First WTW of the season

[plainpainter 217]

Here is a one year old deck that came along with my house painting job.

I downstreamed my house cleaning bleach solution, several times, a little scrubbing, rinsed and then neutralized with Bob's oxalic brightener at 9ozs. per gallon.

[seymore 90]

Dan just wondering why the color looks uneven?

How you liked working with WT?

[plainpainter 217]

I am not sure why it looks uneven, although I was backbrushing a second coat for half the deck - and got tired of doing that. But I can't see the uneveness in person. Well there is one thing that may contribute. I had fuzzies on the deck - and that affected the hue. But this brings up an important question - I started staining this deck an hour after I stopped pressure washing. How does one get rid of fuzzies on a damp deck? If you can't what good is staining a wet deck? Anyways - I loved working with the product.

[Jarrod 22]

No offense, but Shane is right. It looks kinda uneaven in the grill area. Maybe it's just the angle, or lighting?

[plainpainter 217]

Yeah - I know what you are talking about now - the grill has sat there for a year, since it was built. And when I rolled the grill out of the way - the wood looked brand new under the grill. Even after cleaning - the remainder of the deck never looked the same as the grille area. The stain even looks glossy on that area as well - didn't even dive into the wood.

[Jarrod 22]

Yeah - I know what you are talking about now - the grill has sat there for a year, since it was built. And when I rolled the grill out of the way - the wood looked brand new under the grill. Even after cleaning - the remainder of the deck never looked the same as the grille area. The stain even looks glossy on that area as well - didn't even dive into the wood.

Probably b/c the wood in that area wasn't weathered as much as the rest of the deck.

Sometimes when you spray the railings from the outside without tarping, you will get a glossy look on the floor near the rails. This basically is a sign of over-application.

[seymore 90]

I had fuzzies on the deck

Did ya P/wash?

I know there are times i didn't p/wash to remove all the dead fibers the deck looked like a fuzzy peach!

[PressurePros 248]

You might have been better of downstreaming a stripper on it. One caveat about using WT WHG is that if the deck is not totally clean when you apply the sealer the pigmentation will pick right up on that.

Another thing is, newly stained decks never look quite right. You have to let the product settle into the wood to get the true color. I would not apply a second coat of WT on anythng. Its not needed.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

It's one of two things: either neutralization wasn't complete in those areas or there has been sufficient grease/spill traffic in that area to provide for the discoloration. They stop about where a table would be and the areas given protection by the furniture is lighter in comparison.

Decks that have been allowed too much exposure to sun and use will develop these traffic areas and off coloring so much that it cannot be remedied without sanding. As a rule, we train to concentrate more on these areas to alleviate the possibility of stains embedded by foot traffic to become a discoloration later.

Under the left side of the grill, there appears to be overlapping going on but still, the pics make it hard to tell completely. Also, I would note that if you get any stain drops or spills on the wood that you pad them out and leave a fading edge. There seems to be some of that to the right leading to the steps leaving an double coated effect.

Also, it looks like the first 3 (possibly 5-6) deck boards on the left side of the pic are taking the stain differently. This is normal with newer or UV protected wood in contrast to old wood that sits out farther from the house and gets more direct sun.

Sorry for the critique, but it is what I do when training my crews. You wouldn't respect us any more if we were just all saying "whoa, great job!" and not giving you the benefit of our experience with WT in general.

Rod!~

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

To remove fuzzies you need a dry deck. If you get them, better to come back when it is dry and buff them off and then seal the wood, or else you get the crushed velvet look. Been there, done that....

Beth

[plainpainter 217]

To an answer Jarrod's question - I didn't overapply everything got the same amount of stain. I hand brused the railings and spindles first and hand brushed all the boards, one at a time.

To answer Shane's question - I washed this deck along with whole house, then I washed it again 2 weeks later with my house cleaning solution, applied it like 4 times - did a little scrubbing, where mildew was persistent. It was 3.5 gallons of bleach and 1.5 gallons of water, 10 cups of TSP and 20 ozs. of nonylphenol downstreamed with my troy-bilt 3.8GPM 13hp honda. Then I used my smaller pressure washer a 2.3GPM @ 2900psi and put on a tip I made from parts Bob sent me - it's a 40 degree tip and #7 or .007 - you basically can put your hand in the stream, anyways I used this rinse. I had my helper try it - almost seems it wasn't enough pressure. And then I pumped up 9 oz. per gallon of oxalic from Bob's - let it dwell. Then rinsed off with a hose. Got lots of furries that didn't come off. Wanted to try using WTW the way it was designed. This was my first time using this machine downstreaming anything.

To answer Rod's questions - yeah I suck - I never cleaned a deck this new before, they seem to come out much nicer when they have been neglected for like 5 years. The boards closest to the house never see sunlight, and I always wipe out drops - I grew up on curing type deck stains, all the railings were done first and tarped below them. Under the left side of the grill - wood looked totally new - and even after pressure washing the rest of the deck didn't look like it, it got the same amout of stain. I think I am going to go the route of stripper on a 1 - yr. old deck next time - I think that would have done the trick better - ripped the new parts off and made everything even. Again this deck got washed on two seperate dates, the second time it dwelled for like 20+ minutes, rinsed, oxalic bath, didn't get up all the furries - never a problem in the past - again I suck.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

No need to down yourself. We all probably sucked the first time out. I tore up our own old deck just trying to get used to the pw'er.

The feedback was constructively intended.

Rod!~

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Seems the shaded area has more natural tannins/resins and it either causes ph reaction or a stacking of the stain. Can anything be done other then sanding?.. Heck will that even work? Maybe a 2 coat wet on wet spray of the faded area blended over to a diluted single coat on the shaded area would look different..Or maybe less neutralizing of the faded area...I don't know, I don't see drips Rod sees and think it looks decent..so..

I

[bigchaz 157]

Does the customer like it? I mean im not well versed in how it should look, but the the railings still look great to me and the floor isn't terribly bad. I would just go the route of explaining to the customer that the wood is still new and tell them you will give them a call next season to come and take a look at hows its aged and do another application to even it out.

[Neil_Asheville 114]

Daniel, did it not register with you the first time you applied your house wash mix to the deck with no result to try something different? But 5 times!

These boards are loaded full of standard procedures and products sold by supporting vendors that are specific to the work we do. You just seem closed down to others advice. I imagine that advice will stop flowing your direction if you continue to ignore it.

How about this, I'm 'giving' you $25 to spend. Instead of offering up MORE accurate advice that's already been given to you and 1000's of archived threads on the SIMPLE process of prepping wood, how about you tell me what you'd have done different and how you might consider doing the next one. Pretent you're spending MY money!

/neil

[YVPW 20]

With Bob's brightener 9oz.'s to a gallon is too strong. 4-6oz.'s works great. X-jetting it on is quick and easy. You can use a weaker dilution just let it dwell longer.

[Deck Guy 14]

You don't need to rinse brightener at all. I never have, except the house and vegetation. I apply to a wet deck, rinse surrounding area, and walk away.

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Daniel,

After sleeping on it a bit I come back and immedietly think I see reasons behind the discolor besides the resins/tannins lasting better near the house due to more shade...

In first picture it seems roof line has no gutter. The rain runs (or blows) right off onto deck if this is true and coats it with none other than good old fashioned asphalt oil. Second picture shows that roof design/pitch wouldn't call for any gutter but it seems to me that the roof still to blaim. Being the ladder is in the way it is hard for me to tell if area to the right is just as dark as near bbq. What time of day did you take pics? Did you have to wait for sunlight to fill deck in or did it fill in after? What direction does deck face? Depending on the time you snapped them maybe we can say that deck gets plenty of sun. Shadows of the railings and underneith would point to them being morning pics if it a North facing deck. Still not Summer yet so pics I took recently of North side decks show a shadow almost all day right now..Just makes me think even more that weathering is not main problem and the roof is to blaim..

A water sprinkle test for absorbtion along with hydroxide test (oven cleaner) perhaps could have told you to strip the deck as Ken mentions....

Not meant to be harsh... I think we all should help each other best we can and that's all I got.. :)

[Jarrod 22]

You don't need to rinse brightener at all. I never have, except the house and vegetation. I apply to a wet deck, rinse surrounding area, and walk away.

AMEN BRO!

[Celeste 341]

Hmmm....isn't that a whole different debate waiting to happen???

[MMI Enterprises 289]

I'd say it is if consideration of trying to keep a control in place during a test phaze or when dealing with some woods...As example there has to be a reason why some redwood only formulations pay attention to ph levels and/or seem to have goal of staying neutral...but back to topic :)

[Proclean 14]

I'm with Celeste. No rinse???

I'm not going to touch this with a 100(000) foot pole.

[plainpainter 217]

First the customer loves the deck - it looks really good in person, albeit there are constructive critisms to take. I still have to digest what everyone has said. But I can say this - the deck faces east - and the eastern part of the yard is met by a forest - so sunlight doesn't start hitting it until the sun is pretty well moved along. I am more mad about the furries - wtw is really oily though and still seems to be soaking in even days after the job. And not to mention - this was the first deck I didn't wait for it to dry out. I stained it the same day I washed it. And I applied the solution like 4 times repetitively in sequence - hoping the 'dwell' of chemicals to do the job. I almost reached for my tried and true methods of scrub brush with a 5'er - which has always worked. First time downstreaming chemicals on deck - and I thought they were in the same strenghts I had used on past decks - will have to check my downstreamer to see for sure what my chemical strengths are. And again my methods always seemed to work well on older decks. I like the idea of downstreaming stripper - but I have knocked off paint off of patio doors once doing that - so it involves much more tarping - which I wasn't willing to do. Will try the sodium percarb route next time - did a few wood cleanings last year that way, and greyed wood seemed to float away better. I almost think it's easier starting with a 7-8 yr. old deck where I have to strip an old failing staing - neutralize - wait a few days to dry and stain. I have done a few decks well that way.

[Don M. 14]

First the customer loves the deck - it looks really good in person, albeit there are constructive critisms to take. I still have to digest what everyone has said. But I can say this - the deck faces east - and the eastern part of the yard is met by a forest - so sunlight doesn't start hitting it until the sun is pretty well moved along. I am more mad about the furries - wtw is really oily though and still seems to be soaking in even days after the job. And not to mention - this was the first deck I didn't wait for it to dry out. I stained it the same day I washed it. And I applied the solution like 4 times repetitively in sequence - hoping the 'dwell' of chemicals to do the job. I almost reached for my tried and true methods of scrub brush with a 5'er - which has always worked. First time downstreaming chemicals on deck - and I thought they were in the same strenghts I had used on past decks - will have to check my downstreamer to see for sure what my chemical strengths are. And again my methods always seemed to work well on older decks. I like the idea of downstreaming stripper - but I have knocked off paint off of patio doors once doing that - so it involves much more tarping - which I wasn't willing to do. Will try the sodium percarb route next time - did a few wood cleanings last year that way, and greyed wood seemed to float away better. I almost think it's easier starting with a 7-8 yr. old deck where I have to strip an old failing staing - neutralize - wait a few days to dry and stain. I have done a few decks well that way.

I would call Russell. I know at the STL RT he said this product was not for a "deck in a day" process, but to keep the contractor on schedule

[YVPW 20]

If you want easy cleaning with light pressure on a deck downstream a light stripper mix of either F-18 or HD-80. Also EFC-38 will work too. I know F-18 at 2 oz.'s a gallon will work with about a 5 min dwell time on wood that's never been sealed.

[plainpainter 217]

Russell said this product is not for staining the same day? Now I am just downright confused - I thought that was what all the advertizing about. Thanks Jason for the F-18 advice. I will keep it in mind for newly constructed decks. I am sure stripper would work much better - still have to tarp off patio doors with that enamel paint.