I’d never get a deck stained if that was the case. lol. We have a chance for rain just about everyd ay here.
I’ve stained and had it rain in less than 20 minutes (spot shower on a bright sunny day). No issues. But I wouldn’t intentionally do that, and I was stressing on that one, and maybe just got blessed.
But it’s one of the reasons I use SW for acrylic and TWP for oil. They’re waterproof almost instantly.
Anything over 2 hours on SW solid acrylic and I’m not stressing at all.
I’ll keep that in mind next time. I know you mentioned before that you used their product on decks, I have only used it a few times. Not a fan of it. It seems to wear prematurely on the decks that I have used it on. Covered deck with very light foot traffic shouldn’t be wearing (outside the traffic pattern area) in 2 years.
I have used oil and had an “unscheduled” rainfall. I’m out there the next day with mineral spirits and a rag. It has spotted on the deck, I don’t bother checking the verticals.
I thought I would try something different this year. Like I said, going back to mixing my own stuff. I let that stuff sit on the deck for awhile. I didn’t time it, but I know the outsides had it on the longest and a couple of those posts didn’t strip that well. My RO sander and some 40 grit blended it out. Those posts were rough, especially at the bottoms where they get beat by mower tires and weedwackers.
When you put it on it goes on white, dries up kinda clear. Some places you could see in about 20 minutes it was wrinkling the paint. Other areas I did a scuff to see and it wasn’t budging it so I applied more. They say you can spray it with a pump up, but it better be a bigger chapin and not a little 1 gallon bleach sprayer. The stuff is thick and so you need a wider orifice to push it through. The biggest downside is that it is super pricey compared to mixing up your own stuff. The plus side is that I didn’t have to worry about it damaging anything. Having said that, the oxidized j channel on the siding didn’t like it and the oxidation came off in a couple of spots even though I was quick with a wet rag to wipe it down.
The j channel on the siding is only about 1/2 wide. It is normally nailed and holds the last piece of siding in place. Normally about 1/2 those nails seem to have wiggled loose by the time I work on most decks and it flexes all over. I make sure to push it in before I strip or paint/stain so I don’t wind up with a bare spot or unstripped spot.
ugh.
Do you have a small sander you like for getting in smaller areas?
I use a couple of things, depending on what is there. My dewalt random orbital is my go to sander. I use it for just about everything from rounding over corners to getting small areas. Best corded sander I’ve used and I’ve tried several. I buy my 8 hole 5" pads from benchmnark abrasives and buy boxes of 40 and 60 grit. I buy the cheap yellow ones and replace them very often. I didn’t notice any big difference between those and the purple for 2x the price.
I use an osborn brush, set on a low rpm setting (variable speed grinder). It is good for cracks, and getting under thin lips of stuff, but you have to be careful not to burn the wood or bumping the head into pvc as it will melt it. The osborn brush is great for furring, but don’t think of it as a sander as it won’t really chew through multiple coats of latex.
I use a belt sander with a small/ thin nose so it can go under rails. It is also used on band boards and end grain which doesn’t always seem to strip well. Craftsman makes one with a real thin nose.
I also use a mouse sander for those impossible to reach corners. I use a heavy grit and hit it lightly. It is a junker ryobi, but I have several of them as they are cheap to pick up without a battery. I buy the pads for it on amazon. The rubber heads will kind of melt with a lot of use, but most of the zon vendors include a head with a box of pads. It worked great on my trailer deck so I didn’t have to remove things. Got in real tight to the angle iron and boxes.
I also carry an assortment of nylon wheels and brushes that can go on a drill for weird areas. Nylon won’t normally damage the wood, and sometimes it doesn’t work well on multiple coatings.
Last but not least, I have an assortment of putty knives and scrapers, because who knows what they spilled in a corner.
I used to do a bit of woodworking, so I already had a bunch of junk.
