Brightening wood

[Tom DeFrancesco 23]

Question, I used F-18 on a 20 year old deck that the owners swear they never sealed. It removed the dirt, mold and grayness and looked a 100 times better but still had some blackness. I understand this is what happens when stripping so I used oxolic acid and let dwell for 20 min and rinsed but still did not see much of a difference. Is this normal ?? Should the surface of the deck be dry before applying ?? More dwell time ?? The HO is amazed but not sure I am.

[bigchaz 157]

Did you rinse the f-18 really well? Tends to be a bit soapy so youve got to try and get most of it off before oxalic. If there was still some soap in the wood it may have lessoned the brightening effect. How strong did you mix the oxalic?

[Chris S 14]

Every now and again I get a deck that has black stains that don't come off with stripping. Usually a little house wash mix will do the trick.

[schrec 64]

20 years without sealing the deck is the reason it is still black. and I dont rinse oxalic. Anyone do that?

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

We always rinse the acid off. Rinse, rinse, rinse....

Beth

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

What type of wood was it?

Rod!~

[MMI Enterprises 289]

When it wet can you scrape it with a fingernail and it seem like a peach?

Boost the oxalic and burn the heck out of it or sand it be best for a 20 year untouched thing.

If it just black stain then seems ya need to strengthen the wood bleach.

[Tom DeFrancesco 23]

Sorry for the delay, but for some reason it would not let me post. Anyway to answer your questions, yes I am 95% sure I rinsed it well, yes I rinsed the ox off because I always thought we had to, I tried scraping with my nail and it really did not come off. It actually feels like crud. It is regular PTW. I am going to sand the hand rails before sealing and see what happens. Thanks for the advice.

[Adrian 155]

20 years without sealing the deck is the reason it is still black. and I dont rinse oxalic. Anyone do that?

I have had quit a few older decks that I have left it on and not rinsed. Not much of a risk when they are old and the longer dwell time to neitrilize only help the deck IMO. Sometime the fuzzies happen though and can usu. stiff brush they away. Not all will agree that this is the way to go and it is not for newer wood.

[YVPW 20]

Sorry for the delay, but for some reason it would not let me post. Anyway to answer your questions, yes I am 95% sure I rinsed it well, yes I rinsed the ox off because I always thought we had to, I tried scraping with my nail and it really did not come off. It actually feels like crud. It is regular PTW. I am going to sand the hand rails before sealing and see what happens. Thanks for the advice.

I would use Baker's Gray Away stain on that deck. It will hide the imperfections in that wood better. I had a deck like that earlier this year around the same age. It was gray but really no mildew. I could tell it had been sealed with something before, a clear. I stripped and stripped and neutralized still the wood didn't look right. I would try and scratch it, but it felt real weird. I even tried F-18 at 20oz.'s to a gallon on one spot to see what it would do, and it was same as the rest. I don't know what was in that wood and the homeowner hadn't owned the house but about 5 years so they didn't know. I had thought there might be some water based stain in it, but after that many years it should of been easily stripped with HD-80 and F-18. I'm puzzled by it. For time reasons I used Wood Tux WHG on it and it didn't look good at all, cause the WT is so transparent. The homeowner was pleased but I definitely sure wasn't.

[Tom DeFrancesco 23]

That is a good point Jason. I tried a stronger F-18 on the spots and it did not make a dent. Unfortunately for some ridiculous reason they do not want any type of stain. All they want is clear waterproof sealer so I am using, (and yes it hurts to say it) Thompsons. This is what they want. The deck really needs to have some boards replaced. I offered my services but explained it will not match what so ever and they refused. Oh well.......even though I am not happy with it, they are and I guess that is all that matters come pay day.

[Tmrrptr 164]

Great!

Keep the client happy!

r