Painted deck... what to do, what to do?

[Mitchell Andrus]

So, I wasn't there when someone thought it would be a good idea to paint my deck, but now it's mine and I gotta get going on a plan cuz it's a MESS. The paint is likely as old as the house, 1994

Seems I'll have a little time on my hands see'in as how I didn't win that Stinger. *ahem*

The railings and balusters will clean up really well with a pressure washer and a re-paint there to match the house trim will be fine - stripping over 250 balusters is completely out of the question. Pressure washing the deck didn't remove nearly enough of the loose paint and didn't come close to removing the stuff still stuck in place. I'd like to strip/grind/sand the deck and stain this time.

The rental center has flooring drum sanders and a 4 head ROS machine. Various grinders and similar tools are also available. The thought of pounding down all of those nails makes my head spin.

Removing and replacing the deck boards is not much of an option. They are in fine shape and because the deck is about 1,000 sf it'd be prohibitively expensive.

Anyone do anything like this? How much weight did you loose?
.

[Matt Meiser]

I haven't done it but if they are cupped like mine I can't see them sanding that well. We are talking about tearing the decking off ours in a few years and replacing it. At the same time we'd tear off the railings, wrap the existing posts with the covers they make for that purpose, and do PVC railings.

[David G Baker]

Mitchell,
Consider a heavy duty sander that is designed for hardwood flooring. There are different grits of sandpaper that should give you any surface you desire. You may still have to hammer the nails down because a heavy grit paper may grind the heads off. A rental place should have the sander as well as the papers. The sander may even get rid of any cupping that Matt mentioned.
Don't envy you.

[Matt Meiser]

my concern with sanding it that much is the fasteners On mine I think Id lose a significant part of the screw heads.

[Angie Orfanedes]

Well, I guess you could pull the boards up and turn them over and then screw them down again ...or are the bottom painted, too? The again, sanding may be less work.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

Festool Rotex

Make sure you connect it to a vac.

[Bruce Pearce]

In NY area some paint Co.s that advertise deck Paint/Stain stripping. They use non toxic citrus bases strippers. Only prublem I've heard of was it attracts bees and wasps. They'er done in half a day.

[Jason Roehl]

http://www.flood.com/wood-care-solutions/products/view-product.jsp?productId=8

That's what I would (and have) use(d). Works well, just don't get it in any open sores--it ate a 1/8" diam x 1/8" deep hole in my finger where I had a tiny scrape when I accidentally got some on it. I got the product at my local Sherwin-Williams paint store. It took me a couple hours to do about 200 s.f. of deck that had about 5 coats of semi-transparent stain put on it over the course of about 7 years.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Had the same problem with mine - someone decided to paint a redwood deck! I couldn't believe it - but eventually had to sand it down and seal it. I used a belt sander and it worked great!

Spent a long time making sure all the fasteners were below the sanding zone - but it sure looked good when finished! This does fall into the realm of being a 'Project' so make sure you have the time!!!

[Moshe Eshel]

Maybe rent a stronger one?
It did the job for me last time I wanted to re-paint (actually stained water based varnish)

Also consider sand blasting it, it is much more aggressive than water, so if there is a lot of paint - it will work faster... (again this might hurt the fastenings so maybe not).

[Rich Engelhardt]

I don't envy you the job....:(.
I've (we've) done 5 so far.

When my wife and I make an offer on a house with a painted deck, we knock off $2,000 right off the top to replace the deck, then negotiate from there.

The way we (my wife and I ) do it:
I sit at one end of the deck and she sits at the other.
We take a belt sander w/36 girt belts and an extention cord and feed it out via the extension cord to the other person.
I feed it out, playing out the cord, to her, she gets it on her end, turns it around and feeds it back to me.

We use two sanders - a B&D "Dragster", which has a low profile nose that gets under railings & an old Craftsman - both 3" x21".
Whe one gets hot, we switch to the other so they don't overheat.


The thought of pounding down all of those nails makes my head spin.

Pick up a palm nailer. That's the only way to do it and keep your sanity, as well as the ony way to actually countersink the heads.
If you don't countersink the haeds, the sander will take off the galvanized coating & they'll rust (DAMHIKT)

If you do it by hand, use a metal rod instead of a nail set, and a 2# sledge instead of a hammer.
I took a hacksaw & a grinder to a Phillips head screwdriver.
Cut off the handle & just touched the grinder to the head to flatten it.
Clamp it with a set of vice grips to keep your hand away from it.
(learned this the hard way)
You're going to whack your hand after a short time - it's tedious and tiring which is a sure recipe for a "mistake".
The 2# sledge makes it a "one whack" job.

Also - split it up over several days. Taking it on all at once is a real challange. It goes a lot smoother to only spend a couple of hours at a stretch doing it.

A pressure washer only works if you can get one that throws over 2,000 psi w/a fan tip. The low end ones only generate the higher pressures with a round tip.
I found using a pressure washer more work than feeding a belt sander back and forth.
It's ok if the paint is peeling off in decent sized pieces for knocking down the loose stuff.
Follow up with a 3" stiff blade putty knife/scraper.
I use a Hyde 5 in 1 tool.
Touch it up with a stone every so often to keep a moderatly sharp edge.
Too sharp and it'll dig in, too dull and it'll skip across the surface.

Floor sanders are pretty much useless since the deck isn't flat.
The U-sand - the one w/the 4 ROSanders - requires an almost perfectly flat surface. It's a marfvel of machinery for redoing HW floors, but, it sucks at doing cupped boards on a deck.
Plus the cost of the abrasive disks may approach the cost of replacing the wood!
Those 36 grit disks cost a fortune & you'll only get about 10 square feet out of a set of 4 - if that on soft TSP - before you need to replace them.
When I use one on HW floors, I get 4 times the size of the machine per set of 36 grit disks.


stripping over 250 balusters is completely out of the question.
Agreed...
@ that point it's time to consider them a lost cause and budget in replacing them.
Cross cut a treated 2x4 to length, then rip it in half. Bevel the ends with a CMS or a cross cut sled.
Here, you may want to consider picking up a cheap 10" table saw from CL. Use it, then turn around and sell it to recoup some of your $$.
I use my Hitachi job site saw, which has an Aluminum table.
Treated will wreck havoc with cast iron.


If you can, let the deck weather for a year. Like I said at the start of this long winded essay (;)), when we do end up getting stuck with a painted deck, it's the last thing we tackle. It usually takes us a year from close to market, which gives the deck a year to weather.


How much weight did you loose?
LOL! I gained weight! ;).
Every third trip of the sander across the board, I celebrate with a brewski!
Sitting on my ample posterior, feeding an extension cord & swilling beer makes for a lot of calories coming in - and few going out ;).

[Mitchell Andrus]

The way we (my wife and I ) do it:
I sit at one end of the deck and she sits at the other.
We take a belt sander w/36 girt belts and an extention cord and feed it out via the extension cord to the other person.
I feed it out, playing out the cord, to her, she gets it on her end, turns it around and feeds it back to me.

We use two sanders - a B&D "Dragster", which has a low profile nose that gets under railings & an old Craftsman - both 3" x21".


I've pretty much concluded that a few throw away belt sanders will be needed. Likely to cost much less than renting. I'll be attaching a handle to them maybe with a vac hose. I haven't given up on the floor sander yet though. I may rent one for a day just to see if I can predict the future a bit.

The 4 place ROS is off the list. The boards are in fine shape, flat but not co-planar. Taking 1/16" off one board just to catch the paint on the next with this tool would be nuts.

Walking and whacking a long bar will handle the nail heads. 30 a minute shouldn't take too long. 'sides, after an hour my neighbor will come and shoot me and none of this will be a problem anymore.
.

[Rich Engelhardt]

'sides, after an hour my neighbor will come and shoot me and none of this will be a problem anymore.

LOL!
That's the spirit! :D
(misery loves company )

[Joe Chritz]

I'm for the stripper route to start. You can always then sand if needed and have a lot less work.

I would likely start with a test of some of the "green" strippers and see and if not go for something a little more potent.

Obviously all protective clothing rules apply.

Sounds like you have a big project.

Joe

[Shawn Pixley]

I'd test with stripper to see if it would work. If not, replacing sor sinking the heads - more or less the same effort. I think you'll need to bite the bullet.

I'd look into the floor belt sanders. The rental place near me has remarkably good prices. I'd guess less than a couple of belt sanders.

[Brian Elfert]

My parents decided to paint just the railings on their deck and I think that was a mistake. It really needs painting about every two years, but I don't think they do it quite that often.

Part of their problem might be the treated lumber that was exposed to the elements for 20+ years. The wood had warped and turned really rough in that time.

[Harry Hagan]

People that paint treated decks should be horse whipped!!

What do you put on a treated deck to protect the wood after stripping off the paint?

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

epoxysystems - dot - com
They will sell you a really nice two part urethane that will last decades.
I put it on my deck after years and years of trying everything from paint to silicone sealants to high wax base sealers to some stuff I made up myself

Use a power washer to get the old crap off and a GRACO airless sprayer to put the urethane down.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Thanks. I'll have a look. But I still have to sand.... sigh....
.

[Rich Engelhardt]

What do you put on a treated deck to protect the wood after stripping off the paint?

We use stain.

[Bob Rufener]

My brother had the same problem a few weeks ago. He rented a large pad sander at the rental center. I was at his house while he was doing it. I think he was using about a 36 grit paper. It worked pretty well. He didn't have too much of a problem with cupped boards as the boards were laid down properly looking at the end grain. I'd say it took him about 2 hours to do about a 500 sq ft deck.