First I would like to tell you all how skeptic I was of the effectiveness of the Diamabrush. We’ve heard claims like these a million times and been let down by each and every tool to some degree or another. I’m here to tell you that I have added one more regret to my long list today. And that regret is not purchasing a Diamabrush sooner. Now granted, you need to purchase a little bit nicer angle grinder with variable speed in order to get the best use out of it but it is without a doubt the best investment I’ve made this year. I have invested a little over 19 hours into a deck measuring 850sf that the homeowner applied Behr’s god forsaken Deck Over to. There is a section of the deck roughly 350sf that is under roof and is adhered far better than the rest. Because F-18 would hardly touch it and neither would the pressure washer, I decided to try the Diamabrush. I just did a section that was 162sf in 80 minutes, which means I am stripping a deck down to beautiful new looking wood, ready for stain at a rate of 120sf per hour. I would’ve been done with this project and moved on to the next one if I had purchased this amazing tool sooner. Just thought I would share my experience with you all in case you have an opportunity to strip a deck and would have otherwise walked away. Don’t give me wrong, I will still make great money on this project because I charged $5 per sq ft, knowing what a pain it was going to be. The first pics are what I was able to accomplish with stripper and pressure, the last picture is with the Diamabrush.
Good info. Where did you end up getting yours and what stiffness or coarseness?
Lowes had the best deal @ $44.99 and I believe it is 50 grit.
I have a Bosch grinder which was not the cheapest, but it isn’t variable speed. I’ve always felt the diamabrush was promising, but I just needed to improve my technique. Thanks for the tip. Maybe I have to buy a tool.
How do you get the paint that’s kind of in the cracks? Watching their video it’s still back breaking looking work.
I purchased a Bosch variable speed grinder at Lowe’s for $129 and it works great at just over half speed. The only thing I will caution you against is that the dust collection attachment made for the Diamabrush will not fit the grinder I bought. Not the end of the world but if I had it to do over again I would’ve verified prior to purchasing it. I’ll probably purchase another grinder soon since I foresee a lot of deck stripping in my near future.
You can tilt the grinder and sort of bevel the edges of the boards. Otherwise a good scraper takes the solid color stain off pretty well. This deck will be sealed with Ready Seal Mahogany in a few days so it’s dark enough you won’t notice small amounts of leftover stain in between the boards anyway.
Here is the one i purchased. If the store has it in stock it should still be on sale for $44.99 but since I bought the last one it’s showing the buy online price.
I used them on my deck at home last year and it worked great! How many did you use for the entire project and what was the total sq ft of the job. Seems like the price of the heads has dropped by almost 25 percent. Very promising!
I just started using it on the deck today. I’ve stripped 162sf and there’s still lots of life left in it. The rest of the deck that needs stripped got wet when it rained this morning so I have to wait for it to dry. I would expect it to last somewhere in the 4 to 500 square-foot range possibly more. There were quite a few screwheads above the surface that I hit which shortens the life considerably I would imagine. Total square footage of the deck is 850. I bet I could’ve strip the whole thing with two of them and one long day. Live and learn I guess.
I was just talking about this today with the stain rep. I have a crazy deck to strip, you’ve just made me commit to it. Im gona try this thing out and see what happens. Thanks for the post.
That looks good but you could have replace all the deck boards for under $700 in material.still a neat item
I don’t see wood very much but last deck I quoted was $2000 to strip and stain . Home owner only paid $2500 for the deck to be built originally.
$1500 in just the boards by my calculations but you would have to figure in labor of course. Anybody who looks at it in those terms is probably going to do the work themselves anyway. Knowing what I know now, I’ll definitely push the heck out of Strip jobs and sell them on the finished product. There’s nobody near me who specializes in deck restoration…this job is an hour away.
This one was a little over $4k but that includes stain.
I thought I posted about the Diamabrush awhile back but maybe not. It’s a good piece of gear and makes short work of anything I’ve tried it on. A sawzall blade wrapped in 80 grit will get in between the boards. I didn’t get the dust shroud but should have, it does make a sawdust mess.
Good call on the sawzall with sandpaper wrapped around it…never though of that. +1 in the sawdust…turned that deck into wood shop floors in a hurry!
