How To Strip Stain Off A Deck or Fence
Preparation is everything! Getting your deck or fence back down to bare wood is the best way to ensure that the next product you put on will last a little bit longer. This post will mainly focus on oil based stains as water based stains are very difficult to strip.
How to Identify the type of stain on my wood
Strait away if your deck has a stain on it that you can see through (semi-transparent), 9 out of 10 times you’ll be able to chemically strip it. Anything that looks ot acts like paint on your deck or fence is going to be a water based product. There are ways to strip it, but at a high cost. Once you but a water based stain on your deck, its very difficult to switch back to an oil product.
Chemically stripping stain
This process requires water, a pressure washer and chemical. Ill list the steps below and give short explanations to why they are important.
Mix 1 cup sodium hydroxide with 1 gallon of water in pump up sprayer
Cover or protect any areas that should not get hit by chemicals
This chemical will discolor siding and anything else on the outside of your house. Avoid hitting plants, it will kill them.
Wet down everything!
Pre-wetting the deck or fence will allow the chemical to work on the surface of the wood better. Always have water ready to dilute an area that shouldn’t have chemical on it.
Apply chemical to the deck, make sure to hit every area covered in stain
The hydroxide will begin to break the oils down on the wood.
Keep the deck wet for 5-20 minutes
When the stripping agent goes dry its no long effective. Keeping the deck wet allows the Hydroxide to continure breaking down the oils. Some oil products require more time to be broken down, or if the deck has multiple coats.
Use a pressure washer to remove oil stain
Wash all the stain right off the deck. Less pressure is better, let the chemicals do the work.
Mix 1 cup oxalic acid to one gallon of warm water in a clean pump up sprayer
Apply oxalic mixture to all areas on the wood
This will brighten your wood and flush out all the tannins that could cause your deck to look very dark.
