Painted decks / Pre coating

Painted decks are one of the more challenging scenarios we come upon.  We (almost) never paint decks but we are often called upon to remove existing paint from a deck and restore it to its natural beauty.

Here are the main issues when dealing with painted decks:

1. Paint is harder to remove, and gums up sand paper.
2. Redwood tends to darken due to moisture build up beneath paint, which can act as a non breathable coating.
3. Remaining visible paint on board sides (as the vertical face of each deck board as seen through the gapping between boards on the deck), recessed cracks, screw depressions, etc. after sanding and tends to pop out after staining.

We have come up with a solution that greatly mitigates the third issue, which is really the worst problem with paint. After we have set the screws we apply a coat of either dark brown or dark red (depending on the direction you want to go) solid stain to the deck, focusing on the areas that tend to have lingering paint after full sanding.  Lighter colored paints especially will tend to stick out after sanding and staining, whereas a matte, darker stain will pretty much disappear between the gaps and blends very well in cracks and screw holes.

Notice the remaining white paint after another company sanded this painted deck:



Here is what a light precoating looks like:

More pics to come upon completion...