This post was updated on February 27, 2024
Remove Wood Fuzzies on Deck
For 2024 and beyond, Deckstainhelp.com vows to remain committed to being your go-to source for deck staining tips and the latest industry news on the internet. Pesky wood fuzzies/furring may show up when you are prepping your deck. If this happens, we have some suggestions on how to fix the problem. If you have any further recommendations we may have left out, please feel free to share them in the comments below. Also, we encourage you to share pictures of your completed super deck projects.
Deck Furring
Wood Fuzzies on Deck After Prepping?
Why it happened and how to fix it.
Before applying a deck stain or sealer you should prep the wood properly first. Prepping is the most important part of the deck stain’s longevity. When evaluating the prepping process you should look at two options. Does the wood need to be cleaned or does an old stain need to be removed?
When To Use A Deck Cleaner
-Best to prep with a deck cleaner if you do not have an old stain, the wood is heavily grayed, the wood is new, or you plan on applying a maintenance coat of deck stain.
When To Use A Deck Stain Stripper
-Use a deck stain stripper if you need to remove an old stain that has failed unevenly, was over-applied, or are planning on switching stain brands. This will allow the new stain to properly absorb into the wood grain.
One of the negative effects of using a Deck Cleaner or Deck Stripper is it is possible to get “wood fuzzies” or “wood furring” when finished. This looks like very small raised wood grain fibers or hair on the decking boards. When you are prepping a deck you essentially remove a layer of oxidized or damaged wood cells. The more you need to remove, the greater the chance of making the wood look “fuzzy” or “soft”.
Here are a couple of examples of when there is a greater chance of this happening:
Heavily Grayed or Neglected Wood
-When the wood is left to gray (oxidize) from the UV you will need to remove all of the damaged wood cells. The grayer the wood, the more you will need to remove from the surface and the greater the chance of getting the “fuzzies”.
Multiple layers of Older Deck Stain is Being Removed
-Deck Stain strippers are mild caustics that may also create a furry look to the wood grain. The heavier or stronger the concentration of the deck stripper, the greater the chance of the wood fuzzies showing
Preventing Wood Fuzzies
-Only use as strong of a concentration of the cleaner or stripper as needed.
-Minimize the wood fuzzies from showing by using a wood brightener as soon as you are done with the deck cleaner or deck stain stripper and while the wood is still wet. This will neutralize the cleaner, leaving the wood in a neutral state.
-Do not let new wood sit too long unstained.
Buffing Pad.jpg
How To Remove Wood Fuzzies
-Make sure that when you are done with the prepping that you rinse the wood extremely well to remove all excess wood pulp from the decking during the washing.
-After the wood has dried, you can remove the fuzzies by lightly sanding or buffing the wood. As contractors, we like to use sanding buffing pads. They are not aggressive and will smooth the wood without over sanding. You can use these buffing pads on floor buffing machines that can be rented from your local rental yard. We can remove the wood fuzzies from a 500 sq. foot deck in 10 minutes with a floor buffer. Use a smaller pad and handheld buffer for the railings if needed.
Questions on this Topic? Ask Below
Deck Stain Help & Questions
Stain Reviews & Comparisons
This web site has been very helpful in my process of cleaning and staining my deck. What seemed to be just a labor intensive chore required knowledge I did not have and every question and obstacle was answered by deckstainhelp. Sometimes what appears to be a simple job is more detailed than first glance.
Thank You
Wayne
Thanks, Wayne!
HI! I have been reading this website when my huge deck project started in 2018. First, pressure washers, in my experience, should be banned. They ruin wood, cause leaks in windows, split cedar, spelled, expensive, etc. I began with my Insurance underwriter and mortgage company writing me up for “unsafe deck due to no stair rails and some rotted boards. I did not know where to start. My deck was old redwood, 1200 square feet, electric, benches, speakers built by a talented carpenter in the 1980s before the now, 9 pages of deck code, chapter 507 of the IRC. I got estimates of up to 50,000 for a rebuild. Yikes. I studied your website, the code, Professional Deck Magazine, YouTube videos, the, bought tools. Cutting to the chase, after lots of rain, cold, heat, and Covid, I am at the end of rebuilding my deck to current codes. Did, I say, since the original deck had been built, 3 trees dumped leaves, algae, mold, and were never cleaned. I have, so far, spent over 15,000. on materials, including twp stain, brightener, cedar, pressure treated framing, hardware now required, copper naphenate, now required, and am, after 400 hours, almost finished. I hired a few helpers for a week to push the project along and had to redo their work. If you want your deck done correctly, study and stand over any carpenter that you hire or your inspection may fail. Wood, especially cedar, and forget getting redwood in the northeast, has become irreplaceable. Mills are shut down and those still in business are working at 50 to 25% capacity plus the fires on the west coast. I wrote this so that homeowners will take care of their decks. My neglect could have caused me to lose my house. Decks are high maintenance but make a house so much more enjoyable. I bought my house partly because of my deck and then took it for granted. Follow the great advice on this website. An once of prevention is worth a pound of cure!😎
Hi. We had our contractor stain our deck. New wood, PT pine (had weathered for 8 months), full sun. They sanded and then used Restore a Deck cleaner and brightener, waited a week for the elements to cooperate, and then stained with TWP 100 Cedar 101, one coat as the TWP website says. We followed everything per that website, but it came out splotchy and uneven. Please advise what might have happened and how it can be fixed. Thank you. (attaching pictures for help)
The new wood grayed and when they prepped, they did not remove the oxidation fully, leaving the “furring” that you see. You would have to sand it all evenly if you want this to go away. Besides the look, this is not an issue as far as performance.
Thank you for your answer. Does “grayed” mean it had actually turned a grayish color? Ours had not, it was actually much lighter than when built, like the sun had bleached it out… I was actually wondering if we needed to brighten but did so per their website’s instructions.
Same thing. When the sun “bleaches” out the exposed wood cells they become “oxidized” and need to be removed prior to staining. Basically you are removing a layer of dried-out wood cells.
Will the fuzz on rough cedar siding after stripping go away with time or not
Hard to say as it varies based on the stain brand and type being used.
I tried this technique this weekend using a Clarke Ultra Speed Pro 1500 and red buff pad. Even with light pressure the pad was leaving the red coloring on the deck from the pad. Any thoughts as to why this would be? Ultimately I had to use an Osborn brush which removed the coloring and fuzzies. Thank you for this website. Incredible resource
Never heard of this happening with a buffing pad. Strange. Maybe just a bad pad?
hi i would like to know whether i can use this product on my furniture, as i have this white furring and is very hard to polish with a cloth when dusting the furniture. this furring smells like mould. i have no humidity in the room and has light. i keep the door always open. Is there any special polish or anything i can apply pls? thks
Our article only appleis to exterior decking. Nothing inside.
Kiln dryed cedar deck & railings, how long should I wait before staining with A/C semi-transparent? What about prep and best way to apply?
Weather for 1-2 months for kiln dried and then prep with Restore-A-Deck Wood Cleaner and then a Wood Brightener.
I need some help please!! I did a fence this morning and fuzzies are showing up all over as it dries. Do I need to use more pressure to get them off or do I need to sand? This fence is probably 5-7 years old and I don’t think it was ever sealed or stained. Do I need to talk to management company about sealing after I clean it? What steps do I need to do to get this fixed? Thanks for all advice!!
Just go ahead and use a semi-transparent stain it will not show: https://www.deckstainhelp.com/the-5-best-deck-stain-reviews-and-ratings/
The property manager wants to think about seal long or staining. with that being said, do I need to go and rinse off as much of those dead fibers as possible, get a brush, or go and sand it?
Your wood needs a stain/sealer in one. Hence a semi-transparent stain. This protects the wood from rot and UV damage.
No need to remove the fuzzies you have as they will not show when properly treated. If he does not want to stain it, then you can still leave it as is as the wood will gray naturally and you will not see the fuzzies.
Now that it’s dried, the fence is almost white. Did the oxalic acid not neutralize? or do i need to go rinse harder? i’ll attach some photos, please help me! this is a commercial contract i’m trying to secure for flatwork and the fence was just a one time addition but now i’m worried!
You did not remove all the oxidation during your cleaning. Redo and pressure wash (not rinse) it off.
Just powerwashed/cleaned/brightened and am now left with some wood furries. I am thinking i will sand, but, is it safe to just stain over this in this state? (see pictures). I’d rather skip sanding if it will be of minimal consequence. Thanks Scott!
You have a lot of wood fibers on the deck and rails that should be pressure washed off first. You can stain after.
are you saying wood fibers leftover from the first powerwash? so basically, just needing to rinse them off? like a light powerwash? thanks
The wood fibers that are visible on the metal sprindles are most likely all over the deck as well. They should be rinsed off.
Thanks so much Scott, awesome site you have here and the quick replies are outstanding. I rinsed a few times after, just not the spindles. :) I’ll do a spot check but i don’t want to reset the drying phase as my window to stain in MN is closing.
Welcome.
I had my large IPE deck power washed and it turned a yellowish color with fuzzies.
What caused it to turn yellow?
Can the yellow be removed?
How do you remove the fuzzies as well?
Post pictures.
Hi Scott. Cedar deck exactly 12 months old. Let it weather for a year. It’s on south side of house so received lots of sun. After using cleaner and brightener it looked great. And then lots of fuzzies showed up after it dried (see pic). I didn’t sand at all. OK to go ahead and use TWP cedar stain now? Or should I sand first? Thanks !
You can stain it. Knots will always stain lighter in color due to the density of the wood so that is normal.
Thank you ! PS when you say “new wood” should only get one coat of TWP, how do we define “new”? 3 months old? 6 months old? 12 months?
Anything less than 1 year is new wood and should get one coat.
Thanks Scott ! Your website is truly invaluable, thanks for all that you do. PS the deck turned out great I think (used TWP 1500 cedar, one coat).
Looks great!
Hello – refinishing vertical barn doors, looks like rough cut pine wood. I used RAD stripper + brightener. There are some fuzzies left on the doors. I plan to use RAD semi-transparent light walnut finish.
Should I try to hit these with 60-80 grit palm sander or go directly to stain? Or maybe try to modify the buffing pad from above to fit on orbital?
Proabbly okay to just stain. Do a test board to see.
Thank you. 1 coat or 2 if using RAD stain? Or personal preference?
2 coats in this scenario will give better coverage and appearance.
After cleaning pre treated wood and there are fuzzies. Can I just stain with oil base stain and protector or do I need to sand.
You do not have to sand off the fuzzies.
Thank you , I went ahead and orbit sanded it and now I’m ready to stain.
Hello! I’m hoping you can help with a major fuzzy issue. I wish I read some of the below questions and answers prior to staining. I have a 1.5 year old 250 sf mahogany deck that I was just able to get stained for the first time over the weekend (wish I were able to do it sooner). I cleaned and prepped with the RAD cleaner & brightener and scrub brush, not a power washer, and stained with AC hardwood. The fuzzies were not apparent after cleaning however there was graying and oxidation remaining and I didn’t realize that would be a problem. There are now a bunch of fuzzies that are making the wood look really bad. Is it possible, now that I have already stained it, to go over it with a buffer just to remove the fuzzies, or will that ruin the stain and I will need to start all over again? I’m willing to do this by hand if its a better option than renting a buffer. Thanks!
If you buff now then you proabbly will have to lightly recoat after.
What grit do you use with the floor buffer sanding pads?
The pads come in colors. We like the white or red pads.
What if there are nail heads that are slightly above the surface? I have tried to countersink them with a punch, but they are still not below the wood. Can you still use a floor buffer then?
Probably but get extra pads in case some get torn while using.
experiencing small patches of the furs on deck after prep. can i just buff the affected areas or do I have to buff the whole deck. never realized how widespread this is…
Best to do all so the stain applies evenly.
I have a customer that had another company come to clean an ipe deck that we installed several years ago. It was never stained and had no finish applied to it. This other company seems to haphazardly power washed it. It now has all sorts of white streaking and obviously visible signs of power washing. I have used the 2 part cleaner and brightener previously but I’ve never gas to address this type of damage. Wondering if I will need to sand this all out or not
Yes, you will have to power sand as a cleaner will not get out the pressure mark damage from the stop lines.
I am a Painting Contractor, and refer to this site frequently. Thank you for many years of sound advice! I am preparing to re-stain the sunny front of an old Victorian. The house may be old, but it has merely 12 year old, pristine 3 1/2″ wide cedar tongue and groove all over the front from a complete remodel. I could not find the old stain can the previous contractor used, but the existing stain sure looks like a latex, slightly-colored transparent stain on the surface, probably Arborcoat. The stain is almost all gone on the sunny front, with occasional little crystals of stain sitting up on the surface. I am not looking forward to making the pristine wood fuzzy when I strip! Also, the cedar profile, though not fuzzy, is no longer smooth, as the ‘ribs’ of the grain protrude, likely because the latex stain failed so long ago that the wood weathered down. I like the look, but I think using a sanding sponge after stripping and using a a wood brightener are sound advice. Will the stripper remain the vertical surface? I’m alternatively considering just sanding and brightening, without the stripper, but then the profile may not look so great. Thoughts?
There is a protected entry stairs where the walls are also stained, but the stain looks perfect here, except for the beginning of the entry, where the boards start out weathered, due to the sun reaching the beginning of the entry. Will I even be able to strip the sound protected area?
There is a big ipe deck we are not touching, except they want the ipe fence cap painted. I see the specs call for 2 coats oil-base primer for painting ipe, followed by 100% acrylic paint, and prayers!
Pictures?
I have some one working on my deck and there are some rotted pieces of wood that needs to be replaced. The guy started removing the some of the rotted woods then changed course and said he should power wash the deck 1st and then remove and restore the new planks. Is this the correct way to go about it?
Does not matter.
Do you have any recommendation of what floor buffer to purchase. I am not a big fan of renting any large equipment. Alternatively would a drywall sander do it? Thanks.
We only rent and buying a floor buffer would be very costly. Drywall sander will not work.
I saw you also recommended a sanding pole in other posts. Sanding poles are mainly made for drywalls and tend to swivel a lot which makes it difficult to keep it straight on a deck board. I tried. Any suggestion? Great site, BTW, very useful!
Rent the floor buffer. Less than $100.
Does the wood have to be completely dry before buffing out the fuzzies? Or can it be damp?
Dry.
I am going to put a maintenance coat on my 20×14 deck. I prepped yesterday using the Defy wood cleaner and brightened with the Defy brightener. For the cleaning, I used a deck brush and garden hose with nozzle, not a pressure washer. I was concerned with fuzzies in areas.
This morning, we had fog and dew, so the deck is still wet. There are some areas where I can see fuzzies on the wet boards; the majority of the deck does not. I would rather not rent a buffer for just those areas (seems overkill), but I will if I need to. Can I lightly sand with 60 grit sandpaper on a sanding block and call it a day, or will the sanded areas stick out from the rest of the deck?
Thanks!
If I do buff the deck after it is dry, can I just go and re-stain with the maintenance coat (PPG Cetol SRD RE)? If I need to brighten again, then the deck needs to dry again, and here in New England, the days remaining to stain is getting shorter.
Yes, you can.
Yes, you can lightly sand with 60 grit on a sanding pole.
Thanks. I am thinking of using a hand sanding sponge or pad instead of sandpaper on a sanding block (more give with the sanding sponge and even more with the pad). Would I see comparable results using 80 grit instead of 60 grit?
Yes.
Thank you! This site has been a great source of information.
You are welcome!
Hello, I hope someone can help me. I have a major nightmare with fuzzies. I am halfway through cleaning/brightening a new 500 square foot deck. The deck wood is only 6 months old and our builder told us to wait until the fall before we stained it. I followed all the directions on the Armstrong RAD kit, keeping the deck wet as I was working. I only used 2/3 cup cleaner per gallon of water. I used a garden hose and rinsed it several times. This is a weekend project and I will have to find a another good weather weekend to finish. How long can I wait before sanding/fixing the fuzzies? Will I have to start over again? I’m hesitant to use the RAD product as well. Any recommendations?
It is not the RAD that is the issue but the graying/oxidation that needs to be removed. You should be using a pressure washer to get it all off after applying the cleaner. If needed you buff after and then brighten. You can do this whenever you have time.
the bottom of my outside porch looks like the wood is shredding. its vey light when i scrap it off. what is causing this?
Sorry but no idea.
Do i need to spray deck after removing fuzzies or can i simply sweep it well and run a damp cloth over it?
Pressure rinse is what we do.
Hey guys,
we have a cedar deck built last spring. We coated it with 1 layer of Ready Seal oil penetrating stain 2 months after the build but noticed the stain was fading in spots these last few months. I believe because the stain was applied by a contractor without first prepping the wood to remove mill glaze. Ready Seal advised we coat and lightly agitate the deck with a bleach and water solution or cleaner to remove the remaining non penetrating areas of stain and open all the wood fibers up , then re apply another coat of ready seal. We used “30 Second Outdoor Cleaner” in a 1/1 water/cleaner mixture as advised on the bottle. It’s states it’s “PH NEUTRAL”. Well, it worked and then some….It didn’t just clean the deck it took About 95% of the stain with it. My question is, now that it’s dry, we have a nice clean deck but tonsa “fuzzies” on the boards.
I’m going to sand them off but only question is, do I sand THEN do a final soak and light scrub with a designated BRIGHTENER before oil penetrating stain…or BRIGHTEN, then sand?…or no need to use brightener at all since we already used a PH neutral cleaner?…or some totally different set of steps? lol.
thanks in advance, this site has been invaluable during this ongoing project.
Sand and then brighten. FYI on the Ready Seal, it does not last very long and fades quickly. You might want to try a better brand unless you are okay with doing this every year.
hello, thanks for the clarification. The brightener won’t un do all my sanding and cause more fuzzies will it? Also, what brand do you recommend on the stain? i really like the look of the Ready Seal Natural Cedar and Pecan semi transparent stains. We live in WA State though and get a lot of rain so trying to go with a stain that takes anymore than a few hours to dry to the point it can get rained on is tough. That was one of the other big considerations in choosing Ready Seal.
A brightener does not create fuzzies. Try TWP 100 Series or Restore a Deck Stains.
Ready Seal fades very fast and does not last. We do not like it: https://www.deckstainhelp.com/ready-seal-wood-and-deck-stain-reviews/
lol, it’s literally on the website’s top 7 Deck Stain/Sealers at number seven but ok, im guessing you guys have had more time to R & D it. I’ll DEFINITELY look into the TWP next year. Unfortunately I already purchased the Ready Seal. It’s held up great on our rough sawn fence (3+ years now in WA weather) and still looks like it was applied yesterday, but smooth sawn S4S like decking I totally hear you. The one nice thing about the RS is how EASY it was to rinse off with a simple cleaner and a hose. I’m only sanding because these boards not only had mill glaze and didn’t take the stain well enough, but additionally needed a good go over with an 80 grit due to our temper mental rain and heat wave this year. Next year if it’s starting to peel again, we’ll just do the same cleaning process perhaps with the RAD cleaner and brightener pack and then finish it off with a TWP 100 in a darker tone. Thanks again for all your help. This really is invaluable help!
We still do not like it. It does not dry fully, rubs off because of this, and fades very fast. TWP is way better.
Hey sorry last question! So here’s what the deck looks like after cleaning. I posted 2 pics. The first is direct sunlight thr second shows how 1/2 of it looks out of direct sun. I’m sanding it next. As you can see it’s not grey or darkened but mostly a washed out pale yellow to whitish tone. It’s odd because later in the day or out of direct sunlight the deck looks really smooth and clean but in direct sun hitting different parts of it throughout the day you can really see the patchiness. My question is, after sanding off the fuzzies, will the brightener help bring the wood back to its more natural deep cedar tone and even out the patchiness we see or does that really matter if we’re re staining with a semi transparent Pecan pigmented penetrating oil stain like TWP?
Just brighen and then stain, you will be fine.
Sorry here are those pics to go along with my last question….