Staining The Porch

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texasfootball21

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San Antonio, TX, USA
I was looking for a bit of advice on stripping and staining our cedar porch. I realize its a bit bigger then a pen and that is of course our specialty, but I figured wood is wood, regardless of the amount. And you guys on here know wood.


So, I have been stripping off the top surface of the porch railing (moldy and in bad shape) with a 3X18" belt sander using a pretty coarse grit. Its working very well for the top, but I'm not sure how it will work for the 2X2 verticle beams, as they are spaced only a few inches a part and I will not be able to get the sander in there.

Is it okay to powerwash the surface? Or will it warp the wood? I just need to get all this old stuff stripped off so I can re-stain it and fix it up a bit.

Thanks.
 
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I pressure wash mine about every 2 or 3 years. It does a really nice job. There is a fine line between getting it clean and starting to destroy the wood. If you stay in one place for long the wood will start to "fluff" up as you cut the fibers. It makes the porch look almost new again, after 10 years.

The only important thing really is that you let the porch dry out before putting the sealer on it. I try to let mine dry for 72 hours if I can then coat it with CWF-UV sealer.
 
Bear-31 said:
I pressure wash mine about every 2 or 3 years. It does a really nice job. There is a fine line between getting it clean and starting to destroy the wood. If you stay in one place for long the wood will start to "fluff" up as you cut the fibers. It makes the porch look almost new again, after 10 years.

The only important thing really is that you let the porch dry out before putting the sealer on it. I try to let mine dry for 72 hours if I can then coat it with CWF-UV sealer.
Click to expand...

Thanks bear. Do you need a sealer or can you just put stain on it after it's stripped?

By the way, I was just in the shop and came across some figured Narra I purchased from you a while back. Can't wait to turn it.

Any one else?
 
I don't think stain will do anything to protect the wood from the elements. The sealer I used came in several colors. I prefer the cedar coloring, but then again I've only used the clear and cedar.

Good luck with the Narra. I've turned a few of them and they all turned out beautiful. They can be a little grainy and look good finished with a few coats of CA.
 
Pressure washing is much better for the wood and appearance of the deck than belt sanding. Just give it a few days to dry before you apply whatever protectant/stain you are using. I've used a wagner-type paint gun to put Thompson's on a big deck. It's pretty easy.
 
My 'day job' if you can call it that is actually cleaning and sealing decks. I've done probably 100-120 of them by now, but mostly PT pine, only one cedar. It's not much different. Powerwashing is good, but you need chemicals to do it right. I buy mine commercially and the stuff is very, very caustic. I'm willing to bet any 'deck cleaning' product you can get from Lowe's or HD should do just fine, just follow the instructions. If you don't use any chemical cleaner, then you're really just gashing the wood with the high pressure and that's not very good for the wood. After using the washing chemical, use a 'wood brightener', which is really just oxalic acid. This is acidic (obviously) and will not only brighten the wood to make it look fantastic, but it will neutralize the heavy alkaline in the washing solution. Both can be applied with just a garden sprayer. By the way, sanding it is WAAAAY harder than powerwashing it, and hard on the deck.

I need to clear up the different between 'stain' and 'sealer'.....they're the same dern thing. Generally, people call stain 'stain' because it is a sealer that has a pigment in it, sort of like a Polyshades is for indoor finishing. As far as I know, you can't actually buy a 'stain' that's not a sealer for decks. Unless you're buying minwax and throwing it on your deck, in which case you're wasting a lot of money and it won't last a month. I use CFW-UV almost exclusively for a variety of reasons. There are 'better' products out there, but in central VA, NOTHING will last more than 2 years anyway. I apply mine with an airless commercial paint sprayer out of a 5-gallon bucket, and back brush with a lambswool cloth on a wood block for the surface of the deck. I just did a deck this morning that was about 250 sf in under 2.5 hours. Then again I've had a lot of practice:biggrin: I'm betting a Wagner thing would work okay, you'll just have to back brush a lot to make it look even. If you get a LOT of direct sunlight, a 'stain' or colored sealant will work better, b/c it blocks the sunlight from hitting the wood directly, making it last longer. If there's not a lot of sun, go for a 'natural' sealant or 'clear'.
 
Wow, great answers everybody. Thanks Brian for clearing that up I was wondering about "stain" vs. "sealer."

That was a lot of help everyone, I'm headed out with the powerwasher now!

Thanks again.
 
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