We have been slowly making headway on scraping the deck with the Wagner paint eater. 4 ($14) replaceable pads have come and gone and the end is in sight (oh! all those spindles!).
The deck looks like an archaeological dig. In places it is scraped to the old (faux redwood looking) stain, in others down to the weathered layer of pressure-treated wood and others to more raw looking wood.
Now, before we finish-stain it, is it a good idea to put on an additional layer of anything or merely apply one or two coats of the chosen stain?
Cheers, HankC
D> > My deck was painted three years ago. Weathering has peeled a lot off
> except for the railing where most of the paint is yet adhering...
> That is why decks are usually stained, not painted. You can
> touch up stained timber or recoat it overall much more easily
> than you can prepare for thorough repainting (and old paint
> cannot really be touched up at all.)
> > I have tried 3 different paint removers with lousy results. Pressure
> > washers did a good job of washing but the effort required to remove the
> > paint also removed the soft wood.
> > I'm wondering if staining over the remaining paint would give me
> > anything close to tolerable results or just look like some awful tiger
> > stripe impression.
> Probably the latter. You can experiment by replacing
> one suitable deck board today, staining it, and leaving it
> out in the sun and for a few months.
I see Wagner has a new tool called the 'paint eater'. Does anyone have a review of this unit? Obviously on a deck not everything is flat or level... HankC