Thread: Restoring deck finished in ???

Hi all,
I've just found the forum and it looks awesome! Had a look at some of the other topics about repairing decks but can't really answer my problem.

I've recently moved into my house and the deck needs some attention, basically to be restained/oiled. The deck is in two sections (I think built at different times) - a reasonably well protected area under laserlight, and a completely open outdoor section.

My problem with rejuvinating the finish is that I don't know what product/s has been used on the deck in the past. I've given it a good once over with Cabots Deck Clean and my pressure washer and I think I've deducted that 2 different finishes have been used:
-The undercover area has had a fair bit of the 'stain' colour removed after cleaning, and isn't beading or glossy at all anymore so I'm assuming that has been oiled and would come up pretty good with a new coat (some areas in sun were pretty raw and faded but look pretty good now they've been cleaned).

-The outdoor area hasn't seen much change after cleaning, apart from a lot more noticeable brush strokes, thick/thin areas of coating and some small areas (say 30cm strips) that were pretty faded are now bare timber.

I don't actually know what material the decking is, but I'm dreading that I'm going to have to punch all the nails and then sand the whole thing and basically start sealing from scratch.

Is there any product that I could use that would work over BOTH of the existing finishes? ie over oil in one section and whatever the lacquer is on the other to avoid sanding the whole thing?

If i do have to sand, would a belt sander that sands one board at a time be the best option, or as some people on here have suggested a large orbital sander from Kennards or somewhere?

Thanks in advance for any replies,
Brett