I didn’t plan on leaving on for that long. He sprayed 3000sf and I started rinsing the first part sprayed 10 minutes after. There was so much time needed to rinse it all off and remove the layer of grime (the first 3/4 of the deck was very old and the wood was nasty) that by the time I got to the last part over an hour had gone by. I told him to keep spraying it with water to keep it wet (using a garden hose) as it took 800 psi to effectively remove the top layer of slime off. I have never used oxalic acid before. On this thread there was mention of using Florida labs oxalic from amazon. I found some this morning and on the description it says wood stain remover.
Wood wash is a softwash systems product that I bought when first started softwashing (downstreaming). Here we used the 12v as I read that 2% is a good strength to clean wood decks (not in this forum which I should of read again prior to cleaning). Here’s a link to it: https://www.softwashsystems.com/woodwash/
I’m not promoting it just giving you the link as you asked about it. I know @Racer thinks highly of the green wash made by same company.
I will buy a few more size 40 tips in bigger orfice sizes for medium and low pressure rinsing and get some sodium percarbonate to try out to.
Marinegrunt said it but just to reemphasize, the oxalic acid neutralizes the SH (or sodium hydroxide if you’re stripping it). It also will brighten it. It’s pretty amazing to see it brighten the wood within just a couple seconds of application.
I think I remember someone saying you can get better pricing if you call Florida Labs. So I’d try that, too.
And honestly if I was doing it again I’d order at least 10-20 lbs of it. It’s actually not that much more money anyways. You can go through it pretty quickly even if you’re only doing a handful of decks.
You will probably get a better deal if you can source it locally. I buy all of my acids and degreaser locally and it’s usually cheaper. Plus, they’re cool guys down there and I always try to support local businesses whenever possible.
Don’t use hot water in wood. Don’t spray a 2% bleach solution on wood and let it sit for two hours. Don’t prewet a deck before applying cleaner. I wouldn’t trt to wash a deck if it had rained on it before we got there. Oxalic is used to neutralize hydroxide based cleaners, not bleach. Pay to have the deck restored or restained and move on
Yes. Also, most larger cities will have a bulk chemical supplier nearby. Most of the chemicals we use are used in countless other industries that you don’t even think of. You can also try janitorial supply places but in my experience they tend to have higher prices. Could just be the couple I’ve talked with.
Apply sh and do a quick low pressure rinse after dwell time. Don’t rely on your 1000 psi cleaning pass for rinsing your sh or it is going to sit on there too long. Just do a quick rinse with your jrod soap nozzle or something. Heck, have your helper use a garden hose. You just need to dilute it down real quick. You’ll be following with the pressure washer wand anyways.
A stain remover is different than a wood stain stripper. Oxalic definitely lightens wood and can help remove some stains. You’ll sometimes see iron or rust stains if nails were used instead of decking screws. Oxalic is mainly used to prepare a deck for stain or to just brighten/lighten the wood. If the deck has stain (stain not a stain like spilled grape juice or something) there’s no need to use it.
Thanks for the tips! Is it normal for sh to remove stain if left to dwell for 2 hours? If so wouldn’t that be an easy way to remove stain for people who want it removed rather than working with toxic and expensive specialized stain stripper products?
In the future I will do one section at a time. It was weird how much rinsing was necessary to remove the grime. Even the beginning where it only had dwelled for 10 minutes had that thick layer of slime on it. It was really slippery and took a fair amount of pressure at a pretty close (8-12”) range to remove it. I did have him rinsing it with the garden hose but that was only diluting as there was no way it was powerful enough to remove the slime top. Edit: just read Ibs response no hot water on wood!
9 including this one. Only discovered softwashing in April so before used to use pressure, which is another reason I wanted to give up on this business until I saw the light! I have softwashed 4 and all came out good. This one not even bad but it’s just white and stain looked to be gone.
@Racer said in the original post to prewet Wood. I watched videos on wood restoration and across the board says your supposed to get wood real wet before applying sh so that you clean the surface not deep into the pores. What am I missing?
I see. Yeah you always have to work in sections to account for the time spent actually washing the previous section. You never want SH to dwell for too long on any wood whether stained, sealed or bare. Just ask the deck of my trailer.
I’m not knocking @Racer, and I’m sure he has a system. I give advice based on what works for me. You followed a lot of advice and ruined a customer’s deck. Make your own determination. Wetting the deck didn’t hurt the deck, it just makes it harder to clean. You ruined the deck with a long dwell time, ox after bleach and hot water.
It’s not ruined it just looks like the stain came off. I also did not use ox at all. I used wood restore the day after, which is specifically for neutralizing sh and moisturizing the wood. Maybe I should of used the restore immediately it just got late and dark and couldn’t see much anymore so decided to do it the next day. The wood is clean and in good shape. Worse case is it may need to be stained again to get the darker look back. Your right it did dwell for too long, lesson learned to work in sections and to not use hot water. I have rinsed decks before pretty quickly but this one took much longer than normal.
I took it that the stain ended up with a white haze not that you completely stripped the old stain. I wouldn’t think the sh alone would take up all the stain but I guess it on the stain and how it was applied.
I looked at the sds for the Wood Wash but it didn’t list any ingredients. It has a high ph and they say the color is brown. I’m completely guessing here but I wonder if it’s that “Brown Stuff” that some people use? I think it has Sodium Hydroxide in it which could also explain why it stripped up all the old stain. Then again I think they would have to list Sodium Hydroxide in the ingredients though. I think I would do some tests on some pallets before using it again just to be sure. I would also test the Wood Wash against sh and then oxalic and see if it’s even worth buying. You might find you don’t even need it.
This is the main video that I learned most of what to do from. Obviously in this case I made some mistakes. If you have 20 minutes to watch it let me know your thoughts on this guys wood restoration techniques: Proper Exterior Wood Cleaning & "The Soft Washing Scam" - YouTube
Do you think he is spot on? Is there room for improvement or things that he says seem false?
Moving forward, I will work in sections to not allow anymore than 10-15 mins of dwell time. I will follow work a brightener if needed. I will not use hot water, at all. Last I think I will try sodium percarbonate next time instead of SH. Anything else I can do to be better?
I’d read this thread a few more times and pay special attention to what racer, mda1775 and marinegrunt said. I’ve read it myself 8-12 times. It’s great stuff.
If you’re going to try sodium percarbonate, try it on a cedar deck. It’s milder than SH and helps keep the furring to a minimum.
And you’ll want to have a deck brush handy as some guys recommend scrubbing before rinsing depending on the condition of the deck.
