My wood deck needs a new coat of stain/protectant and it recommends using a chemical stripper for the previous coat then cleaner on the wood to help open up the pores for absorbtion.  

THEN you can stain.  And of course, it says to do all this NOT in direct sunlight.  HA!

What a pain.

As a test, I put stain on one small untreated section a short while ago and it absorbed it just fine, and has mostly dried up, looks good.

Why can't you take the shortcut?

Thank you for your time.

I never removed any old stain. I pressure wash it and then just stain it again.

I stained mine one time with that body paint stuff you buy at the adult novelty store.  It looked green for about 3 days then finally wore off.  If you are going to stain it make sure you wear dark colored underware..........


Oh, you said dEck.........  Go rent a pressure washer, add some bleach to it and wash it off like you would your car.  This is cheap and easy, plus the bleach really brightens up the wood.  

Wait until it dries enough to start absorbing water again then add your stain.......... EASY GRAVY.

The ingredients/contents on most of the deck cleaner products I've seen is basically watered down bleach.  Save yourself the reverse engineering and just buy some good ole off brand bleach / water it down at your own descretion /or not and go at it.   I used it straight full strength and followed behind it with a good rinse.  I'd go this way w/ a pump sprayer.....just be sure to wash it out well before using it to apply the stain

I don't know much about chemical strippers, but you might want to stay away from Durham strippers. Just a friendly reminder from NC.

Quoted: I don't know much about chemical strippers, but you might want to stay away from Durham strippers. Just a friendly reminder from NC.