fail quickly.

Here is a picture of failed Penofin.....cedar color. Notice how dark the floor is compared to the railing. I know it's not a great photo but will illustrate my point. This finish is one year old and already looks like "crap".

[big mike 14]

Thanks tony,

I've seen other pix you've posted of failed Penofin. I think what I'm going to do is strip the deck surface only and do a re-seal. It's only 14 x 16, and a easy square. I looked at it again today, and I think that might be the easiest route. I'm going to plastic off the spindles and railings though. They look decent enough. Also, a good test deck for HD-80 vs. EFC-38. What do you think I'll have the best results with? I want to keep the furring to a minimum so I want the lightest stripper I have to use. The finish is less than a month old. Oh, in case I didn't mention it before, it's a cedar deck.

[Brian Keating 14]

Make sure to do a test patch. New stain is a lot harder to remove then stuff that has had a couple years in the sun. This maybe a harder strip job then you think.

[Aplus 525]

Big Mike,

I think you'll need the HD-80, probably mixed stronger than you'd hope for. Like Brian mentioned, new stain can be tougher to remove than older stain. Do the test, start with a weaker mix, and keep ratcheting up the strength until you find what works.

I've never removed Penofin that's only one month old, but old Penofin melts right off with HD-80, or Brians' Timber Strip at half strength.

Don't forget to neutralize.

[Ron Musgraves 240]

Great reply Russel

Mike-

I'm going to have a little fun with you! Hopefully this will help someone not make the mistakes that I've made and it sounds like you are about to.

Agreeing to do work for a friend (goof 1) most often leads to burger flipping wages at best. Thinking that your friend will be impressed even with the most excellent result (goof 2) most often results in hurt feeling to match your lack of compensation. Doing a job cheap (goof 3) on the promise of future work is a loosing proposition unless you can charge double your going rate when you do get hired. Agreeing to provide maintenance for a deck that you didn't do start-to-finish (goof 4) will land you responsible for the quality of someone else's work.

If you are going to maintain this deck long term the best thing you can do for your friend is to charge him a reasonable price that will compensate you fairly and make you feel good about doing the work. Take charge of the job and strip it completely, remove all the mold and mildew and apply the same finish that you intend to use on maintenance jobs. Impress your friend with your professional business manner. If he finds this unreasonable, politely offer him some pointers and wish him good luck.

Surface preparation is the single most important factor in the longevity of any finish. If you try to maintain what is there now, you are going to be fighting and uphill battle and will probably never be completely happy with the results. Wood restoration and preservation is a system of steps coming together to produce a predictable result. Cutting corners is never the answer if quality results are your goal.

For the record, I have made each of these mistakes myself more than once! That doesn't mean you have to!

Best of Luck

Russell