Decks, Patios, Porches and Docks - Am I on the right path to fix this deck...

Hi guys - love the forum and have searched through a lot of threads on here regarding my situation and just wanted to make a post on here with pics to make sure my thinking is correct.
Just really don't want to screw it up or do this twice because of error.

We just purchased this 4 year old house and this huge wrap around deck which we love, but we don't love this Wolmans solid stain that was used on it. (we know it was wolmans because the seller left the cans here) We are looking for more of a clear (Australain timber oil maybe?) or semi-translucent stain to see the wood and not have it look like paint/solid stain.

My thinking is that I can get some Cabot Problem Solver Wood Stripper and follow those directions then proceed to apply the Cabot Australian timber oil stain or a clear stain or semi-translucent stain.

So my question to u guys is do u think the plan will work by looking at the pics? Also, the seller said the deck was cedar wood, can u guys tell by the pic if that is true?

Thanks for any input. :)

http://www.greatlang.com/deck.jpg
http://www.greatlang.com/deck1.jpg
http://www.greatlang.com/deck2.jpg

The grain does look like cedar. You may gain adequate results by just pressure washing the deck. It looks as if most of the paint/stain has given up the ghost, anyway. Have you tried that, yet? I would, since the stripping thing will be really involved with this large a deck.

Looks like cedar, tight knot. The problem might be getting the solids off the caising nail heads. Pick too hard, the galvanizing will come off, not enough, the surface will look pickeled. Be safe, G

Thanks for the info. So just getting a pressure washer might be enough? Just have to make sure I find a setting that wont harm the cedar, but enough to get the solid stain off.
I havn't done this before, but it didn't look like applying the cabot problem solver stripping was too involved. Looks like you just apply it, let it sit for 15 minutes and scrub it out. Maybe once I do it I'll find it more exhausting...easier to type it than to do it. lol.

Thanks for the comments. :)

Thanks for the info. So just getting a pressure washer might be enough? Just have to make sure I find a setting that wont harm the cedar, but enough to get the solid stain off.
I havn't done this before, but it didn't look like applying the cabot problem solver stripping was too involved. Looks like you just apply it, let it sit for 15 minutes and scrub it out. Maybe once I do it I'll find it more exhausting...easier to type it than to do it. lol.

Don't need to over think this. Use the pressure washer first. To go quick use a 3, 000 to 3,200 psi with the green tip and adjustable pump pressure on pump.

See what comes off first.

One more thing, don't let the tip get too close or you will fuzz the cedar. Temptation will be to get close to exfoliate the paint. About 6 or 8" should suffice. Trial and error.

What type of wolman stain in currently on the deck? latex, oil or waterborne?

Deck strippers aren't the same as paint strippers and might not remove all the solid stain - but it won't hurt to try. It will work better on latex or waterborne than it will on oil base stain.

Generally it's easier to go from a light stain [clear, translucent] to a heavier stain [semi-transparent, solid] than the other way around. I'd suggest cleaning the deck before deciding on the type of stain to use. Be sure to heed the advice about not using too much pressure! While extreme pressure will remove all the stain, it will damage the wood. If your lucky, you can salvage the damaged wood by sanding.

The wolmans stain says 100% acrylic on the front of the can and then reading the back it says water based.

Sounds like I should hold off on the Cabot Stripper and just give it a power washing taking the tips in the previous posts in mind.

Hopefully that does that trick. I'm really excited to get this solid stain off.

Post some pix when you are through so we can see before and after.