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Porches & Decks

IPE restore and finish... help!

16 years ago

Well, we let our new Ipe deck age a year and a half without doing a thing. Three fourths of it looks fine as it is covered but now I need to restore and finish it. All the shenanigans with the Restore a Deck have left me begging for help.

Mr Hyatt, if you could give me a step by step link to a handout I could follow I would be so very appreciative. I have read through the links and am somewhat confused.

Having read this forum through the building process I am depending on my GardenWeb family to help me through this project as well.

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Comments (3)

john_hyatt
16 years ago
Many of the finish outfits sell a stripper/brightner I have used the twp brand stripper in the past with an oxalic acid wash. The advanage to Ken's stuff is refinement it is way less harsh.

I use a floor machine with a scrub pad combined with the stripper/water to get the gray/old finish off it is possible doing it with a power washer set at very low preasure but Im not a big fan of that.And of course there is always the ol scrub brush in both hands kinda thing.

The stripper will darken the wood the oxalic brings back the color acting as a nutural as well. Most of the time using the stripper with out the oxalic will leave the wood unable to take new finish in a good way. I use 1 cup of the acid pure form to 5 gal of water if you do this remember the ol high school chem class add the acid to the water not the water to the acid,dont breath the fumes directley. If you look for a brightner from the shelf if the main content is oxalic that will do as well.

John
mtka
Original Author
16 years ago
A big THANK YOU!
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carolina_prowash
16 years ago
There are step by step instructions at www.woodrich-brand.com :)

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