Stripping of solid stain/re-staining of deck in PA questions

[tfhello 14]

I made the mistake of putting a solid stain on my deck two years ago and needless to say, it is not wearing well (I wish I would have found this site back then).

Anyways, could I get some recommendations on the following?

• Best chemical and/or method of stripping the old solid stain off the floor of the deck.
  
• Best stain to put down on the floor of the deck after the solid is stripped
  
• Can I add color to the new stain (My spindles are Cedar color)?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[bigchaz 157]

What brand of solid stain did you use?

Is this pressure treated pine?

How comfortable are you working with dangerous chemicals on your deck?

Are your spindles being left alone or stripping those also?

What look are you trying to obtain for your deck? (ie, dark, light, opaque, transparent, wood grain)

Depending on the stain you have currently this website will be your best bet for chemicals

State-Of-The-Art Deck Cleaner and Deck Stains

The owner there is extremely helpful and if you contact him, he can also tell you whether his product is the best for your application.

[tfhello 14]

Thanks for the quick response.

*I used Olympic Maxium from Lowe’s

*It is pressure treated pine.

*I’m somewhat comfortable using dangerous chemicals, but would rather not. I also have a pressure washer.

*I was going to leave the spindles the cedar color. It was such a pain staining those the first time, I can’t imagine trying to take the stain off of them.

*I was thinking about giving the deck floor a darkish look so I could more easily cover the imperfections.

Thanks for the website tip…I will check it out.

[bigchaz 157]

Unfortunately, Olympic max is an acrylic latex, which means its not gonna come off easily

Even if its peeling pretty well, my guess is you're going to need several applications of a chemical stripper. Check out that site and see what Ken (the owner) can recommend for you. I imagine you could try cabot brand stripper and neutralizer, but your cost will add up real quick with that stuff. You may want to consider getting someone to take a look for you, and maybe give you a quote

Whatever you do, don't try and blast it with the pressure washer. Need a good chem to do the work and the pressure washer is just to rinse it off.

[tfhello 14]

OK, here’s the latest on my dilemma. If someone could please help me, I would appreciate it. I’m hoping to tackle this project in the next few weeks.

I took your advice and got several estimates on my project. A local company is going to charge me $1.75 a sq ft to lightly sand the bad spots on the floor only, strip the old stain, and apply another coat of solid stain. He is also going to give me a 5-year guarantee on the work and is using a solid Flood Stain. Since my deck is 600 sq ft, it’s going to cost me around $1100. Do you think this is a fair price?

OR, should I do it myself?

Would you go about it this way? Remember, my experience is very limited when it comes to staining decks.

• Chemically strip the old solid stain off the deck (it’s only 2 coats). What is the best product to use?
  
• Lightly sand the deck.
  
• Then, re-stain the deck with the best, non-solid stain I can buy. What is the best stain to use?

[CDR17 14]

If you want to use a semi-transparent wood treatment turn the boards over and start from scratch. Other wise 1100 is not bad. Not sure about flood stain.

[tfhello 14]

Well, it looks as though we don’t have the money in the budget to have our deck professionally done, so here’s my plan. I’m just going to re-do the floor and not the spindles.

• Give the deck a good cleaning.
  
• Wait a week and then lightly sand the peeling spots.
  
• Re-apply either Flood or Cabot’s solid stain. From several paint and deck professionals I have consulted, it seems as though I’m stuck with my deck being solidly stained forever.

I hope I’m making the right decision, but at this point, I’m kind in a bind in regard to the actions I can take.

Thank you all for the advice and if you have any more, please keep the ideas coming.

[bigchaz 157]

It can be stripped and a semi put on, but not easily and not cheaply. Putting another solid on would def be your best bet.

Your plan so far sounds pretty good. If you are familiar with Cabot, their cleaner is decent for something you can buy in the store. Give that a try.

The best option is for you to throw down a primer. It is recomended for cabots solid stain. Its called problem solver primer. Put that on and then apply the solid cabot on top

Of course the option of flipping the deck boards over is also a good idea if you really don't want the solid.

Otherwise, if your budget changes, 1100 is a good deal for that amount of work. What was the company?

[Freshlook 14]

Of course the option of flipping the deck boards over is also a good idea if you really don't want the solid.

Otherwise, if your budget changes, 1100 is a good deal for that amount of work. What was the company?

Flipping boards over is really only a viable option if whomever built your deck didn't toenail the heck out of it. Look at your deck and see if you have several nails on the "SIDES" of the boards not at the end but actually lengthwise in the sides, where the boards run perpendicular to the supports. if your counting more than 2 per board I'd say flipping is out of the question as in my experience removing these boards without replacing is highly unlikley and you will most often end up with side splits. On a recent job I had a client wanting to to from a cabot DARK BROWN solid to a semi-transparent honey brown. They tried flipping the boards over after talking to a "Carpender friend" and destroyed nearly 75% of the floor doing so. Then paid me $300 for the tear-offs, $1400 for the rebuild, and $650 for the reclaiming and staining of the rest of the deck with invloved my ever loved 13" planer, belt sander and 6 in. orbital sander, and about 4 12 hr days to finish..

So my advice to you is $1,100 isn't bad, if you don't currently have it, I would suggest you just save a little in the piggy bank each month until you do or else your $1,100 price quote may end up costing you $2,350 because you decided to try to save money and do it yourself. I'm not trying to discourage you, however there is a lot of variables one must look into. Oh and since it's just pressure treated pine, last time I priced them they were just over $7 for a 5x1 12ft long board. Which if your leaving the rest of the deck alone, may just be your best bet

[Aplus 525]

Flipping boards only works if the boards are straight cut on the ends. If they are miter cut, the cuts will be backwards when flipped. Also, many decks are nailed down with spiral shank nails, which do not come out without tearing the heck out of the board surface.

There are chems used that can and will remove the solid stain, but I am not going to say what they are because they can be dangerous, and I'm not going to put it out there for others to hurt themselves.

Replacing the floor boards would be the easiest, and likely cheapest way to remedy the problem.

Cleaning, light sanding and restaining with a solid is only a temporary fix, and without a doubt in my mind will still fail and start peeling again. Going this route, you can plan on doing this process every year to keep the floor looking satisfactory.

I've been in this biz for 12 years, and have encountered your situation so many times I can't even count them.

[PressurePros 248]

Tony ! I thought you died, man. Out of hibernation?

[tfhello 14]

statement was a joke. If I'm going to all that trouble, I'm just going to rip the boards out and replace them with some sort of composite boards so I never have to worry about this stuff again.

I have to to try to do this myself. The company that quoted me the $1100, was going to clean, sand, and re-coat with a solid as well. I'm going to try to do the same thing.

[PressurePros 248]

Composites are not a great solution should you ever try that route. They require just as much maintenance as a wood deck, imo.

Make sure you prime the deck before you coat with the solid. Cabot's makes a good alkyd primer. You are probably also going to need two layers of latex topcoat. If the company that gave you the quote has been around, is licensed, carries insurance, has a portfolio and good database of referral customers then $1100 was a bargain (if they were doing as I stated above) In all likelihood, they were not. I would charge you substantailly more for a deck that size. Floor alone would be $2000.

This is why we tell people to NEVER use a solid. But then knucklehead publications like Consumer Reports comes out and say "solid is best".

Best of luck with your project.

[bigchaz 157]

Yea whatever you do don't do composite. The worst hyped and ugliest product out there if you asked me. It scratches, looks ugly gray, takes just as much cleaning, holds bad stains much better (as in coffee and oil)

[tfhello 14]

I should be working on this pain in the neck project within the next few weeks (if the weather cooperates).

[tfhello 14]

Last weekend, my wife and I cleaned the deck with Wolman Deckbrite that worked pretty well.

Now I have a ton of peeling paint that I'm going to scrape and sand Friday. It rained last night (5/1) and I'm working on the deck Saturday. It's not supposed to rain here again until Tuesday (5/8).

I bought 2 gallons of the Cabot Problem Solver Primer and I had two questions about it.

1. Can I apply it with a roller? The directions say brush or spray, but is there a difference if I use a roller?

2. Do you need to use an oil based stain with an oil based primer or doesn't

it really matter.

Also, has anyone used the Cabot Problem Solver Wood stripper? I debated buying a gallon of it and seeing if it worked, but it cost $20. I figured I'd just stick to my guns and re-apply a solid.

Thanks again for the help.

[PressurePros 248]

You can use a latex topcoat over the oil primer. The Cabot's stirpper will not work on a solid. Applying topcoats with a roller has two downfallls. You won't get between the cracks and you may end up with roller marks.

[Aplus 525]

As Ken stated, those are the downfalls. But since you asked if you can use a roller, yes you can, but you may need to brush to get between the boards. And as long as you roll the length of the boards (with the grain), and keep a wet edge, you won't have a problem with roller tracks showing.

I use a roller for applying solid stain because I'm just not a big fan of spraying outside, since it always seems to be windy only on days when I would want to spray...lol! You would need an airless setup to spray the latex, well a homeowner Wagner would work too. When spraying latex, it's a good idea to mix in some Floetrol additive or something comparable to make it spray smoother.

[tfhello 14]

Well, I have my last coat to put on tonight and, overall, it looks pretty good. Granted, it took me a couple weeks of working on it off and on, but it turned out pretty well.

I first cleaned all the dirt off of it and then I sanded most of (I missed a couple) the boards that were starting to splinter. I then put on the Cabot primer and that seemed to cover everything very well, but it was pretty messy to work with and clean up.

After the primer dried, I put on two coats of the solid stain with a roller. After every few boards, I back-brushed each one and tried to get into the cracks as best I could.

I just did the floor, but the color we chose seemed to match the railings pretty well.

Anyways, thanks for all the help and hopefully my hard work will last a few years or so. Now I can take the $600 or so I saved by doing it myself and hire a good chiropractor…ha!!

[Aplus 525]

Why don't you take some pix and post them here? It would be great to see how the job turned out for you.

[Beth n Rod 1,278]

I agree with Tony. Also helps us to help you better.

Beth

[BusterBlasterEast 14]

Soda blast works well to strip the stain off decks. Use a small nozzle (#3) or a fan nozzle and low soda flow. We have worked with many pressure wash companies to complete this task. We strip the deck and the pressure wash company will neutralize and re-treat the wood. A win-win for both! This application is fast and effective and there is minimal damage to the wood.

Protect plantings around the deck with tarps as baking soda can brown plants/grass.

Videos, photos, service and equipment sales are available at Chesapeake Soda Clean - Soda Blasting

[Beth n Rod 1,278]

I would never suggest soda blasting a deck. Sorry.....

As you said, baking soda can kill plants and grass. The weight of the tarps as you add the media to it...can crush them. I would rather deluge them with lots of water....

Beth