White Residue on Stained Pine Deck

It is sap bleeding from the wood and then drying on top of the wood. It cannot be stopped but it should stop eventually on its own. As for removal, that is not easy to do without damaging the stain in some way. Try a little bit of solvent and a rag. Mineral spirits. Do a test first.

Thank you for the reply and suggestion. Is there a point at which I will know the sap is done bleeding out of the wood so I may clean it off? I have scrubbed off the white residue one time before but after the next rain it bled again. Therefore I am at a loss on when to do it again or when this process will be done.

Sorry but no idea. I would try scrubbing again and then hope it stops bleeding out when the rain comes. Eventually it should stop.

I have the same issue but much worse. I waited over a year to stain with Defy and still the white from knots and elsewhere spread quickly after about 6 months and the hot summer sun hit it. I did sand to 80 grit prior to my initial staining but cleaned and brighted w/ Defy products before using their Extreme Butterscotch. Worked well and looked good until the white. I just lived with it for the and it's now been a year and half since staining. I pressure washed to prep a new application, but it did not get rid of the white at all. Mineral spirits was suggested. What specifically if you found something that works well. And does it need to be cleaned and brightened again after? Does it have anything to do w/ Defy being a water based stain? I would like to know if folks think Defy or something like Cabots versus something like Cabots Austrialian Timber Oil. Thanks

The white is sap and has nothing to do with the stain that was used or the prep. It just leeches out of the wood sometimes and dries white on the surface. No easy way to remove or clean and it cannot be stopped either.

Thanks for your help. Not many sites talk about this or what to do. After cleaning in prep for restain 2 yrs after first staining w/ defy, the white did not come up. I tried mineral spirits, not much better. So I decided to sand w/ orbital 60 grit. I was able to get rid of most of it, but now my boards are bare wood in areas that had white (and I hit high spots while I was at it). So do I need to strip now? Guessing I do or will the defy blend this. I have not rebrightened...will this help? If I do have to strip, I'm tempted to move away from defy as good as the reviews are, if any change another brand (oil based?) will hide this better (??). Thots? Also, I got the wood at menards. Wonder if their pine treated deck board might be part of the cause? Here are some pics I dug up. The first is 2.5 yrs old of the white residue after I sanded the entire deck, just prior to first staining. Pic 2 is the white residue showing up through the stain after 1st winter (showed up in abt 6 mos...this pic is a bit over a year past the stain date). Pic 3 shows mid sanding. Center not sanded yet, but right and very front has been sanded. You can see how a lot of the old stain now contrasts with the newly sanded areas which I'm assuming will still be there after restaining even w/ same defy. Thots?
.If I need to strip, does it matter if I use Defy's stripper or Jomax (Jomax more available in my location so I could do it today). And do I need to mask off my wood siding house? Thanks for the help!

You should strip. Never used Lomax so not sure of it's effectiveness. Make sure that you brighten after.

I took your advice and stripped using Defy. But I was unhappy w/ the amount of stain it removed. (see first pic, although next morning and still looked wet after light rain). I had followed directions. So next night I still had the Jomax I bought so I tried that. This time it went much better. (pic 2). The detail though (pic 3) still shows some dark areas. Seems like the dark area are either leftover stain because the boards have cupped a bit and ended up heavier here, or is this just because I have not brightened yet? I also had sanded prior and hit the edges heavier trying to get rid of that white residue and some of the cupping at the same time. Likely I could get rid of the dark areas w/ more sanding but would rather not do that if I can help it.

Will these dark ares blend in if I just brighten and stain? Would I need a darker stain to cover? And would I need to use the same defy, or would a dif brand risk not sticking well if that indeed is a bit of defy butternut left? I'm getting tired of dealing w/ this but if I need to spot stain again, so be it. What do you rec as the next steps. Stain? Sand-clean-brighten-stain? Brighten-stain?

I had wanted to get it clean enough to go w/ a lighter stain, but at this point am willing to go a bit darker. I wanted to try an oil (leaning towards armstrong-clark because of your ratings and feedback, but tempted to use cabots austrialian or something easily accessible locally). Can you advise please? I've been looking at so many forums and online stuff, I'm a bit overwhelmed at this point. I never thot I'd spend this much time on my deck.

Do you think w/ the large number of knots that I always will have issues w/ this wood unless I go w/a solid stain? I'm assuming this was the reason for the white residue to begin with and assume it's why I'm having trouble stripping as well. I hate to do that because of I don't think solid does well on horizontal surfaces and really like the look of a penetrating better, but I also don't want to fight this level of stripping/sanding prep every year or 2. At least w/ a solid I should get 3-5 years out of it. Appreciate your thoughts, esp if what you're seeing in my experience looks familiar to you.

Knots do not matter that much. You have to brighten after the stripping, See if that helps. If not, it would best to try a penetrating darker stain to blend or go with a solid to cover if you do not want to continue stripping. Solids will peel though as you mentioned.

This should have stripped off well. Are you using a pressure washer after applying the stripper? if so, what PSI and GPM?