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Try Diamabrush's new deck tooling. Started out with Wagner paint eater, the majority came off, but the diamabrush tooling brought it down to the bare wood. This deck had rust o leum's 10x and a coat of oil stain. Hope this helps.


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Try Diamabrush's new deck tooling. Started out with Wagner paint eater, the majority came off, but the diamabrush tooling brought it down to the bare wood. This deck had rust o leum's 10x and a coat of oil stain. Hope this helps.


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If it takes that Rustoleum 10x stuff off it is definitely something worth looking into! What doesn't peel is a major pita to get off.
 
If it takes that Rustoleum 10x stuff off it is definitely something worth looking into! What doesn't peel is a major pita to get off.
We used the floor prep tool last month to remove asphalt adhesive from oak hardwood. Will use it in two weeks to prep two small offices floors for epoxy. Dimabrush has some great removal and prep tools. All the way up to 16" for use on floor buffers.
 
I turned down a couple of deck jobs today. We don't do them unless we are doing the whole house. And we don't try to be heroes anymore. Did one last fall that was huge, broke my own rule of not doing it since we weren't doing the house, took several cleanings plus renting a floor sander. So much work! Ended up using BM alkyd semi solid stain, their "Classic" line now. Looked great when we were done, but decks are just a lot of work. I'm going for the easy houses now. Call me crazy, but as one of the guys who first trained me said "sometimes painting is easy, sometimes hard". Trying to make it more easy, more profitable, more predictable. As PressurePros said, us stubborn people have had to learn this lesson over and over again. Trying to stick to it this year...wish me luck!
 
I turned down a couple of deck jobs today. We don't do them unless we are doing the whole house. And we don't try to be heroes anymore. Did one last fall that was huge, broke my own rule of not doing it since we weren't doing the house, took several cleanings plus renting a floor sander. So much work! Ended up using BM alkyd semi solid stain, their "Classic" line now. Looked great when we were done, but decks are just a lot of work. I'm going for the easy houses now. Call me crazy, but as one of the guys who first trained me said "sometimes painting is easy, sometimes hard". Trying to make it more easy, more profitable, more predictable. As PressurePros said, us stubborn people have had to learn this lesson over and over again. Trying to stick to it this year...wish me luck!
Decks are extremely labor intensive to prep and coat, that's why they never get done correctly. And when you add in the fact that even the best coating you can use has a very limited life time.....well in all honesty I don't understand how any painting contractor can make a dime off of doing them properly. Wood just isn't intended to be used for decks and provide a long term "look". Even treated wood is mainly intended to be structural and not decorative. This is why it kind of scares me when people buy Storm stains. Sometimes I get the impression that they think because it is a premium stain line they don't have to do the prep correctly. That's why it is so important for me to talk to each customer and make sure they know the limitations of deck staining. If they are just looking for a yes man or woman to just sell them a gallon of stain and shut up about the prep then they have plenty of other places to buy stain.

After they get tired of the crappy results they get, then they'll be back. This is kind of the mentality that a quality contractor has to take. If he can't make money because his client doesn't want him to the job correctly he is usually better served just to pass on that job.
 
Good morning. I have a deck that is covered in the deck over product. the horizontals are shot and I will be flipping them over. the verticals and bench seats are in great shape and I want to just go over those with a different product. Can I just use a water based product on those verticals? I usually use SW when I do paint.




steven mendez
western maine pressure washing
www.westernmainepressurewashing.com
 

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Good morning. I have a deck that is covered in the deck over product. the horizontals are shot and I will be flipping them over. the verticals and bench seats are in great shape and I want to just go over those with a different product. Can I just use a water based product on those verticals? I usually use SW when I do paint.




steven mendez
western maine pressure washing
www.westernmainepressurewashing.com
According to the not so helpful Behr technical service people, you can "fix" the deckover by applying a coat of solid acrylic stain. Sounds like a yes to me. Other then completely stripping it, it's probably the only option.
 
I also gave up doing decks a few years ago. I used to do them all the time but in my opinion, deck coatings were a much product years ago. I could get a few years from all the decks I did in the past. Today your lucky to get one year out of todays product. Only true oil decking products have been steller in the past. You can keep your waterborne stains, they are the worst. They lay on the surface rather than penetrate into the wood. Worst product for decks IMO. Just like paint products today. Few have improved, but many are not a good as they were in the past.
 
IMO I believe that the penetrating non drying oils work best for deck boards. The problem I find is that the consumer does not want to maintain these deck boards. They call me and expect that after 12 years of neglect I can come in and whip it into shape for 1200 dollars.

I try and tell the customers that all wood needs maintenance and that without some protection it will fail. I try and explain that if they want their wood to look good year after year then there is a maintenance cost involved. But of course that is the last thing they want to hear.
 
Discussion starter · #33 ·
Not trying to cause a fuss here, but I go against probably 95% of the people against this one. It is because the wood was not completely prepped correctly. And California Paints AND Pratt & Lambert say the same thing. No matter what you do as far as sanding or powerwashing to prep, if you are going to use a waterbased stain you absolutely MUST use a brightener before staining! AND it is an absolute must to use a premium stain line as opposed to a box store brand! They simply have not put the R&D into those product lines to make them perform properly! If you were to prep/brighten the wood per spec, the Cali storm Hybrid stain will out perform all box store waterbased stains and most oil based stains. If you were to read some of the internal information running around the paint companies these days, you would understand the turmoil that has struck in the last couple of years as the lumber industry has started using the current generations of treatments which REPEL waterbased stains as opposed to what was used 10-15 years ago that actually attracted waterbased stains to a certain extent. The new treatments have to be brightened to open the pores of the wood. It is absolutely critical to do this when using a waterbased stain! Powerwashing alone doesn't cut it for them any more. And even sanding with a coarse grit sandpaper will plug the pores with treated wood, and the stain has nothing to stick too.

All of the paint companies are aware of this, it's just a matter of how they wish to respond to it. Most won't, as they sell all the stain they can as it is. People are conditioned to think that deck stains will fail, so when it does they just take it in stride and shrug it off. Just put another coat of stain on it and it will be fine through the summer. That's all most people are concerned with. I used a dual dispersion stain on my deck when I built it 10 years ago and have only had to stain the horizontal surfaces once. Although they need another re-coat this summer. 4-5 years out of a water clean up alkyd stain is pretty good if you ask me. And at no time did it ever peel. It has just succumbed to the UV exposure which is to be expected.
@PACman, this has been the most valuable information I've received yet on waterborne stain. I've referenced this a couple times since there is a lot to digest in this one post. I refused to believe that all water based stains were garbage. You filled in the gaps for me. Thank you.
 
Not trying to cause a fuss here, but I go against probably 95% of the people against this one. It is because the wood was not completely prepped correctly. And California Paints AND Pratt & Lambert say the same thing. No matter what you do as far as sanding or powerwashing to prep, if you are going to use a waterbased stain you absolutely MUST use a brightener before staining! AND it is an absolute must to use a premium stain line as opposed to a box store brand! They simply have not put the R&D into those product lines to make them perform properly! If you were to prep/brighten the wood per spec, the Cali storm Hybrid stain will out perform all box store waterbased stains and most oil based stains. If you were to read some of the internal information running around the paint companies these days, you would understand the turmoil that has struck in the last couple of years as the lumber industry has started using the current generations of treatments which REPEL waterbased stains as opposed to what was used 10-15 years ago that actually attracted waterbased stains to a certain extent. The new treatments have to be brightened to open the pores of the wood. It is absolutely critical to do this when using a waterbased stain! Powerwashing alone doesn't cut it for them any more. And even sanding with a coarse grit sandpaper will plug the pores with treated wood, and the stain has nothing to stick too.

All of the paint companies are aware of this, it's just a matter of how they wish to respond to it. Most won't, as they sell all the stain they can as it is. People are conditioned to think that deck stains will fail, so when it does they just take it in stride and shrug it off. Just put another coat of stain on it and it will be fine through the summer. That's all most people are concerned with. I used a dual dispersion stain on my deck when I built it 10 years ago and have only had to stain the horizontal surfaces once. Although they need another re-coat this summer. 4-5 years out of a water clean up alkyd stain is pretty good if you ask me. And at no time did it ever peel. It has just succumbed to the UV exposure which is to be expected.

Any tips on how to not have lap marks with the Storm Hybrid? That is my only problem with it and I can't seem to avoid it. Had 1 contractor tell me he just does 2 coats, storm rep said to add some water to the product or mist the deck with a pump sprayer prior to coating.

Any better advice than that?
 
@PACman Any advice on above?
From what I understand it might need to be thinned a little bit. And the surface temperature might be a little high. Also if the wood moisture content is a little high it may not absorb evenly and you may get some lap marks where it doesn't absorb well.
 
I've used a wood brightner on my deck work for years. We have restored a boatload of decks tried many products . I stand by what my experience has shown. Water based deck stains are the worst
And again you may luck out.
I swear by a GOOD brightener! I've done some testing with many S/T stains with and without using a brightener. The difference in penetration may or may not be as noticeable as people think it should be, but the difference in how deeper the stain penetrates and how much more uniform the stain "takes" is quite noticeable. Of course the actual quality of the stain makes a big difference. I've done test boards with and without brightener with some Armstrong and Clark stains and it makes a big difference in the final appearance with them.
 
I've never had a problem with Flood SWF Solid Stain. I always try to talk people out of spending a ton of money on a deck floor restoration even though I've never had a complaint about Flood Stain which I've used the last 10-12 years. I did my own front balcony deck with it 6 years ago and it is still in mint condition. The boards were pressure treated lumber which I left exposed for a year before staining. I live in Canada, and the winters can be harsh! Maybe Flood stain is different in the hotter climates.
 
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