Strip and re-stain wood decking

dexoticus

Thinking about stripping and re-staining the wood decking in my back yard. It's large enough in area (25 square metres) and the surface of the boards is ribbed/grooved. Just a few questions:

1. I have an Aldi 2kW electric pressure washer (think output is 150 bar), is that powerful enough to strip down the old stain and prep the surface for re-staining?

2. My mains water pressure is quite bad, so actually have to use a water butt as the source which might rule out more powerful petrol washers I could rent. What's the alternative to pressure washing...some decking cleaner and a stiff/wire brush? Or even some kind of sanding equipment (not sure how to tackle the grooves if going this route)?

3. Heard good recommendations for the Johnstones wood stains, over more common brands such as Cuprinol, Ronseal, etc. Anyone with experience?

Thanks in advance for any help and advice!

Markcheese

Do you need to strip it ??, it just needs a good clean...your power hose should be grand.. failing that a deck scrub... wire brush would be too rough ...

Special Circumstances

Interested in this too. Had a light coloured cuprinol stain. Didn't last very long. Made the mistake of using dark Ronseal... lasted the same time on the high traffic bits and looks worse now some of it has lifted.

martinr5232

Ive done this a few times first of all sweep any heavy stuff off or blow it off with the power washer then i scrubbed it with ronseal decking cleaner board by board then power wash it one board at a time.
Then when it drys out stain or oil it.
Or put in a patio and save yourself that hassle every year thats what im doing this year :-)

dexoticus

martinr5232 wrote: »

Ive done this a few times first of all sweep any heavy stuff off or blow it off with the power washer then i scrubbed it with ronseal decking cleaner board by board then power wash it one board at a time.
Then when it drys out stain or oil it.
Or put in a patio and save yourself that hassle every year thats what im doing this year :-)

Thanks for the advice! May I ask what kind of brush did you use to scrub the boards with the cleaner?

Am amazed you found the time and weather to repeat this process every year?!?

martinr5232

dexoticus wrote:

Thanks for the advice! May I ask what kind of brush did you use to scrub the boards with the cleaner?

dexoticus wrote:

Am amazed you found the time and weather to repeat this process every year?!?

I used a hard sweeping brush like a brush you would use on your kitchen floor but its got short hard bristles on it you would pick one up in woodies id say.

I had no choice other than do it every year or it looked terrible thats why im ripping it out and putting in a patio i had enough of that every year.

Markcheese

dexoticus wrote:

Thanks for the advice! May I ask what kind of brush did you use to scrub the boards with the cleaner?

Its called a deck scrub, scrubbing brush with a long wooden handle ...

Special Circumstances

martinr5232 wrote: »

I had no choice other than do it every year or it looked terrible thats why im ripping it out and putting in a patio i had enough of that every year.

Unfortunately I'm stuck with it, but it is too much hassle and expense to keep these things looking right - that Ronseal ain't cheap!

dodzy

Stain is crap. Oil is better. Unfortunately once you start down the stain road, there's no way back.

martinr5232

dodzy wrote:

Stain is crap. Oil is better. Unfortunately once you start down the stain road, there's no way back.

Oil is better but you can wash the stain off thats what i done.