Stripping and Re-Staining deck... Job for the GG6?

natewood70

natewood70

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Hey AGO!

So I have been tasked with stripping, and re-staining my sisters deck. A TON of how-to videos exist and because of that a lot of different directions are being given on how to complete a project like this.

Some rely on chemical stripping, power washing, sanding, or a combo of all 3.

I was wondering if anyone has advice to strip and re-stain a deck, and if sanding is an option, do you see any reason NOT to use a tool like the GG6?
 
Mike Honcho said:
I wouldn't do it. Too small of a machine for a large area.
Click to expand...

I was considering just using it for touch up on areas where the previous stain wouldn't strip off chemically.

I've also seen good and bad points when using a pressure washer, so at this point I'm really not sure what method would be best. Should the principles of paint correction be applied here also? Go the least aggressive method first?

How to videos are great... unless none of them can come to a consensus on the best method or procedure.
 
I just stained some new chairs....

Before:

af9931cccb943c973a3ab9b2eafd6916.jpg


After:

191b4aff044f9be875fed60268dd64b2.jpg


And did some research on this topic. To the best of my knowledge, if it's a "stain" (not paint) - there is no need to strip the finish (and it's quite difficult since the wood is stained).

This is why I choose an outdoor stain over paint. Because when they need to be redone - I just need to clean and apply more - not strip.

There are chemical products designed to deep clean & prep wood to accept a stain, but I do not think they "strip" the stain.

Polishing a deck to remove stain with a GG6 seems like a massive undertaking. If it's truly stain (not paint); I would pressure wash, chemically clean, and re-stain.

If it's painted - this is a whole different ball game. You will need to use multiple methods likely (abrasive and chemical) to remove all the old paint.

Since my chairs were new wood, I just pressure washed them and cleaned them with APC. Very happy how they came out - and now they bead.
 
swanicyouth said:
I just stained some new chairs....

Before:

af9931cccb943c973a3ab9b2eafd6916.jpg


After:

191b4aff044f9be875fed60268dd64b2.jpg


And did some research on this topic. To the best of my knowledge, if it's a "stain" (not paint) - there is no need to strip the finish (and it's quite difficult since the wood is stained).

This is why I choose an outdoor stain over paint. Because when they need to be redone - I just need to clean and apply more - not strip.

There are chemical products designed to deep clean & prep wood to accept a stain, but I do not think they "strip" the stain.

Polishing a deck to remove stain with a GG6 seems like a massive undertaking. If it's truly stain (not paint); I would pressure wash, chemically clean, and re-stain.

If it's painted - this is a whole different ball game. You will need to use multiple methods likely (abrasive and chemical) to remove all the old paint.

Since my chairs were new wood, I just pressure washed them and cleaned them with APC. Very happy how they came out - and now they bead.
Click to expand...

The chair looks great!

Yeah, it was painted red, but I'm not 100% certain if it was a paint or tinted stain. I'll know more when I get to see it in person as she bought the house with the deck already done... Tough to really tell when I'm in South Florida and she's all the way in Seattle :dunno:
 
I re-stain the decks on my house about every 2-3 years. I always use a pressure washer to remove the old stain and faded wood and re-stain it with Thompson's Waterseal or a brand similar to it. I've always had great luck with pressure washing. With a good pressure washer set on a fan spray pattern you can clean a large deck fairly quickly. The best advice with the pressure washer is to be sure and use the fan spray pattern and not a straight stream, which can cut into and through the wood.
 
I recently made a coffee table and chemically stripped the wood before sanding and finishing. Once my finish had cured I used my GG6 to polish out the finish to a nice gloss. This is obviously quite a bit smaller than a deck so not sure how it would hold up for something that large. Here's a picture:

0a5d2e1005b4fcf0b301dd0e9751571a.jpg


Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
 
van185 said:
I re-stain the decks on my house about every 2-3 years. I always use a pressure washer to remove the old stain and faded wood and re-stain it with Thompson's Waterseal or a brand similar to it. I've always had great luck with pressure washing. With a good pressure washer set on a fan spray pattern you can clean a large deck fairly quickly. The best advice with the pressure washer is to be sure and use the fan spray pattern and not a straight stream, which can cut into and through the wood.
Click to expand...

Good point... that's the biggest thing I want to avoid is damaging the wood so a fan pattern it is. I think I'm going to tackle it by laying down some chemical stripper as directed, and then any leftover spots I will hit with the pressure washer.

raheelc said:
I recently made a coffee table and chemically stripped the wood before sanding and finishing. Once my finish had cured I used my GG6 to polish out the finish to a nice gloss. This is obviously quite a bit smaller than a deck so not sure how it would hold up for something that large. Here's a picture:

0a5d2e1005b4fcf0b301dd0e9751571a.jpg


Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

That table looks good!
 
been there done that.. it is so much work with a little machine like that. and you'll get it very dirty. not worth it in my opinion.
 
I have used my old (original) PC to sand certain spots on my deck, heck, it's what the machine was made for before it was co-opted into a car polisher. The only problem is it get all loaded up with sanding dust, so you want to clean it up well if you go back to car polishing after. Later I appropriated an orbital palm sander with a dust catcher, so I'm not mixing cars and decks anymore.
 
natewood70 said:
Hey AGO!

So I have been tasked with stripping, and re-staining my sisters deck. A TON of how-to videos exist and because of that a lot of different directions are being given on how to complete a project like this.

Some rely on chemical stripping, power washing, sanding, or a combo of all 3.

I was wondering if anyone has advice to strip and re-stain a deck, and if sanding is an option, do you see any reason NOT to use a tool like the GG6?
Click to expand...


If if it is not paint and it has been previously stained there are some excellent products made for log homes that you could tap into. They make chemicals to strip or you could pressure wash the deck and hit it with some log wash to clean. If the wood gets the furred up look no worries you can get a Osborne brush attach it to a angle grinder or rotary and it will smooth the finish like sanding and get some dirt, stains out as well. I've used the products as I have a log home good luck
 
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