This post was updated on February 20, 2024
Deck Stain Stripping or Deck Cleaning?
Those who are familiar with the deck staining process are aware of how important it is to properly prep your deck before staining for beautiful results. In this article, we discuss why deck stain stripping can be easier than deck cleaning. We always appreciate your input, so feel free to leave a comment below with pictures of your deck stain projects.
Note: See here if you need to remove a Difficult to Remove Deck or Wood Stain.
The difference between deck cleaning and deck stain stripping is simple. With deck cleaning, you are simply washing the wood to remove any dirt, grime, mildew, and graying. With deck stripping the same contaminants are removed but you are also removing any old remnants of deck stain. In many cases, deck stain stripping is better because you are removing old deck stain in addition to other contaminants like dirt and graying.
#1 Best Wood Stain Stripper/Remover | #2 Best Wood Stain Stripper/Remover | #3 Best Wood Stain Stripper/Remover |
Another difference between the two techniques is the chemical used. With deck cleaning, a wood cleaner is used which helps loosen dirt and gray wood fibers prior to washing with a scrub brush or pressure washer. With deck stain stripping, a stripping agent is used which softens most transparent and semi-transparent deck stains so they are washed away along with dirt, graying, grime, etc. This makes the case that deck stripping is better because it goes a step further. In some instances, there may be old stain remnants that are not visible on the surface but could still keep the new stain from penetrating the wood pores properly. Removal of all contaminants including old faded stains is the key to a long-lasting finish.
It is widely agreed upon that deck stain stripping is better and easier than deck cleaning because the deck stripping chemicals do a better job of cleaning. Although wood cleaning products do a nice job with moderate dirt and graying, deck strippers are more concentrated and do a better job of loosening all contaminants prior to washing. If you are not sure which to use or not sure if there is an old stain on your deck, it is best to use a deck stain stripper just to be safe. Deck cleaners will work on most contaminants but will not remove most failing deck stains as a deck stripper will.
In both instances, a wood deck brightener should be used following a deck clean or stripping product. The cleaning and stripping products are caustic and will raise the pH level of the wood and make it appear very dark. Once the wood is cleaned, applying a wood brightener will make the wood more acidic which results in better stain penetration and it will lighten the wood back up increasing its natural beauty.
How To Strip A Deck Stain – DeckStainHelp.com
Any Questions on this Topic? Please Ask Below!
Hi I am about use the RAD system with Booster. It’s partially covered screened porch that is painted white with Benjamin Moor exterior paint. Do I have to cover it or it will be safe?
It does not remove the paint but prewet the painted areas and rinse any overspray right away while working.
Thank you!
I used an oxygen bleach cleaner and it has made old stain come off. It is like gelatinous goo! Why is this happening?
The previous stain was most likley failing. Just pressure wash off, brighten, and restain.
Hi there thanks to your amazing advice last year, we stripped and painted our cedar deck , this time with water based instead of oil based and for the first time ever the deck stayed light and beautiful despite lots of sun. Thank you for being such experts!!! Now its time for annual maintenance and I have a question about the cleaning . There are no big stains , can I just use soap and water or is it important in any case to use a deck brightener (I have Wolman available where I live but not sure if I really need it in a case where I am happy about current state). What do you think? Thanks again for everything!!!
Use only water and maybe a little bit of dish soap. Never use deck prep products as they are for prep when recoating, not general cleaning of dirt.
Basically, you do not want anything too aggressive that it removes the stain.
Ah but I thought to recoat. I thought it was important to recoat once a year to protect the wood is that not so? I live in a very sunny area
If you are recoating then you need to clean and brighen. Brightener by itself will not prep for recoating.
If it looks okay then just do the prep and recoat next year. No point in doing it now.
I’m planning on stripping and brightening my deck with TWP. However, the deck overhangs vegetation where many wild animals and birds live and eat. Is the runoff from the stripper and/or brightener dangerous to the animals and plants? I just can’t imagine all of the runoff chemicals used to strip stain and the stain itself being good for the environment.
Also, I have another deck that is over a cloth awning. Will the chemical runoff ruin the awning and/or patio below?
It is a corrosive so when wet it would be not good but once dry, it is fine.
I don’t understand your answer. I asked two questions…?
1) how does the stripper/stain runoff effect the vegetation and wildlife (birds, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons)
2) how does the runoff affect the awning below
Thank you
-1. It is a corrosive so when wet it would be not good but once the area is dry, it is not an issue.
-2. Not sure on awning. Best to ask the manufacturer of the stripper you are using. If it was us, we would remove the awning to be certain.
We installed a new cedar deck early last year. Never stained it but applied a wood sealer . Now the deck has water stains and nut/ berry stains from feeding birds and nearby trees Want to clean deck and treat wood . Any suggestions ?
Strip and brighten the wood for prep using Restore A Deck products. Stain with one of these brands: https://www.deckstainhelp.com/the-5-best-deck-stain-reviews-and-ratings/
We have sanded our deck and removed the opaque stain that was on it. However, there is still stain remaining in between the deck boards. How do we remove? Is there a way to sand off? Or do we have to try to chemically remove it? Thank you!
There is not a way to sand this or strip it easily off.
Will deck stripper work well with a water pressure machine? I was thinking to use a karcher k4 directly or the patio cleaner atrachement but i was told that is not good because the stripper needs to be applied manually so it will seep into the wood, is that true?
You cannot apply a stripper like this through a pressure washer.
Thank you , maybe you can advise me if I need to strip in the first place or can manage with just cleaning. I am enclosing a picture including what yiu see was caused by a test of our pressure washer which seems to have brought back rhe original color of our cedar with just water…
In any case i would appreciate if you can correct the steps as I understand it, i am looking also to be efficient , as this is a large deck around 1000 sq feet.
1) sweep and wash with presdure washer
2) apply cleaner or stripper with a broom.
3) wash off with pressure washer
4) apply brightener with broom ( i see flood advertises all purpose cleaner that also brightens, will that save me steps?)
5) wash off with pressurr washer
6)
Wait 48 hours
7) apply sealant
??
Thank you :)
Use a stripper for this. You apply the stripper and brightener with a pump sprayer, not a broom. The rest of your steps are correct.
Thank you! One more …I am worried I wont do a good job with the pressure washer and cause damage. If i use a “patio cleaner” from karcher t350 will it do the job? In other words spray and then run the patio cleaner without a need to scrub with a broom? Or am i better off not spending 150 dollars on that gadget and stick to basics? Thanks!
No, the Karcher will not work.
Thanj you! Can you please advise if I need stripping at all or whether cleaning is enough? The picture was taken nearly one year since the last time I used Flood transparent UV , the marks were caused by water which was applied on Friday accidently through a pressure washer which seemwd to have revealwd the origibal cedar. The deck is a large one, would appreciate understanding what tools I can use to be efficient without losing effectiveness. Is there a link which explains the best way to ho through the process from cleaning to brightener to sealant ? Thanks!!
My backyard ipe deck has been stained with Deckwise Ipe Oil. And my front porch, which is also built with ipe, has been stained with Penofin Brazilian Rosewood Oil For Hardwood. They both looked beautiful for a while but now grayed due to time, sun exposure and the rain here in Pacific Northwest. For a better color retention I might want to try a different brand of stain like AC Hardwood Stain. If I decide to switch to AC, for prepping should I strip the old stain with deck stain stiripper? Or just deck cleaner will do? (followed by brighterner) Any sanding required?
Strip and brighten. No need to sand.
Does the deck stripper damage vinyl siding?
We also have black painted metal slats on our deck… will the stripper damage them?
No to vinyl and it should not harm the black paint but always test spot first.
New house has wooden slats. Hi shine. When wet are far too slippery and very dangerous to me.
Please advise how to make less slippery.
You would have to remove the current shiny coating fully to fix this and that would require power drum sanding. Once removed, switch to a penetrating wood stain.
Dear Deck Stain, My husband built a deck at xmas using Redwood. Its weathered for about 2 months so I stained the fence panels and they look great but the deck is a bit dirty from building it near mud etc, can I use exterior wood stripper to clean the floor or do I need wood cleaner? It has no stain on it yet? Also with it being new do I really need a brightener? The fence panels were fine without though understand time will tell
See here about new wood: https://www.deckstainhelp.com/staining-a-new-deck/
After the wait, prep with a deck cleaner and then a brightener. Yes, you will need the brightener.
Hello. If I use a stain stripper and then Brightener on my deck, can I wash these off with a garden hose, or do I need a power washer no matter what? Thanks.
You will need a pressure washer.
What is a good PSI for a pressure washer? I do not want something too strong for obvious reasons.
1500-2000 PSI.
I used a deck stripper and am in the process now of sanding the deck before I apply a stripper (I started a month ago and it’s been extremely rainy so I haven’t been able to really get it done). My question is i don’t think I got all of the stain from the old wood out. I live in a city with tight yards and I got a lot of the old stain out but I couldn’t power wash it out as it’s splash onto the neighbors (or my) house/windows/etc. How clean does it have to be to apply new stain? We are going a shade darker than the last of that helps. I’ve also attached a pic.
The old stain has not come out much. It needs to be fully removed.
Hi! I have 2 large green treated decks, about 10-12 years old. Last summer they were completely sanded, power washed and cleaned. They did dry for several days. Then Pittsburg Ultra Advanced Stain and Seal In One, Solid Color for Decks was used. Says it was also a “Advanced 2-way Waterproofing” Stain and Sealant. They both looked fantastic for Fall! We had a horrible cold, snowy Minnesota winter, but no metal shovels were used on either deck. The stain is ALL peeling up and looks like it hasn’t been done for years. It’s horrible and disappointing. So much work went into redoing both decks and i have no clue what possibly happened. Obviously it’s all going to need to be redone, but were the products not the best for the wood? Should other steps have been taken? We followed all recommendations. Any help would be appreciated!!! Thanks.
It did not take for some reason. Feel free to post a picture.
I’ve got a cedar porch, about 12 years old. We had it stained at least four years ago wit Cabot semi-solid oil finish stain and as soon as the job was completed, I thought it looked terrible….just so dull and flat. I want to redo it now and am so confused about what to do. Is there any way to brighten up the wood, like how it was when the porch was first built? We are also planning to re-stain the interior, which hasn’t been touched since we built it. At least it still looks fairly close to how it looked back when we first built the porch, although there are water stains. How do I remove those? The floor, stained four years ago, is also just dull! No luster to the wood. Strip? I just want my porch to look like it did when we built it…wishful thinking?
Indoor pic taken 12 years ago.
Other pic is of the exterior now.
Strip and brighten all wood for prep. Stain with TWP or Restore A Deck Wood Stains.
Rather than deck clean or strip would use of an abrasive measure like a screen mesh on a polivac or like machine be as or more effective?
No.
We purchased our home a year ago and the home had 2 new decks built on. We bought cleaner and cleaned both decks first. Then we applied the stain on one of the decks after giving it enough time to try. Now we ran into two issues and I am at a loss for what to do. First, my fiancé stained the floor of the deck, and being that he never did it before he did not do it properly. There are streaks for where he did not follo the grain of the wood. And also there are spots where he put the stain on too thick and did not spread it out so there are parts of the deck that are extremely darker and splotchier than the rest of the deck. The second issue was that it rained overnight on stain that he painted just a few hours earlier. The weather called for no rain for days, but of course Mother Nature had a different idea. So on top of the splotchy floor the posts, railings, and rungs have spots where the stain did not hold because of the rain. Now I am worried because we are in a state where fall and winter are right around the corner brining lots of rain and snow and I want to protect our deck from the weather. I have been looking online and can’t find anywhere to give me a set answer on what the best thing to do is. Should I strip it and start fresh? Or is it something that a new coat of stain will solve? I love my deck and want it to look great! Any help is greatly appreciated.
You will need to remove and start over. It would be easier though to do this in the Spring.
We have a log home we purchased 5 years ago near the twin cities in Minnesota. The logs are northern pine with pine plywood and rough cedar battens. We also have green treated decking around a large part of the perimeter that has been all stained the same. We found a empty 5 gallon bucket of Defy which I am assuming is what they used. The condition of the logs are varied with some sun beaten and very little stain and other areas under the overhangs looking very good. I have several questions:
1) What prep would you recommend if I tried to use the same Defy product?
2) If I were to strip everything what stripper and brightener would you use?
3) For the climate and various surfaces and species of wood what stain would you suggest?
Thank you
1. Use their Defy Wood Deck Cleaner and pressure washing.
2. Defy Stripper and their Brightener.
3. You could use the same Defy. Works very well for vertical wood. Other options would be the Restore A Deck Wood Stain or TWP.
Between the two approachs of cleaning and using same product Defy or completely strip and use same or different product; which is less costly or less labor intensive? And would there be any different in the quality of the finished product in your opinion?
It would be about the same in cost and labor when it comes to the two different preps. Maybe a little more to strip but not that much. Stripping gives better penetration of the stain and that can lead to longer life.
We have used Superdeck on our cedar house siding (rough) since it was built. I cant remember if it was a tinted transparent or a semi-transparent, but we did not have to strip it before reapplying years later. We need to restain it again, and I’m seeing on your sight that Superdeck was bought out and changed formulas. It appears it is no longer good. The house is large and tall. We DO NOT want to strip it. What do you recommend?
You have to strip if switching brands. No way around it. Strip and brighten and then try the TWP.
Our house painter just put 2 coats of Behr Weatherproofing semi-transparent stain on our old deck and it looks just horrible. I’ve searched for professional deck cleaners/strippers in los angeles, but can’t find one. Should we just rent a sander or do we need to use a stripper first? What’s the best semi-transparent stain for an old deck in Los Angeles that gets morning to mid-afternoon sun? We also have a year old cedar railing/banaster for front steps that was coated wtih the Behr. Should we follow the same procedure – strip and/or sand?. What stain would you recommend for that? Thanks! Wish I’d read your reviews first! Attaching before and after photos!
You cannot strip this off. Way too thick. Sanding will be needed to remove. For the new stain, try TWP 1500 Series or Armstrong Clark.
I stained my cedar patio last year and used a brightener this spring to clean off all the pollution. Somehow the stain came off as well. Any suggestions of what went wrong and how to fix?
Hard to say why but it definetly needs to be redone now.
Water based stain cannot be used on cedar. You must use an oil based stain.
That is not true. We use high-quality water-based deck stains on cedar all the time.
I used stain remover followed by a brightener on my Redwood deck. Some, but not all, of the top railing has a yellowish residue (no matter how much I rinsed it). I want to stain it but am concerned about how this area will turn out. Any thoughts?
Sand those railings tops and see if that helps.
Thanks. I’ll give that a try.
I’m stripping a deck of unknown tropical hardwood using 60-80 grit sandpaper on a random orbital sander. The deck was done years ago with Cabot’s Timber Oil that turned black. My plan is to use either an oil based stain or tropical wood specific oil to show off the wood decking once I have removed the Timber Oil.
After hours of sanding I rinsed off the deck to remove the dust and look for water beading on the wood, which I saw.
Would it be a good idea to give the hardwood a dose of deck stripper, and brightener, to remove any residual Timber Oil lurking in the wood, or should I re-sand the areas where the water isn’t absorbing immediately?
Thanks
Sanding closes the pores of the wood and could be the cause of the beading. Do a light cleaning and brightening of the wood and then 1 coat of the stain.
Ive removed the old stain with stain stripper and power washer but now have wood fuzzies. Is this normal or did I ruin the wood? I plan to sand after another 2 warm days to let the deck dry and remove any remaining stain that was stubborn. Hoping I can sand to repair any rough areas as well. Then I plan to use a semi-transparent Oak tinted water based stain, but want your suggestions on the best stain to reduce future maintenance as I’m not eager to do this again any time soon! Oil based? Solid? What would you use?
Fuzzies happen and is not a big deal. Rent a floor buffer and get a “white” sanding pad. Buff the floor and it will all come off. Very easy. Try the Defy Extreme or Restore-A-Deck wood stains.