[Sticky] Properly Cleaning a Deck Before Staining

Cleaners and stain strippers are caustics that raise the pH balance of the wood while darkening the color of the wood. Brighteners will neutralize the caustic and lower the pH so that is restores the natural color.

I have a four year old cedar deck that gets full sun. My original application was with Sikkens SRD and it lasted two years. Once deterioration was visible Sikkens recommended cleaning with a mixture of Tri Sodium Phosphate/bleach/water and light power washing. I followed that with a very light sanding and reapplied the Sikkens SRD. It is now a year and a few months later and the deterioration is again visible. The verticals are OK but the horizontals are horrible.

I'm considering using TWP. What should I do? Do I have to totally remove the Sikkens. The TSP-bleach-water seemed to work
to get me down to what looked like new wood. Is that enough????
Any suggestion would really be appreciated.

You would need to strip off the Sikkens first before applying the TWP otherwise you would run the risk of the TWP failing. Make sure to neutralize with a wood brightener.

How soon after cleaning and brightening your deck do you need to stain? I only have weekends to work on my deck...is that to much time between cleaning and staining?

I would stain within a couple of weeks after washing.

--Approx. 20-yr-old TPW deck (~1200 sf);
--North Alabama, west-facing under tall shade trees, approx. 5 hrs direct sun/day on some portions of deck.
--6 yrs ago we stripped the peeling solid stain, brightened, and resealed w/Behr Semi-Transparent. 4 yrs ago, cleaned, brightened, and resealed w/same stain.
--Currently, deck is stained from tree debris, and has algae growing on heavily shaded areas.

There's no longer any sign of the Behr stain except faintly, underneath side of railing and top of ballisters; we'd like to re-stain with Defy Extreme. Do we need to strip (using RAD Stain Stripper), or would cleaning & brightening be sufficient before re-staining?

Additional info re previously applied stain: It was Behr Semi-Transparent OIL Based stain.

It is best that all previous stain is removed when switching brands so you may need to strip if some of the Behr is still left on the deck.

Last year I power-washed a 3 year old deck that had never been stain previously. The wood looks clean and ready. Do I need to power wash again? Can I just rinse it and then use a brightener and stain?

You need a cleaner and brightener to prep. You can use a scrub brush or a light pressure washing.

My son has recently purchased a home with a cedar deck that unfortunately has been painted by the previous owner(s). The paint is old and peeling...2 different colors of paint...looks horrible! How do you recommend cleaning/prepping the wood in order to be able to stain it? The deck is structurally in very good shape, and the wood is in good condition too. Don't understand why people paint wood decks!!

Shari, you cannot clean or strip a solid stain effectively so you would need to sand it all off. Once that is done then you should clean and brighten the wood before applying the stain.

Ugh, deck problems! New PTW deck in Nov. 2012. Builder put a clear thick stain or some kind about 1 month later. This spring, the deck looks terrible with black discoloration, and light stripes where they overlapped the clear stain. We stripped it and cleaned it with Behr products, then power washed it. Looks OK dry, but when it is wet it is terrible with large areas of black and light areas. We are going to use Defy semi-transparent color stain, but we are afraid that it will look the same way as it does when it is wet. What do we do? Sand?
So many hours spent on a new deck because the wrong product or technique was used, ugh! I have sent for samples from Defy, but I don't think that it can blend the deck to make it look good. Help???

Sand, let weather for a month, clean and brighten to prep before applying the stain.

Hello,

We have a boat dock and that has gray paint from a year ago that is flaking off. I am going to pressure wash the paint off and hope I don't have to sand it. After removing the old paint, I will be able to see the condition of the wood. I will probably need to clean and maybe brighten the wood not sure. Once the deck looks good enough, I will probably use the TWP 100 or 1500 depending on Texas's regulations. I have never done this before and can use any tips or advice on this project.

Thank You,

Seung