I am firing my Deck Restoration guy

[plainpainter 217]

Well yeah - that Deck restoration guy would be me. Almost a year ago to the date. I stripped my folks deck - took like 7-8 times making the most nasty brews of lye and Sodium Metasilicate - I couldn't get the stuff off! And then the old boards - now 20, then 19 years old were badly grooved from a previous pressure washer and the boards were overall cupped. So I recessed all the nails and put in deck screws where needed and then used a porter cable tool meant to take 20-30 layers of paint off of clapboards, and milled the boards flat! And went over the whole deck - some parts are only 8-9 years old - with another portercable power sander with 60 grit. It rained about for 2 weeks after that. so I never neutralized the deck - just waited for the moisture to go away. and then applied stain sometime in May.

Yesterday it was sprinkling out - so I wanted to see how the decks would clean up - I figure I will put another coat on this year of what was my favorite deck stain. so I sprinkle on Oxi-clean and scrubbed it in in areas, and reapplied again and let sit for several hours and scrubbing several times in between, before finally rinsing off with a hose late at night. And here are the photos of the cleaned up spots.

[PressurePros 248]

OxyClean is for laundry, Tambasco!

Whats on there? looks water borne?

[bigchaz 157]

What did you use to stain? Looks like a film

And what exactly are we looking at here? What did it look like before? Just looks like a worn off stain. Oxi clean isnt going to strip your stain off. Whyd you leave it on all day?

[plainpainter 217]

Here is another board I did with oxy-clean - it gives a better idea of how the board was cleaned up. This was my favorite Tung Oil based deck sealer. Apparently Oxi-clean ain't just for laundry - and look it can strip!

I just left it on in drizzly rain - I wanted to see how the boards would clean up - as they look like total cr@p. oxi-clean is 50% sodium percarbonate and the rest sodium carbonate and fillers - not as strong as TSP, but was giving off lye and TSP like fumes. If EFC-38 can strip a failing stain then why not oxi-clean? I have been using it to clean up decks last fall - was adding TSP to the mix now I will be adding a surfactant to come up with a perfect stripper/cleaner.

[PressurePros 248]

Because OxyClean is made for laundry. EFC-38 is made to clean wood and strip failing stain.

[plainpainter 217]

well Ken - you have a point - in that 4 foot stretch I dumped a capful i.e. 1/8th cup of oxyclean powder - I'd have to dissolve a lot of oxyclean into water if I was going to use that strength in a pump sprayer or what not.

But it did smell nasty, just like lye, and it liquified the old stain. No offense to Russell - but I have lots of Oxyclean on hand I need to use up - and as a result have been augmenting it with other chems to get it to work. Last fall I was using a 1/4 cup of Oxyclean and a 1/4 cup of TSP to a gallon of warm water in a pump sprayer - and was cleaning up badly mildewed greyed decks - did a retaining wall of pressure treated railroad ties with this recipe - cleaned up beautifully prior to solid oil staining them.

[PLD 14]

If EFC-38 can strip a failing stain then why not oxi-clean?

I've only done a few hundred decks with EFC-38, but I'll hazard a guess that they are not the same ingredients.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

No, they are not. And sometime you want just a percarb, and oxyclean will work in a pinch. (Sodium Percarbonate)

Beth

[plainpainter 217]

Sure oxyclean isn't the same - but it is sodium percarbonate and sodium carbonate. I imagine add a surfactant - and voila EFC-38. I will make a recipe that will strip this deck and post pics in the next few weeks.

[Greg R 82]

If you didn't already have it on hand I would say your crazy :) Oxi clean is EXPENSIVE!

You can prep a deck with oxiclean - it will just cost you more and you may work a little harder at it. The power is in the percarb as it is the oxidizer.

[PressurePros 248]

Sure oxyclean isn't the same - but it is sodium percarbonate and sodium carbonate. I imagine add a surfactant - and voila EFC-38..

Dan, the time you spend tinkering with formulations could be so much better spent on things that would make you money. You have to go back to the drawing board on the EFC-38. You're not even close. Even if it were as simple as adding surfactants, you better choose the right one or you will be rinising away soap longer than it will take you to strip.

[HotShot 34]

OK...this may be a stupid question, but why not just use a stripper that works righ out of the box? Why re-create the wheel?

[Coastal Painter 14]

it was in BADDDDDD shape but got it cleaned and sealed Customer was happy

Mark

[plainpainter 217]

Ken - you're right - but I am a tinkerer - I use NP-9 nonylphenol surfactant.

It seems to rinse pretty good - I have my very caustic deck stripper recipe down to a "T" now. I wouldn't purchase anybody else's stripper - as mine works extremely well. It melts heavy deposits of CWF - Sikkens ol' fasion Deck and DecBase - I even strip acrylic solid stain with ease - and to boot I get absolutely no raising of the grain. Perhaps it cost me time to figure out a good recipe - now I just want a good recipe that will strip a failing stain without having to do much in the way of masking off adjacent structures.

I guess in the end it's easier buying Russel's or Bob's products - and certainly would do so if I had 'help' - as I wouldn't bother trying to teach them to mix chems, and it's all around safer just telling them to pourt this product into that bucket - presto, done. But at the moment I am a one man band - and if I find a good deal on oxyclean at some discount store - and I know a good recipe that will work - why not?

So now - do I stay with Flood's Deckswood for neutralizing/brightening or go with somebody else's product? It makes 20 gallons that you can apply with a pump up sprayer - is it more cost effective somewhere else - do I get my own oxalic crystals and mix with NP-9? To be or not to be? LOL

[Deck Guy 14]

I have my very caustic deck stripper recipe down to a "T" now. I wouldn't purchase anybody else's stripper - as mine works extremely well. It melts heavy deposits of CWF - Sikkens ol' fasion Deck and DecBase - I even strip acrylic solid stain with ease - and to boot I get absolutely no raising of the grain.

Yet you had to strip your parents deck 7 or 8 times! We all need to be using whatever that finish was!

[plainpainter 217]

well I was still experimenting with my stripper at that time. But it was Muralo's tung oil deck stain over a coat of California's deck stain - stain application was separated by one year. In contrast after restoring the deck with one coat of Muralo - it is coming off like the dickens, in its defense - I did not neutralize - but it rained for like a week and a half after stripping. I figured that was neutralization by itself - was I wrong, or is the product now crap?