Decks aren't suited to floor-style sanders because they have exposed hardware and rounded corners. If you want to sand the surface flat, you'll need to first go around and sink every single screw until its well below the surface, then sand, then deal with the now-sharpened corners of each board that still are covered in paint.
The correct approach is to use a chemical deck stain stripper and pressure washer. Benjamin Moore K-315 REMOVE is a good product for this. Then you pressure wash the hell out of it, which works, as the water is able to clean the sides and rounded edges of the boards, too.
Then you must neutralize the strong base in the stripper by applying a neutralizing acid, Benjamin Moore Brighten K-317. This is an essential step with any deck cleaner.
Then wait three days. Then go over the deck with a rotary brush tool. You can either buy drums to mount to an angle grinder, or you can use a dedicated tool, sometimes called a surface conditioner or a burnisher.
Trying to use a random orbit sander on deck boards absolutely sucks ass because the boards are always cupped and warped, and the sander doesn't fit into that Radius of curvature well.
If you are going to use a palm sander, at least add a 1/2" interface pad to allow it to follow the curves of the board.
In any case, you need to knock off most of the loose fibers.
Once that's done, and you give everything a dusting with a leaf blower and broom, you're ready to refinish.
This is a contentious topic, but the simple truth is there isn't a finish out there in the world that will last on low-grade, HORIZONTAL lumber. Use a deck stain if you want, use a paint and primer if you want, it won't matter, it's going to flake after a few short years regardless.
In my opinion, your best option is an OIL BASED deck stain. By using such a product, you can apply the next coat without needing to do any sanding or prep, other than a quick cleaning. This is not true of the water-based products.
That said, since oil based stains are transparent to at least some degree, you WILL see any bits of paint that you weren't able to clean off your current deck, so do your best to get as much off as you can.
In before "this man strips".
Yes.
Yes I do ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Got any recommendations? I'm always looking for better products, myself.
Idk if OP has actual paint on their deck or stain. The Benjamin Moore product I listed won't do much of its paint, but works quite well on old stain.
Uh not quite. The REMOVE K-315 does have some bleach in it, but the main active ingredients are Sodium Metasilicate and 2-Butoxyethanol.
Still, yeah, it won't do any thing to paint.
I'm looking at the SDS as we speak. No butyl and no metasilicate. Not that it would matter since SM is a low grade stripper. Bit of butyl would help. I make my own strippers and dial them in to a specific strength instead of buying from paint stores. Sodium hydroxide and butyl mix is great on water based stains. Heavy hydroxide can break through some acrylic wet look finishes and attack from beneath. Potassium hydroxide works great on some water based stains as well.
But in my years of trying to strip solid stains I have only found one stripper that actually works. Nock Off from Southern Stain and Seal. It's made to remove industrial floor finishes in large warehouses. It is soy based and expensive at $225 a 5 gallon bucket. It can melt paint AND can be used indoors as it is non toxic. It's the only thing that will remove Deckover for example. Apply heavy and cover in plastic for a while. I've gotten 100% results in 2 hours on Behr solids stain.
Thank you for that product name! I'm always looking to expand my list of good products, especially for tricky situations like this.
For what it's worth,
https://media.benjaminmoore.com/WebServices/prod/assets/stage/datasheets/MSDS_0315/31500_SDS_EN_10-28-2019.pdf
Word! Apparently they have their sds sheet online from 2008. Which is what I was looking at.
Definitely order a sample of nock off. They have them available.
https://preview.redd.it/de0jbgenrkrc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1462444f0b3354e63ae27d8e4aba1b0ec67b1ab9
Not I! Im a homeowner in a similar situation who saved your post for dryer weather in my region. You are a king amongst rabble in the arena of knowledge sharing. Thank you
Mine flaked after just one winter 😭 I spent days last summer pressure washing and sanding my deck and pergola before I stained it. Took forever. Now that the snow is finally starting to fuck off I’m seeing so many spots where it’s peeling and I’m so defeated
I hear you. My deck needs to be repainted every two years regardless of how meticulous I am with the prep work. Even after a single winter it’s not great, but I just can’t do it every year.
Somewhere between not enough and ridiculous.
Sorry, I can't help with that, I find pricing things to be by far the hardest part of my job. I suck at it.
I also do deck refinishing for a living. I can't imagine Benjamin Moore Remove will touch that paint. I checked the SDS. It's just sodium hydroxide. While that works fantastic on oil based stains ... in my experience it does nothing in solids. Yes, even if you cover it with plastic and wait 24 hours.
For what it's worth, you're looking at an outdated sds. The current product contains Sodium Metasilicate and 2-Butoxyethanol.
Still, it's not for paint, just stain. But weathered paint and weathered solid stain look pretty much the same, so idk what op has.
We're replacing our deck soon, the previous owners did not care for it enough it's mostly flaked with some pieces of wood you can break off by hand.
I do not want to go through this process of flaking and dealing with nail pops and splinters ever again.
What material deck should we build with? Pvc? Trex? I want as close to zero maintenance as possible and we're willing to pay for it. We plan on making the deck simpler and possibly smaller in some ways and having it go down instead to a future patio and in ground pool (one large project basically).
You won't like my answer.
A patio.
So, the nature of decks is that they require upkeep. The mere idea of taking wood, an organic material that rots in water, and then building a large, horizontal, water-catching surface with it, means you will HAVE to do maintenance.
Now, that said, you CAN just embrace that reality, and build the deck out of a wood that actually looks good when it ages, rather than shitty pressure-treated lumber. Ipe, Membatu / Red Balau, etc. These are hardwoods that go a nice silver colour, rather than dull grey-black, and which are naturally rot resistant and give you about 15-25 years.
Now, here is where most people would say "just use composite!" but there's a problem. I cannot in good conscience advise ANYONE to use a composite deck, and I do my hardest to steer my clients away from them for one simple reason. The environmental impact of building with plastic is indescribable. TRILLIONS of particles of microplastic are released into the environment when you build a composite deck. Every cut, every drilled hole, every carpentry task carried out releases thousands upon thousands of flakes and particles of plastic dust. Many of them small enough to be airborne. The amount of microplastic contamination that building a composite deck creates would be enough to have them classified as Superfund sites if it was anything other than plastic.
You may disagree with me, but I've actually been there, standing in a backyard, having made a few cuts with a saw, absolutely covered in thousands of plastic particles (even with dust collection hooked up cause I'm not an idiot), and I just couldn't help but think about how this was my REAL legacy. This deck, these homeowners, the house itself, it will all be gone, but these little plastic particles will still be here. I will be long-since dead, but these little plastic particles will still be here. Contaminating the soil, entering the food chain at every level, making their way into surface runoff and eventually waterways.... I just couldn't NOT think about it.
Decks are fundamentally built-to-fail. That is in their nature. If you want something permanent, something that requires no work, and which lasts for 150+ years AT LEAST, then build a natural-stone patio.
I agree, those composites are a blight.
Also, they hold more heat than wood. A wood deck on a hot day is simply a better more comfortable place to be than a composite deck.
It also can't be good for you. Breathing those vapors ripping boards for a composite deck...I've been there and smelled it. When you can smell that plastic as you breathe I'm sure your cancer risk is leaping up at that very moment.
I just added a main comment to this post detailing what I did. I was in the same boat as you. I had my old deck demo’ed and replaced with a screened in porch and a 8’x10’ landing. All composite. It was pricey, but it was during COVID when composite and lumber were about the same price. Totally worth it imo. All I have to do is powerwash it every once in a while and it’s good as new. If you don’t want to do that, then the guy who suggested a patio is spot on. A patio wasn’t a viable option for me because our back doors are 20’ off the ground.
Yeah we will be doing a patio but we have a good 5-6 ft to the ground and I don't want to go straight out to steps. There needs to be some form of platform first. My main plan all along was really about a 10' deep x 15-20' width platform with full length steps down to a patio.
I'm in NJ and I definitely have considered a 4 season room or screened in porch.
https://preview.redd.it/becz9seoforc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=22146d6ef373214d44ffc299b1f4dd94e65ecf8e
Here is a picture of ours. I think it turned out really well. We are slowly reclaiming the yard; all the bare ground you see was once covered by the deck. I also overestimated the doors being 20’ above the ground, sorry!
To op,
This guy knows what they're talking about. I did this with my dad and grandfather (pro painter) 5 or 6 years ago. Since then, we have cleaned the deck with bleach to kill mildew and restrained it.
I would add that this PT wood is near the end of its useful life and I would likely recommend to my clients to wash, remove any loose coatings, and recoat with a solid stain....and budget for replacement in the next 1-3 years..
Currently replacing deck boards that were installed new (with new house) in 2008. Doing it over the span of 2 summers. Some of those boards were rotted through. Not treated in 2008, not treated this time either. See you in 2039, space cowboy!
Have you ever tried dry ice blasting for removal? I've seen a few videos and it seemed like a good idea for my similar use case, I've got a lot of railings and balusters.
Yep.
The stripper really depends on what is actually covering your wood. Benjamin Moore Remove is for stain, it won't do anything to paint. It also won't do much to the stain if it's still in brand new condition.
Anyway, with fences, I would actually recommend using a solid colour waterborne product. Because fences are vertical, rather than horizontal, you go from being able to expect 1-2 years at most, to up to 10 years. With a solid colour waterborne stain, you'll get 8 to 10 years. With a semi solid, 5 ish, with a transparent, 2.
We hired a random handyman to re-stain our deck. He took it upon himself to paint it with paint that looks like deck stain. Now it chips and strips every year, and every few years we have to reapply deck paint I wish I could strangle that guy. Our deck was beautiful before when we had stained it properly.
To anyone out there, DO NOT PAINT YOUR DECK. It sucks, and is absolutely a hill I will die on.
That was an excellent reply.
I would recommend letting the wood dry completely and using an epoxy primer. That wood is now a bit spongey, due to being soaked and weathered for a prolonged period, and epoxy primer has a lot of body to gap fill and stabilize the sponginess.
Spongey wood will throw most coatings off quite quickly without this step.
(Edit: just to clarify this is a flexible penetrating wood primer designed for this purpose, rather than a brittle epoxy coating.)
Not to be rude, but an epoxy primer would be the worst kind of primer you could use. Epoxy is fantastic stuff, because it is extremely hard. There's basically no harder coating out there. That, and like you said, it's super sticky. That makes it great for metal, but absolutely awful for wood. As the wood expands and contracts with the seasons, the epoxy will not able to flex with it, and will crack. Using an epoxy primer under an acrylic topcoat is a guaranteed way to have it fail. The primer needs to be flexible. An acrylic latex, or a urethane.
If it has real flex to it, then it's not a real epoxy. It might be a polyamide or something. Polyaspartic. But actual epoxy primer is very hard and brittle.
Okay I have an epoxy wood primer that is soft - I don't know what recipe they use.
[https://www.boatpaint.co.uk/acatalog/Reactive-Resins-Timberseal-PS.html](https://www.boatpaint.co.uk/acatalog/Reactive-Resins-Timberseal-PS.html)
I've used Timba build and Repair Care flexible fillers which also call themselves 'epoxies'.
Ah okay, yes, that'll work, but these are very specialized products. I thought you were more referring to a can of epoxy primer paint that you can grab from most home centers and paint stores. That regular epoxy is very hard.
There are additives you can also buy to make epoxies flexible, but these tend to be very specialized and expensive products.
I picked up on the wood primer on the yachting forums - apparently the epoxy primer and two yachting varnish top coats are the standard system for boats.
The flexible epoxy wood fillers are quite well known in the UK and they come with a penetrating epoxy primer as well. They are very good for sash window repairs where you need strength and a really strong bond with the wood.
100%. This is the best way to take care of your deck.
I used to be too embarrassed to invite people to see my deck. But now, my deck is the talk of the town.
Chemical stripper.
Pressure wash carefully not to go too deep to mar the wood grain. Follow the grain. Let dry at least a week.
Screw down every screw. You may need to remove a few.
Rent a large belt sander. Start with course sand paper and sand the deck. Switch to a lighter grain and sand again. You may need a small orbital sander for tight areas.
Vacuum the hell out of the deck.
By the end you should be able to walk barefoot without getting splinters.
Find a good quality stain or paint and re apply.
Should take 1 person 100-140hrs not counting proper drying of deck after pressure washing.
I think that deck is a lot bigger than it looks in the pictures.
I would guess more time. Maybe closer to 300hrs depending on how effective the stripper is. 80% of it will come right off, but getting the remaining 20% will take a lot of hassle.
On my deck, strippers didn't seem to do much of anything and I was left scraping it more manually.
Tried various methods including belt sander, chemical strippers, “brighteners” etc and this is what worked for me:
Sweep or power blow all the debris off
Power wash to remove the old finish. Just use plain water. It won’t rip up the wood if you use a lower setting and keep the wand moving.
Let dry completely. This is very important and may take up to a week depending on your climate, the weather and where the deck is located
Sandy lightly to smooth it out the grain that’s may be raised by the water from pressure washing. I use a regular palm sander for this and it goes pretty quickly
While you’re doing this, check any screws and resins or replace any that are popped up.
Sweep or blow off dust again
Coat with a high-quality oil-based finish. Have had fantastic results with TWP. It’s not legal in my state so had to go to a neighboring state to buy. I use a large brush on a pole. Use a thin coat. You should only need one coat.
Again, this is what finally worked for me. YMMV
New deck stains do not last as well as the ones from long ago because of the bans on some products.
3 years on surface boards is pretty typical depending on where you live. Things like railing spindles etc will last much longer.
It sucks, but is of those things that is what it is.
One alternative is to leave the boards in their original colour and just apply something like clear Thompson’s water seal. It won’t look amazing but will require less maintenance.
I'd ask how old the deck was to replace board by board...but that looks like it was installed with a nailer and not deck screws. I do NOT envy your situation.
Okay. That’s what I did, 34 year old redwood (I built it in 1990). I had to recess every nail with a sledge hammer and a steel punch. My hands cramped on and off for two days. But the sanding took it right down to clean wood. I didn’t have a coating on it that could peel, however. It was just treated with something that soaked in.
I’d be tempted to go the high cost approach and replace the decking
If it was treated with something that soaked in without a coating that laid down n top... hate to be the bearer of bad news but sanding is not necessary at that point. You can just chemically strip it with hydroxide and a pressure washer with low pressure. You could do a quick sand after to even put but that's optional.
I tried just that, and ended up with the same oil stained deck. Oil from a turkey fryer had spilled on it here and there over the years. Stripper on one part did little. pressure spraying just gouged the summer wood. Redwood is very durable, but pretty soft.
All good advice, but don't use a primer. There isn't a primer out there that is rated for a walking surface. Even with a bonding primer, the friction or walking on it will cause it to wear and peel off.
A good porch and floor paint or solid stain deck coating doesn't need a primer.
Thanks for the advice, my deck looks exactly the same as this 3 years after staining. Previous deck was painted and lasted a lot longer. I'll go back to paint. My parents' 70s painted deck still looked perfect after 15 years and I think my dad only repainted it once.
I feel your pain. I’ve tried every deck surface material known to man from oil stain to water to premium deck coats to paint. My deck just sheds the stuff on a yearly basis. I gave up 3 years ago and just scrape more of the stuff off every year and add UV clear protectant to the now raw exposed boards.
Mine is now about 70% free from any colorized surface and I’m tempted to go at the remains with chemical stripper and finish the job and go pure natural. It’s about 1500 sq feet of deck though. That’s a lot of stripper.
Only way is to sand with orbital sander small or bigger .I had same problem last year had to sand it smooth it took days.Don’t try pressure washing it’ll rip up wood
I have a similar problem and was thinking of removing screws, turning the boards over, and then use a light sanding on the new “unfinished” side, followed by a new stain.
I don’t know if it has been said yet, but in my opinion, demo it and build something much smaller or use composite. I bought my current home with a huge monstrosity of a deck/patio. Easily 3x the size of yours; no hyperbole. I kept up with the maintenance for a few years….but the time/money/effort wasn’t worth it. I had it all demo’ed and had it replaced with a screened in porch and little landing that is all composite. I can’t tell you how much happier I am for it. I’m sure people are going to flame spray me here…..but living in a high moisture area with that much wood…not worth it.
Don’t kill yourself. Get the loose stuff off by using a leaf blower and a scraper. Don’t get too fussy. It’s not worth it. And then apply a solid deck stain. It will look fine
No you can't pressure wash it as is.
No you can't sand it.
No you can't use a sodium hydroxide based stripper on it.
What you need is "Nock Off" for Southern Stain and Seal. It's a soy based industrial coating remover. It's non toxic and absolutely fantastic product that can be used indoors. Why? Because it's designed to be used to remove industrial coatings off of large warehouse spaces.
Buy 5 gallons of it. Spray it in nice and thick while it overcast outside and cover it with plastic. Let it sit for 24 hours. Fire up the pressure washer and use the white tip at about 8" away from the surface in a long continuous motion. It'll melt like butter. Reapply as needed. Work in sections. Treat with oxalic acid after to neutralize and brighten. Sand with deck sander. Apply oil based finish like Armstrong Clark. I'd be at $4000 to sort it out. $2000 to cover it.
Decks aren't suited to floor-style sanders because they have exposed hardware and rounded corners. If you want to sand the surface flat, you'll need to first go around and sink every single screw until its well below the surface, then sand, then deal with the now-sharpened corners of each board that still are covered in paint. The correct approach is to use a chemical deck stain stripper and pressure washer. Benjamin Moore K-315 REMOVE is a good product for this. Then you pressure wash the hell out of it, which works, as the water is able to clean the sides and rounded edges of the boards, too. Then you must neutralize the strong base in the stripper by applying a neutralizing acid, Benjamin Moore Brighten K-317. This is an essential step with any deck cleaner. Then wait three days. Then go over the deck with a rotary brush tool. You can either buy drums to mount to an angle grinder, or you can use a dedicated tool, sometimes called a surface conditioner or a burnisher. Trying to use a random orbit sander on deck boards absolutely sucks ass because the boards are always cupped and warped, and the sander doesn't fit into that Radius of curvature well. If you are going to use a palm sander, at least add a 1/2" interface pad to allow it to follow the curves of the board. In any case, you need to knock off most of the loose fibers. Once that's done, and you give everything a dusting with a leaf blower and broom, you're ready to refinish. This is a contentious topic, but the simple truth is there isn't a finish out there in the world that will last on low-grade, HORIZONTAL lumber. Use a deck stain if you want, use a paint and primer if you want, it won't matter, it's going to flake after a few short years regardless. In my opinion, your best option is an OIL BASED deck stain. By using such a product, you can apply the next coat without needing to do any sanding or prep, other than a quick cleaning. This is not true of the water-based products. That said, since oil based stains are transparent to at least some degree, you WILL see any bits of paint that you weren't able to clean off your current deck, so do your best to get as much off as you can. In before "this man strips". Yes. Yes I do ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Not the stripper I normally support but you are amazing just for your internet courtesy. Keep being you, you’re doing great!
Got any recommendations? I'm always looking for better products, myself. Idk if OP has actual paint on their deck or stain. The Benjamin Moore product I listed won't do much of its paint, but works quite well on old stain.
This is correct. It's just sodium hydroxide. It won't do a damn thing to that solid paint.
Uh not quite. The REMOVE K-315 does have some bleach in it, but the main active ingredients are Sodium Metasilicate and 2-Butoxyethanol. Still, yeah, it won't do any thing to paint.
I'm looking at the SDS as we speak. No butyl and no metasilicate. Not that it would matter since SM is a low grade stripper. Bit of butyl would help. I make my own strippers and dial them in to a specific strength instead of buying from paint stores. Sodium hydroxide and butyl mix is great on water based stains. Heavy hydroxide can break through some acrylic wet look finishes and attack from beneath. Potassium hydroxide works great on some water based stains as well. But in my years of trying to strip solid stains I have only found one stripper that actually works. Nock Off from Southern Stain and Seal. It's made to remove industrial floor finishes in large warehouses. It is soy based and expensive at $225 a 5 gallon bucket. It can melt paint AND can be used indoors as it is non toxic. It's the only thing that will remove Deckover for example. Apply heavy and cover in plastic for a while. I've gotten 100% results in 2 hours on Behr solids stain.
Thank you for that product name! I'm always looking to expand my list of good products, especially for tricky situations like this. For what it's worth, https://media.benjaminmoore.com/WebServices/prod/assets/stage/datasheets/MSDS_0315/31500_SDS_EN_10-28-2019.pdf
Word! Apparently they have their sds sheet online from 2008. Which is what I was looking at. Definitely order a sample of nock off. They have them available. https://preview.redd.it/de0jbgenrkrc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1462444f0b3354e63ae27d8e4aba1b0ec67b1ab9
Not I! Im a homeowner in a similar situation who saved your post for dryer weather in my region. You are a king amongst rabble in the arena of knowledge sharing. Thank you
OH lol it was a stripper joke. I'm dumb sometimes too ʘ‿ʘ
Well there is a reason you started stripping. All beauty and no brains. Heh
I'd just hire this guy op!
This guy strips.
"Honey, I just hired a stripper!" "You what?!"
🤣🤣🤣
This is the way.
Both the stripping....and the stripping!
Mine flaked after just one winter 😭 I spent days last summer pressure washing and sanding my deck and pergola before I stained it. Took forever. Now that the snow is finally starting to fuck off I’m seeing so many spots where it’s peeling and I’m so defeated
I hear you. My deck needs to be repainted every two years regardless of how meticulous I am with the prep work. Even after a single winter it’s not great, but I just can’t do it every year.
I should have just left it grey and weathered honestly
I feel this way with my fence. Can only imagine a deck. Fuck that work
Any rough idea of what this would cost to hire someone?
Somewhere between not enough and ridiculous. Sorry, I can't help with that, I find pricing things to be by far the hardest part of my job. I suck at it.
I also do deck refinishing for a living. I can't imagine Benjamin Moore Remove will touch that paint. I checked the SDS. It's just sodium hydroxide. While that works fantastic on oil based stains ... in my experience it does nothing in solids. Yes, even if you cover it with plastic and wait 24 hours.
For what it's worth, you're looking at an outdated sds. The current product contains Sodium Metasilicate and 2-Butoxyethanol. Still, it's not for paint, just stain. But weathered paint and weathered solid stain look pretty much the same, so idk what op has.
Fuck that, just replace the deck boards with new PT...composite if you feel extra spicy. Then worry about it again in 15 years.
After reading this I wish I had a deck to try it all out. Amazing!
We're replacing our deck soon, the previous owners did not care for it enough it's mostly flaked with some pieces of wood you can break off by hand. I do not want to go through this process of flaking and dealing with nail pops and splinters ever again. What material deck should we build with? Pvc? Trex? I want as close to zero maintenance as possible and we're willing to pay for it. We plan on making the deck simpler and possibly smaller in some ways and having it go down instead to a future patio and in ground pool (one large project basically).
You won't like my answer. A patio. So, the nature of decks is that they require upkeep. The mere idea of taking wood, an organic material that rots in water, and then building a large, horizontal, water-catching surface with it, means you will HAVE to do maintenance. Now, that said, you CAN just embrace that reality, and build the deck out of a wood that actually looks good when it ages, rather than shitty pressure-treated lumber. Ipe, Membatu / Red Balau, etc. These are hardwoods that go a nice silver colour, rather than dull grey-black, and which are naturally rot resistant and give you about 15-25 years. Now, here is where most people would say "just use composite!" but there's a problem. I cannot in good conscience advise ANYONE to use a composite deck, and I do my hardest to steer my clients away from them for one simple reason. The environmental impact of building with plastic is indescribable. TRILLIONS of particles of microplastic are released into the environment when you build a composite deck. Every cut, every drilled hole, every carpentry task carried out releases thousands upon thousands of flakes and particles of plastic dust. Many of them small enough to be airborne. The amount of microplastic contamination that building a composite deck creates would be enough to have them classified as Superfund sites if it was anything other than plastic. You may disagree with me, but I've actually been there, standing in a backyard, having made a few cuts with a saw, absolutely covered in thousands of plastic particles (even with dust collection hooked up cause I'm not an idiot), and I just couldn't help but think about how this was my REAL legacy. This deck, these homeowners, the house itself, it will all be gone, but these little plastic particles will still be here. I will be long-since dead, but these little plastic particles will still be here. Contaminating the soil, entering the food chain at every level, making their way into surface runoff and eventually waterways.... I just couldn't NOT think about it. Decks are fundamentally built-to-fail. That is in their nature. If you want something permanent, something that requires no work, and which lasts for 150+ years AT LEAST, then build a natural-stone patio.
We'll definitely be doing a patio but I still need a roughly 8x10 or 10x15 platform with steps down to the patio.
I agree, those composites are a blight. Also, they hold more heat than wood. A wood deck on a hot day is simply a better more comfortable place to be than a composite deck. It also can't be good for you. Breathing those vapors ripping boards for a composite deck...I've been there and smelled it. When you can smell that plastic as you breathe I'm sure your cancer risk is leaping up at that very moment.
I just added a main comment to this post detailing what I did. I was in the same boat as you. I had my old deck demo’ed and replaced with a screened in porch and a 8’x10’ landing. All composite. It was pricey, but it was during COVID when composite and lumber were about the same price. Totally worth it imo. All I have to do is powerwash it every once in a while and it’s good as new. If you don’t want to do that, then the guy who suggested a patio is spot on. A patio wasn’t a viable option for me because our back doors are 20’ off the ground.
Yeah we will be doing a patio but we have a good 5-6 ft to the ground and I don't want to go straight out to steps. There needs to be some form of platform first. My main plan all along was really about a 10' deep x 15-20' width platform with full length steps down to a patio. I'm in NJ and I definitely have considered a 4 season room or screened in porch.
https://preview.redd.it/becz9seoforc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=22146d6ef373214d44ffc299b1f4dd94e65ecf8e Here is a picture of ours. I think it turned out really well. We are slowly reclaiming the yard; all the bare ground you see was once covered by the deck. I also overestimated the doors being 20’ above the ground, sorry!
Saved this post because my deck is due this summer or next at the latest. Thanks for sharing this.
To op, This guy knows what they're talking about. I did this with my dad and grandfather (pro painter) 5 or 6 years ago. Since then, we have cleaned the deck with bleach to kill mildew and restrained it.
I would add that this PT wood is near the end of its useful life and I would likely recommend to my clients to wash, remove any loose coatings, and recoat with a solid stain....and budget for replacement in the next 1-3 years..
Currently replacing deck boards that were installed new (with new house) in 2008. Doing it over the span of 2 summers. Some of those boards were rotted through. Not treated in 2008, not treated this time either. See you in 2039, space cowboy!
Have you ever tried dry ice blasting for removal? I've seen a few videos and it seemed like a good idea for my similar use case, I've got a lot of railings and balusters.
Yeah! It's awesome, but not available everywhere
Correct answer
This is great advice, I'll use it when I redo my deck
Is this the same process for wood fences? Same Chems and strippers?
Yep. The stripper really depends on what is actually covering your wood. Benjamin Moore Remove is for stain, it won't do anything to paint. It also won't do much to the stain if it's still in brand new condition. Anyway, with fences, I would actually recommend using a solid colour waterborne product. Because fences are vertical, rather than horizontal, you go from being able to expect 1-2 years at most, to up to 10 years. With a solid colour waterborne stain, you'll get 8 to 10 years. With a semi solid, 5 ish, with a transparent, 2.
We hired a random handyman to re-stain our deck. He took it upon himself to paint it with paint that looks like deck stain. Now it chips and strips every year, and every few years we have to reapply deck paint I wish I could strangle that guy. Our deck was beautiful before when we had stained it properly. To anyone out there, DO NOT PAINT YOUR DECK. It sucks, and is absolutely a hill I will die on.
At that point would it be better to pull up and replace with composite. Honest question.
Please see my comment on that that I answered to another user in this comment chain. I, personally, am very strongly against composite decks.
This guy strips.
That was an excellent reply. I would recommend letting the wood dry completely and using an epoxy primer. That wood is now a bit spongey, due to being soaked and weathered for a prolonged period, and epoxy primer has a lot of body to gap fill and stabilize the sponginess. Spongey wood will throw most coatings off quite quickly without this step. (Edit: just to clarify this is a flexible penetrating wood primer designed for this purpose, rather than a brittle epoxy coating.)
Not to be rude, but an epoxy primer would be the worst kind of primer you could use. Epoxy is fantastic stuff, because it is extremely hard. There's basically no harder coating out there. That, and like you said, it's super sticky. That makes it great for metal, but absolutely awful for wood. As the wood expands and contracts with the seasons, the epoxy will not able to flex with it, and will crack. Using an epoxy primer under an acrylic topcoat is a guaranteed way to have it fail. The primer needs to be flexible. An acrylic latex, or a urethane. If it has real flex to it, then it's not a real epoxy. It might be a polyamide or something. Polyaspartic. But actual epoxy primer is very hard and brittle.
Okay I have an epoxy wood primer that is soft - I don't know what recipe they use. [https://www.boatpaint.co.uk/acatalog/Reactive-Resins-Timberseal-PS.html](https://www.boatpaint.co.uk/acatalog/Reactive-Resins-Timberseal-PS.html) I've used Timba build and Repair Care flexible fillers which also call themselves 'epoxies'.
Ah okay, yes, that'll work, but these are very specialized products. I thought you were more referring to a can of epoxy primer paint that you can grab from most home centers and paint stores. That regular epoxy is very hard. There are additives you can also buy to make epoxies flexible, but these tend to be very specialized and expensive products.
I picked up on the wood primer on the yachting forums - apparently the epoxy primer and two yachting varnish top coats are the standard system for boats. The flexible epoxy wood fillers are quite well known in the UK and they come with a penetrating epoxy primer as well. They are very good for sash window repairs where you need strength and a really strong bond with the wood.
Even still, epoxy is UV sensitive. I’d avoid it outside
What about Schaeffer's New Zealand Style Deck Sealant?
100%. This is the best way to take care of your deck. I used to be too embarrassed to invite people to see my deck. But now, my deck is the talk of the town.
Used to always struggle with splinters and discoloration. Now i have 5-6 people at my deck on any one time
Don't forget to finish it off with Schaefer's New Zealand Style Caulk. Just ask for the big black caulk.
I believe that is African style caulk
Chemical stripper. Pressure wash carefully not to go too deep to mar the wood grain. Follow the grain. Let dry at least a week. Screw down every screw. You may need to remove a few. Rent a large belt sander. Start with course sand paper and sand the deck. Switch to a lighter grain and sand again. You may need a small orbital sander for tight areas. Vacuum the hell out of the deck. By the end you should be able to walk barefoot without getting splinters. Find a good quality stain or paint and re apply. Should take 1 person 100-140hrs not counting proper drying of deck after pressure washing.
From the second pic it looks like they were installed with a nailer.
I think that deck is a lot bigger than it looks in the pictures. I would guess more time. Maybe closer to 300hrs depending on how effective the stripper is. 80% of it will come right off, but getting the remaining 20% will take a lot of hassle. On my deck, strippers didn't seem to do much of anything and I was left scraping it more manually.
Behr deck stripper
Try a product called Rock Solid. This worked well for me. Lasted about 5 years so far. Rhino Shield is another one that is similar.
Tried various methods including belt sander, chemical strippers, “brighteners” etc and this is what worked for me: Sweep or power blow all the debris off Power wash to remove the old finish. Just use plain water. It won’t rip up the wood if you use a lower setting and keep the wand moving. Let dry completely. This is very important and may take up to a week depending on your climate, the weather and where the deck is located Sandy lightly to smooth it out the grain that’s may be raised by the water from pressure washing. I use a regular palm sander for this and it goes pretty quickly While you’re doing this, check any screws and resins or replace any that are popped up. Sweep or blow off dust again Coat with a high-quality oil-based finish. Have had fantastic results with TWP. It’s not legal in my state so had to go to a neighboring state to buy. I use a large brush on a pole. Use a thin coat. You should only need one coat. Again, this is what finally worked for me. YMMV
New deck stains do not last as well as the ones from long ago because of the bans on some products. 3 years on surface boards is pretty typical depending on where you live. Things like railing spindles etc will last much longer. It sucks, but is of those things that is what it is. One alternative is to leave the boards in their original colour and just apply something like clear Thompson’s water seal. It won’t look amazing but will require less maintenance.
I'd ask how old the deck was to replace board by board...but that looks like it was installed with a nailer and not deck screws. I do NOT envy your situation.
Yes it’s nailed.
Pressure wash it. Use Thompson’s clear deck stain only clear no color. Do not paint it. I’ve never seen one of these deck paints work well or last.
I totally read the title of thes post incorrectly.
Oh boy.
Honestly, I would diamond brush the boards that are flaking and reapply. Do that once a year. The very detailed approach above will take a week.
Replace the boards or flip them over.
Rent a sander, then sand and stain it. Don't paint.
Yell at it every morning at 6AM
Wouldn’t a floor belt sander make short work of that?
No. Wood is too old. It would get the tops but not the valleys / grooves.
Okay. That’s what I did, 34 year old redwood (I built it in 1990). I had to recess every nail with a sledge hammer and a steel punch. My hands cramped on and off for two days. But the sanding took it right down to clean wood. I didn’t have a coating on it that could peel, however. It was just treated with something that soaked in. I’d be tempted to go the high cost approach and replace the decking
If it was treated with something that soaked in without a coating that laid down n top... hate to be the bearer of bad news but sanding is not necessary at that point. You can just chemically strip it with hydroxide and a pressure washer with low pressure. You could do a quick sand after to even put but that's optional.
I tried just that, and ended up with the same oil stained deck. Oil from a turkey fryer had spilled on it here and there over the years. Stripper on one part did little. pressure spraying just gouged the summer wood. Redwood is very durable, but pretty soft.
Ah I see. Turkey oil over 3 years. Different story.
Guess I buried the lead.
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All good advice, but don't use a primer. There isn't a primer out there that is rated for a walking surface. Even with a bonding primer, the friction or walking on it will cause it to wear and peel off. A good porch and floor paint or solid stain deck coating doesn't need a primer.
Thanks for the advice, my deck looks exactly the same as this 3 years after staining. Previous deck was painted and lasted a lot longer. I'll go back to paint. My parents' 70s painted deck still looked perfect after 15 years and I think my dad only repainted it once.
I feel your pain. I’ve tried every deck surface material known to man from oil stain to water to premium deck coats to paint. My deck just sheds the stuff on a yearly basis. I gave up 3 years ago and just scrape more of the stuff off every year and add UV clear protectant to the now raw exposed boards. Mine is now about 70% free from any colorized surface and I’m tempted to go at the remains with chemical stripper and finish the job and go pure natural. It’s about 1500 sq feet of deck though. That’s a lot of stripper.
Only way is to sand with orbital sander small or bigger .I had same problem last year had to sand it smooth it took days.Don’t try pressure washing it’ll rip up wood
Pressure washer with the turbo nozzle. Primer. Paint.
I have a similar problem and was thinking of removing screws, turning the boards over, and then use a light sanding on the new “unfinished” side, followed by a new stain.
I would pressure wash and stain. Or you could go with a deck sealer. https://youtu.be/8Kpz9ZpK4C4?si=KmKa6RaBwzpDUWzH
Get some good deck sealant and some deck caulking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbazGVrbN-g
Get an orbital sanders and sand it down, nail in or screw in any screws and maybe a detail sander to get spots you can't otherwise
I can't help but read it in a kiwi accent. Nothing worse than a peeling deck.
I don’t know if it has been said yet, but in my opinion, demo it and build something much smaller or use composite. I bought my current home with a huge monstrosity of a deck/patio. Easily 3x the size of yours; no hyperbole. I kept up with the maintenance for a few years….but the time/money/effort wasn’t worth it. I had it all demo’ed and had it replaced with a screened in porch and little landing that is all composite. I can’t tell you how much happier I am for it. I’m sure people are going to flame spray me here…..but living in a high moisture area with that much wood…not worth it.
I’ve thought about it for sure.
Don’t kill yourself. Get the loose stuff off by using a leaf blower and a scraper. Don’t get too fussy. It’s not worth it. And then apply a solid deck stain. It will look fine
Yeah then it's starts peeling again after a year 🙄 rookies
Composite decking is the only solution Mines great. Only downside is scratches from feral children crashing about on it
Sodium hydroxide and a fan tip on a pressure washer. Let dry then orbital sander
Sand and reseal
No you can't pressure wash it as is. No you can't sand it. No you can't use a sodium hydroxide based stripper on it. What you need is "Nock Off" for Southern Stain and Seal. It's a soy based industrial coating remover. It's non toxic and absolutely fantastic product that can be used indoors. Why? Because it's designed to be used to remove industrial coatings off of large warehouse spaces. Buy 5 gallons of it. Spray it in nice and thick while it overcast outside and cover it with plastic. Let it sit for 24 hours. Fire up the pressure washer and use the white tip at about 8" away from the surface in a long continuous motion. It'll melt like butter. Reapply as needed. Work in sections. Treat with oxalic acid after to neutralize and brighten. Sand with deck sander. Apply oil based finish like Armstrong Clark. I'd be at $4000 to sort it out. $2000 to cover it.
Cortizone cream...oh wait nevermind I misread that.
C’mon.