what kind of products do i use to stain
Once the deck dries choose the best stain for an old deck. Because old wood decks are extremely dried out, a wood stain the conditions the wood is essential. We use stains like Armstrong Clark for an old deck. This type of wood stain contains non-drying penetrating oils that help rejuvenate the wood cells. These conditioning oils stay deep in the wood to replace the woodâs lost natural oils. The stain also contains drying oils that separate from the conditioning oils.
Splash some water on the wood and see if it absorbs into the wood or if it beads up and sits on top. Beading up would indicate there is some type of old failed stain on the wood that needs to be removed. To remove old deck stain from the wood you have to use a deck stripper. A quality deck stripper will break up and soften any old stain allowing it to be washed away. Most deck strippers will not remove solid stain or paints, if this is the case you may have to sand the old stain to get back down to bare wood again.