How to Strip Paint Off of a Deck

Every once in a while we want to give our decks a face-lift. Fresh paint or stain is always good advice just before selling a house. Perhaps you'd like a stained wood deck instead of a painted one. Whatever your reason is, here is the way to strip away old paint. Sometimes paint removal is easy, and sometimes it's hard to accomplish, but a quality job requires good preparation.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Power sprayer
• Liquid paint stripper
• Paint scrapers
• lots of rags
• Electric sander
• lots of sandpaper
• dust masks
• plastic gloves

1. Start the paint removal process with a power sprayer. That's the fastest method. This machine can be rented and removes paint with a blast of water. You must keep the sprayer moving over the surface. Held in one place the water can blast a hole through the surface being cleaned, or TAKE OFF A HAND. Though using just water, it's no toy. Adjust the spray head and pressure to a working size and power as you test the machine on an inconspicuous area.

2. After everything is dry, if you are still not satisfied, try a liquid paint stripper. Following the directions on the product, paint the stripper on a portion of the deck. After the indicated time, scrape the loose paint from the wood. Apply a second coat of stripper to the wood if needed, and repeat the process. Stripper takes time to break down paint, yet if left too long the paint may partially adhere again to the wood. Continue over the deck doing workable areas, allowing time for the stripper's action and time for the scraping.

3. Once you have removed as much paint with the stripper as you can, sand the deck with an electric sander to get a fresh surface on the wood. Some areas in corners may have to be done by hand because the machine won't fit.

4. Clean the resulting dust off the wood and inspect the deck to be sure the old paint has been removed. If you find paint remaining somewhere, use the stripper and scraper again, or the sandpaper.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember that the power sprayer can cause severe injury. Fumes from the paint stripper or the stain or paint may cause illness to some people.