Removing paint stains from decking?

Question

Yo,

Trying to help someone ... they have previously painted their decking with something and splashed some darker coloured fence paint over that in places.

Pressure washing has removed most of the paint from the decking but where some of the other paint was splashed on, and especially where it has been protected from the elements by plant pots etc, the stain from the paint is still fairly obvious.

Now they want to just go over it with an anti-slip type 'natural' colour treatment but feel said staining will then show up even more.

So, what to remove the paint remains as I'm not sure if the 'decking stripper' would be strong enough and paint stripper may not remove the stain (but would remove paint etc).

Are there any other tricks / chemicals that might be better suited to this task please?

Cheers, T i m

Martin Brown · Accepted Answer

For paint spots on a mostly flat surface a sharp chisel blade and a  steady hand works for me. Decking has annoying ridges in it.

AnthonyL · Answer

I was going to offer some help until I realised I'd misread the subject slightly.

T i m · Answer

Quite. ;-(

I think the actual paint has come away with the pressure washer Martin but I think it's the paint pigment that is still in the wood that is the issue.

That said, it's possible that (subject to it not being over too big an area) to do as you say and remove some of the wood, some 'wear patina' being less objectionable than some stain that stands out etc?

Where the painted decking and the paint splashed on top has been exposed to the sun, it doesn't seem to have stained as much, suggesting the weathering can help.

Cheers, T i m

T i m · Answer

I'm not going to ask. ;-) Cheers, T i m

tabbypurr · Answer

Even if paint stripper only mushified the underlaying paint that would still remove both layers. Try it.

A wire brush or rotary wire brush can work well. Of course it will leave a lighter patch which will darken eventually.

NT

T i m · Answer

Good thought, will do.

Another good thought ... and then a scraper on the more stubborn areas (depending how big / time consuming they are).

And as long as they only re-treat the whole decking with a preservative and not a paint, presumably the sun will help to bleach any paint / staining out in any case?

Cheers, T i m

tabbypurr · Answer

light darkens wood. Paint wouldn't be any use if sun bleached it.

Mark Allread · Answer

????? so the furniture in the living room that gets all the light should  be darker than that in the shade then.  I wonder why it isn't.

Martin Brown · Answer

Problem will be that the stain will include a UV blocker to stabilise its own pigments so this will also protect underlying pigment too.

Depends on the wood. A lot of imitation teak hardwoods used in garden furniture weather to pale grey under the effect of rain and sunshine.

Removing paint stains from decking?

Join the Discussion

Didn't find your answer?