All About Using Wood Stripper

Your outdoor wooden deck is one of the most prominent items attached to your home. When looking from the inside or approaching the back yard from outside, the deck is the first thing that is seen and one of the major enhancements to your home. This then becomes an "eyesore" for the homeowner when it becomes gray, dirty and dingy looking. This occurs in one year (or less) after new deck construction due to human and animal traffic on the deck's surface along with the damaging UV sunrays and other climate conditions.

When hiring someone to stain and seal your deck it is important to know the process that takes place, which is to deep clean the wood by LIGHTLY pressure washing to remove dirt, fungus and mildew while opening the pores of the wood. The next step is to apply the sealant. Most sealants have a pigment that stains the deck. This pigmented color can vary from natural to a deep redwood and there are even other colors now available. Once this has been done, the application should last between one and three years, depending on traffic, climate, and the experience of the person applying the stain.

Pressure washing a weathered/ unsealed deck is all that is needed to acquire that clean/ fresh look of new wood. However, after 2 or 3 staining applications, many clients want the old stain removed before applying new stain. Pressure washing alone will remove some, but not all of the old stain. Just like the build up of wax on indoor flooring, after several applications it is quite difficult to remove getting down to the bare floor... the same is true with a wooden deck. The advantages to removing the old stain are: cosmetic reasons- over time built up stain will turn the wood black and splotchy and it can no longer hold the beauty it once did; cleaner wood pore openings- stripping and removing old stain opens the pores of the wood and it can then more easily accept the new stain/ sealant; longevity- it is the opinion of experts the wood can be preserved for a longer period of time.

Unlike other deck staining and sealing services, All Weather Services offers this stain removal process to its customers. It is difficult to detect how many layers of old stain there are on any given deck, therefore, it is not feasible to predict how much time and product it will take to remove all of the old stain. From our experience we do know it is a costly procedure in terms of product and labor hours, therefore, we charge and added fee for this service. In fairness to the customer, our fee is determined by the square footage of the deck and is established before work begins so there are no "hidden" costs. The optional stain removal fee rarely covers labor hours, only product cost. You should note, stain removal does not need to be done at every application.