I have just bought a house with two large, badly worn paint-stained decks and one brand new deck. I would love to strip the two down and stain all three properly but that would take an inhuman amount of sanding/stripping given the sides and undersides of the planks and the distance off the ground/lack of accessibility. So I am trying to figure out what is the next best thing and am now considering a solid color stain (but any suggestions are welcome) that would match the siding (which is also being repainted). Once the decks are thoroughly pressure washed, a good portion of the remaining paint-stain should come off the surface, and some areas will be sanded down a bit more, but most likely there will be some areas with paint-stain and some without. So I have been trying to figure out what prep is going to be necessary prior to a solid color stain and I have been told by different dealers that 1) I need to get it all down to bare wood (not possible), 2) that I don't need to sand but I do need to prime all of the surface first, and 3) that I don't need to do anything except apply the stain (they recommended Sherwin Williams DeckScapes). Someone else recommended that I use a deck paint instead of a stain.

So any clarifying advice would be much appreciated.

I also need to redo the railings on all three decks and, again, I have had differing recommendations on how to prep them as well as what to use afterwards--both the solid color deck stain as well as the exterior paint (planning on using Sherwin Williams SuperPaint).

Thanks a lot for your help with this!