Problems today

[Don M. 14]

I stripped and brightend a cedar deck today using RM and Deckbrite. The RM was about 2 and 1/2 gallons left over from the end of last season that was out back in the shed. I mixed it 1 part chem to 3 parts water. The Deckbrite I used 1 pound to 2 gallons of water in my pump up.

A rain shower came between the process of stripping and brightening. I made a call and a friend told me to mix the deckbrite heavier (which I thought I did.). Here are my results. The one picture the left side has no oxalic put on it yet and the right side does.

To be honest, I am not happy with the brightening results. Maybe its because I am new and still learning my wood, but there was a 2 guys working out of a pickup truck that was across the street doing a deck and theirs brightend 30 times better than mine.

When the wood actually dries out, will it make a drastic difference and look better?

Thank for your help

[Don M. 14]

Barry,

Yeah I came out on it, but I earned about the min. wage rate per hour on it. LOL!

Chalk it up to lesson learned. Thats like the picket fence I am doing. I thought 5 gal would to the job....wrong. I have used 8 gal so far and have some more touch ups to do. When I get done with that floor of the deck and the fence I will have 10 gals in it. But man, that airless has saved me time. Its just going to take some time to get use to it. I sprayed the first coat on a floor yesterday 12x16 with a 3x3 landing and 8 steps in little over an hour.

[Mountain View 14]

By Littlefield:

"If I'm in doubt at all about the stain coming off when I FIRST start to PW, I splash a little ox down to see if I get the color shift. If so, I proceed, if not, more dwell on the SH (sodium hydroxide)."

Good tip, I'll keep that one in my back pocket.