How To Power Wash A Deck Before Staining

October 19, 2021 Post a Comment

Firstly, follow the manufacturer’s instructions to set up. And, yes it is nice to have a 2 or 3 day window of dry weather to allow the stain to dry and cure before getting blasted by the weather.

Before and after pictures, power washing and painting

Before you apply a stain or paint to a wood surface, you need to make sure the surface is free and clear of dirt, dust, fibers, grease, mildew and moisture.

How to power wash a deck before staining. Then rinse the entire deck and let it dry. Engage the trigger while holding the wand tip a couple of feet away from the deck surface, then lower the wand closer as needed. Before scrubbing with a stiff bristle broom.

This way the new stain coat will adhere properly to the wood and prolong the life of your deck. Two day drying time in hot temps is plenty. Check out the washer’s manual option to fix a proper spray pattern for your wooden deck.

I would power wash the deck then sand it lightly to smooth out any fuzz. We used an 80 grit sandpaper on the deck and a 100 grit on the handrails. Cleaning the deck is essential to ensure that there is no dirt or any form of mold on the surface of your deck before you can apply the stain.

You really want to maintain a consistent distance by moving your arm laterally back and forth. Before you start staining, get your protective clothing on. Then either rinse with a hose or power wash off before it dries completely on the surface.

If the surface is dirty, the stain or sealant will not stick. What to use to clean a deck before staining? Remove the old stain from the decking before power washing it.

Once you’ve scrubbed the wood planks with deck cleaner and made sure that they’re clean, rinse all traces of soap from the entire deck before you can start staining. You can avoid this by using a tip with a wide fan width and holding it a uniform 3 to 6 inches from the wood. When a surface is not clean, paints will have trouble sticking to the wood and stains will have a difficult time penetrating into the wood and this will likely cause premature peeling.

Allow it to dry for one week before staining. Sweep and wash the deck’s surface to remove all dirt, wood fibers, grease, mold, and mildew. Next, you will need to apply a deck brightener.

Before staining a deck, removing any prior paint or stain using wood stripper, then apply wood cleaner to remove dirt and pollen. Scrub it with a course, stiff broom. Clean the wood before staining or sealing.

How to use the wand. Before you can stain a deck, you need to prep and sand the surface. The key to power washing is keeping the wand an even distance from the deck boards and moving in a sweeping motion.

Wash the surface of your wood deck using a deck cleaner, scrub the surface with a brush in the direction of the wood grains. Apply a deck stain stripper, which will break up the old stain and prepare the surface for pressure washing. Sanding alone will take forever and a day, and you won't be able to sand around balusters and such, so you might as well power wash it all to get all the nooks and crannies.

Wet the wood with your garden hose and apply a liberal coating of the cleaner using a pump sprayer. The job of a brightener is to help restore the wood ph levels and open up the grain. Ensure that your arms and legs are entirely covered to protect you from the stain.

Once you have cleaned it as described above, you are going to let your deck dry for at least 48 hours. How to stain your deck after pressure washing it. And no, sanding won't remove everything.

Make sure that all surfaces are carefully vacuumed free of sanding dust, then wipe the surfaces down with a tack cloth to remove all traces of. A very simple and inexpensive method is to wet the deck, spray or scrub on a mixture of 1 cup tsp, 1/2 gal household bleach, and 2 gal water. Rent a pressure washer from the hardware store.

Pressure wash until the deck is clean. A gentle pressure wash to remove light surface dust and dirt is fine. This will make sure that you don’t damage any of the wood fibers.

Increase the pressure incrementally as needed to clean the deck without damaging or etching the wood surface. If needed, mist the deck's surface with a garden hose to keep it wet while the cleaner soaks into the wood. Start with the pressure at 500 to 600 psi and test it on an inconspicuous area.

Use a pump sprayer to spray the stripper, and use a stiff nylon brush on a pole to loosen the old stain. It should only take a few hours. Then power up the machine and spray solution from top to bottom of the deck.

A deck stripper will break up the old stain so that when you pressure wash the deck, you’re providing a good and clean surface for the new stain to bond. Do not sand a deck! While the deck is wet, check for mill glaze (water beading which shows that the surface is not.

This works as good it not better than expensive deck cleaners. It’s sometimes easiest to power wash a deck first but not everyone has one of these pieces of equipment. You can use a garden hose with a pressure nozzle attached, but we recommend pressure washing with a power washer.

It is best to move on to staining and sealing very quickly after sanding. Make sure to use the proper safety equipment when sanding (aka googles). Then rinse the deck with a round of straight water.

Instead, mopping it with a deck cleaning solution and washing it off with a hose and water should be all the. If under those conditions the spray doesn’t develop enough force to clean the deck satisfactorily, you have the option of scrubbing down the deck with a deck cleaner before you power wash. Clean your decking with water only at first, using a sweeping motion, try not to pivot your arm, which will result in an inconsistent distance between the spray tip and the deck surface.

Sanding the deck can be done with a palm sander (this is a good one) if you only have a few places, but if you have a larger area, then you will need to use a random orbital sander; Never leave your wand in one spot for an extended time. Treat any mold and mildew, then use a power washer to rinse away the cleaner and allow it to dry for 24 hours.

Some power washing rigs even allow you to add the detergent directly to the spray. It would be best if you moist them before covering.

Deck wash and stain using Olympic Clear. (With images