Removing paint from verandah/decking

[Jarn]

I've just bought a house and the previous owners painted the verandah and railings etc. a 'lovely' shade of blue. Rather than repaint I'd really like to remove the paint alltogether and stain/oil it. Not sure what kind of wood it is underneath - maybe pine? Any ideas of the best way to tackle it?

[adrian]

You must be really, really, really into hard work!
You could hire one of those floor sanders but if the the boards have a decent gap in between then you are probably going to have to manually sand between them to get rid of the blue paint.
I'm 'work averse' so I'd paint over it with a colour that was more appropriate for a deck. Something like a dark Heritage green for the floor and posts, and a primrose for the rails.
Been there, done that!!

[jackiew]

Depending on how old the paint is you may have lead to worry about.

I laboriously ( using a heat gun and a scraper, chemical strippers and plain old elbow grease ) stripped the paint of the vertical parts of a staircase balustrading. With the aim of staining it. When I started on the top and bottom rails I discovered that they'd used some vile horrid paint which wouldn't come off cleanly no matter what I did to it. I ended up painting the lot.

I've also stained quite a lot of woodwork which has previously been painted and finally came to the conclusion that even though you think you've got it nice and clean there are always tiny little bits which you miss and they show up something rotten under the stain.

I've also spend a long time stripping external woodwork only to get to one part that looked fine but turned out to be rotten as when I started scraping away at it. So all my hard work was wasted as I ended up ripping out the lot and replacing it.

I would agree with Adrian - you could put in an awful lot of work only to be very disappointed with the results. A quick rub down and a coat of paint in a colour you like would probably be much more rewarding.

[seriph1]

hi Jarn and welcome to the forum! You will find an incredible wealth of information (and opinion) here - enjoy!

Could you please tell us where and how old your home is and if you can, post a pic or two of the area you want to rectify. If you dont have pics that are the right size for here, just email them to me and I will resize them - [email protected]

The folks are dead-on about the labour content - man O man it's a big job, but maybe cheaper than replacing it all ..... BUT and it's a big one ... it may not be worthwhile if the timber is of a low quality or not going to achieve the finished look you are hoping to achieve. If there is a return bit on the ballustrade, maybe start there and see what the timber is, if you can recognise it - if not, then again - take a pic and someone here will probably know. It is also very possible that there will be a mix of species and therefore (possibly) colour and grain figure. for example the floor may be made of Jarrah or Pine - the handrail may be treated pine or Fir - the ballusters may be maranti or Cedar...... all this may be a factor if you wish to stain it.

Either way, have fun and let us know the answers to the questions if you can

:D:D

[himzol]

Jarn,

Before you do anything have a good walk around and check the timbers for rot. Paint has a wonderfull quality of hiding a multitude of sins, especially when houses are being sold.
A few minutes walking around and tapping the timbers with the back of a screwdriver may save you many hours of work, only to discover that half your deck needs replacing anyway.

If it's in OK condition, I would paint over it with a colour to your liking.

good luck with it though,

Himzo.

[Trav]

If your deck is not too big, you could rip up the boards and simply lay new ones in the timber of your choice. It'd be a whole lot easier and will give you a brand spanking new surface - as long as the substructure is in OK condition.

My 11c worth.

Trav

[Jarn]

Thanks for all your advice! I think I'm getting the picture...and since I'm a bit work-adverse myself I think I'll just repaint as first planned. Cheers!

[seriph1]

another course of action might be to (if the boards are not the grooved type) turn the floorboards over and relay them.