Negative. I thought f18 had hydroxide in it. Guess not. Where do you recommend getting some?
thank you
your welcome, the fine folks on here have helped me many times. You can buy potassium or sodium hydroxide online, the zon and others sell it. You can buy it in small quantities or you can buy it in bulk. Sodium tends to be a little cheaper, just be a little careful mixing either one use PPE while mixing and applying. Don’t forget to use the acid after stripping.
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It does.
You can always put a solid water base stain on it.
Just thought I would share my most recent project. I would like feedback on my techniques if anyone has anything to add. This raised platform was coated with what I believe was Behr Deck over finish that was badly deteriorated. There were also areas where boards were completely junk. We replaced 7-8 deck boards with new pressure treated 5/4 x 6” boards and then got the majority of the loose paint off before I started the cleaning process.
For this project, I used Sodium Hydroxide from pressure Tec (F18) at a ratio of 8 ounces per gallon of water in a 5 gallon bucket with a little surfactant. The wood remained wet throughout the duration of the project after initially pre-wetting the sections I was cleaning. After pre wetting the area, I brushed Hydroxide evenly across the surfaces and let dwell 10-15 minutes while misting occasionally to keep wet. After a 10- minute dwell, I scrubbed the area again with a soft brush and continued to let dwell for another 10 minutes or so. The hydroxide lifted the remaining finish nicely. I then utilized a fan tip and pressure washed each board evenly. The stripping process worked great.
After cleaned, I used my X jet to apply oxalic acid at 8 ounces per gallon pulled 2-1 through the X jet. After application and a 5-10 minute dwell, I performed a low pressure rinse of the oxalic acid.
These are my results. I was pretty happy with how everything turned out and thought I would share my process.
Does anyone have recommendations or different strategies for a similar project they may have done?
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Yo, why’d you delete this post? I see you moved it but this is probably where it belongs. This is the Deck Cleaning 101 thread after all.
You need to put post back in here. Nice job on that one.
I was going to post here, but decided maybe it would be better to create a new thread. Thanks for the compliment on the job. I was pleased with the results.
It was mentioned that the old finish is certainly not Behr Deckover. I asked the client he said it was Behr paint. I just figured in most cases, for that application a client would have used the Deckover. Could have been any Behr paint though. How would I know for certain for future reference?
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We’re trying to keep all the wood work stuff in one area for a future reference for members.
Deckover has a lot of texture to it. It’s like sludge putting it on.
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Long time listener, first time deck caller here.
At what ratio do you apply citric acid ? And is your citric in a powder or liquid form. Thank you MR ole man. Deck looks fantastic BTW !!
@Grizz nice job. Looks great! When you were down streaming what process do you use to keep the SH from going in between each piece of wood into the neighbors yard and potentially killing their flowers and white night? And does it not seep onto their side of the fence and kind of bleach side of the fence as well? Thx
Powder, same as Ox - about 8 oz per gal… Doesn’t have to be exact.
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I am looking for opinions on this job. This is a fairly high end property with a stained cedar sided home and large Ipe deck. I have attached some pictures of the underside, which is capped with a drainage system that leads to gutters and downspouts to catch rainwater from the deck. As you can see, there’s beautiful landscaping everywhere, and really nice wood ceiling on the underside of the deck.
The client wants me to clean the decking only (no rails or spindles), and then stain. She is also looking to have the same process completed every six months to a year, which would be a great opportunity to have reoccurring work.
So my plan is to prewet, apply Sodium Percarbonate with a scrub brush, brush deck, low pressure rinse followed by oxalic acid and then another rinse. I’ve done one other Ipe deck in a similar manner and it turned out nicely, however, the house was not cedar sided and painted, and there wasn’t nearly as much landscaping/expensive things to worry about. Honestly, my biggest concern is streaking the siding under the deck. If I keep that wet, do you think there is any risk for the painted surfaces?
So in summary, I guess I was just looking for your thoughts on the job. Do you see any reason to avoid it all together? Should I consider a different cleaning approach, or does anyone have any other advice based on what you see? As of now, I think it could be a great job, but with that being said, I thought I would see what some other opinions were as far as risks are concerned.
Thanks
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Sounds like you’ve got it covered. If it’s painted siding you should be good to good. Would just keep the lowered siding rinsed.
Next you’re going to want help picking out the best stain to use. 
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No, have that covered. Thanks. Always looking to improve, which is why I look to this site for information and quality discussion.
Sorry, @asnook1953, I actually directed that towards @Hotshot. Anytime he starts to leave the dark side of rubber scrubbing and come to the light, we like to hassle him.
So feel free to ask away on anything.
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Out of curiosity, how are you going to handle the underside of that deck while staining the top? Is it going to be the same color or close to it?
I’ve seen IPE once at a training, but I don’t think anyone within 100 miles of me has it on their home. If you could, can you post some info after you complete your job on your process and any issues you had to overcome?
