What would you recommend?

[mikew 14]

Hi everyone,

Got a call to have 2 decks cleaned, sanded, and painted. Got there and the decks appear to have been painted before. Not sure if it is a paint or a solid stain. The painting was done by the prior homeowner.

I'm looking for suggestions from others who have tried to tackle jobs such as this.

What would you use to strip this? Would you recommend trying to strip this or would you do a heavy cleaning, sanding, and repaint given the current condition of the wood?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

thanks,

Mike

[PressurePros 248]

You have to do a test spot. A job like this can take your shirt if you promise bare wood and the use of a semi-trans. You will rarely get all paint from a deck even with very expensive specialty strippers. It appears to be solid stain but a little difficult to ascertain from photos. Cute kids.

If you try a stripper like HD-80 at full strength and 20 minutes dwell time and it doesn't budge, your best bet is to prime and recoat with solid.

[plainpainter 217]

I am a house painter - and I helped a mentor last summer with a house, and he included stripping the deck - which had latex paint on all the deck boards.

It was an absolute nightmare! We used gallons and gallons of paint stripper, methylene chloride - and we still had to use grinding wheels for days and days and days. If he had asked for 4 grand for the deck, he would still have lost his shirt, he didn't even ask for half of that! My advice - go to this website diedrichtechnologies.com and look into their 606 product.

-Dan

[Jonathan Chiplock 14]

If you cant remove it when doing your test spot just walk away... its not worth all the headaches.

[mikew 14]

You have to do a test spot. A job like this can take your shirt if you promise bare wood and the use of a semi-trans. You will rarely get all paint from a deck even with very expensive specialty strippers. It appears to be solid stain but a little difficult to ascertain from photos. Cute kids.

If you try a stripper like HD-80 at full strength and 20 minutes dwell time and it doesn't budge, your best bet is to prime and recoat with solid.

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the response. I told the homeowner that using a semi-trans was out of the question. I'm going back tomorrow to do a test spot with HD-80 at full strength and see what I get.

If it doesn't budge...what would you use to prime and recoat?

My kids went along as my little helpers!! Homeowner tried to give them sandpaper and put them to work!

Thanks,

Mike

[mikew 14]

I am a house painter - and I helped a mentor last summer with a house, and he included stripping the deck - which had latex paint on all the deck boards.

It was an absolute nightmare! We used gallons and gallons of paint stripper, methylene chloride - and we still had to use grinding wheels for days and days and days. If he had asked for 4 grand for the deck, he would still have lost his shirt, he didn't even ask for half of that! My advice - go to this website diedrichtechnologies.com and look into their 606 product.

-Dan

This is exactly what i want to avoid. Homeowner knows that another solid will have to be done. I just need to make sure that I do the proper prep on this deck to accept the primer and a new solid.

Mike

[mikew 14]

If you cant remove it when doing your test spot just walk away... its not worth all the headaches.

Jonathan,

I agree that doing a full strip and prep for a semi would be an absolute nightmare.

Mike

[PressurePros 248]

Mike, I prefer Cabot's solid decking stains.

[Deck Guy 14]

You need to know if it's solid stain or paint. Stain...no big deal, just strip it. Paint...run away!! Bring some of whatever stripper you're using to the home and try a small spot to see if it works.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

If it is paint, I would recommend sanding the deck to bring up a level surface if needed then prime and paint.

If HD-80 does not completely work, then go with eacochem to strip and then neutralize with a citrus solvent based neutralizer.

my .02

Rod!~