Do you have pictures? Darkness could be mildew forming under the new stain if the wood was improperly prepped. It could be an overapplication after curing. Pics would be a big help.

Celeste

i saw this mildew forming on some of boards before i stained it.

i used deck brightner and pressure washer.

then i used timberwood mahognany flame.

even while applying stain,grain was not real great in wood but i thought that may be do to stain i put on last year.

wood looks like a mildew black stain is growing over the whole deck.

deck is in sun also, no roof on it.

i also stained my steps and that is regular treated lumber.

i noticed that black streaks are starting now there too.

this was all done about 1 month or so,around july.

what now to do, deck looks AWFUL,stain has black crusty look to it,terrible and getting DARK BLACK look to it.

deck is 16x16

Judging by your second post.....your deck was improperly prepped. There is nothing to do but remove ALL residual finish (from this application & probably the one before that) and start over.

so, you think my PREP was not good.

you should see deck now.its getting real dark and if you look at it from side you can see BLACK STEAKS on boards.

i guess that is mildew?

cant figure where i went wrong on prep, i used the olympic brigthner from lowes first and boards were turning silver do to loss of stain.

anyone want to add and what are steps i should use .

could possibly my deck not be getting proper ventilation?
could this be turning the deck black do to mold?

i have 3 small vents ,16 inch long by 10 inchs wide installed on 16x16 deck 3 ft off the ground.

Its probley not mold at all,your finish install has something to do with it. Carolina is right strip all the finish off,oxalic wash, re finish. I have never seen ipe mold up even laying in the mud for a few years.

As long as those vents add Cross Ventalition you will be fine.

Oxalic is not a stripper, it is a neutralizer/brightener and is not going to remove a failing stain. It is going to require a caustic product (sodium hydroxide)to thoroughly remove a 2 month old application followed by an oxalic product and likely some good buffing.

carolina, i used the sodium hyrdo today.

it turned 8 boards coal black.i stopped using it there.

i then used jomax on others and it came out much better.

it looks to me like i will have to sand the whole deck ,i have spots that wont budge from cleaner and those BLACK boards from cleaner, dont know what will happen until dry.

if i sand, do i use brightner after that sanding .

all my paint came off my screw heads,i got 3000 shiny silver heads.

i dont know if those black boards will get better, will know if it drys,its still wet.

boards seem to be drying like a dull greenish /silver looking color,not like the original color of ipe wood.

i never thought ipe would look so bad after i first put it down and used ato on it, it was beautiful and now looks awful.

Where did you get the SH? When stripping a new stain, the boards WILL turn black - it's the product working. YOU absolutely MUST neutralize that product though...the change will happen right before your eyes. JOMAX is not a stripper, it's a cleaner. The Jomax simply cleaned the boards - unless you added the bleach, you did nothing for any mildew. You're still steps away from your ipe being back to it's natural state. That poor wood is so full of chemicals right now!

Please feel free to call me. My contact information is on our site.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ipe help

wel, thanks to you all ,carolina a lot ,my deck is back to original wood.

i used the olympic deck brightner and it looks nice.

boards were turning dark from the sodium stuff .

question,my deck was turning dark on my IPE wood after i used the ATO stain on second coat from a year ago.

i used the brightner before i stained.

should i have used the SODIUM stuff ,then the oxalic brightner BEFORE i put the second coat in 2 years on the deck?

could this be reason the deck got dark and looked like it had mildew/mold on it?

i noticed that deck did not lookk nice when i just put 2nd coat on it without stripping off the old stain.

i guess my question is,SHOULD THE OLD STAIN BE REMOVED BEFORE PUTTING ON A NEW COAT OF ATO STAIN.

as for ARMSTRONG CLARK STAIN,you cant get it here in pa. from what i read on their site,wish i could as i like OIL in it better than the ATO stain as roger has said.

so, things are looking better and next week i should be staining before cold hits pa.

i have those wax ends on boards from 2 years ago, stain will not stick to it and 2 inchs in it looks bad,any solution to that problem.

this winter is going to be a cold one here.

with taxes rising,heat and gasoline nasty, i dont think its going to be very good .

i hope our next president can stop what has happened to us in the last 8 years ,people are having it rough and MANY banks are failing here ,i just took my money out of SOVERIGN bank as they lost 500 million in that fannie mae thing.

again,thanks for help and advice .

You can get the A/C stains :)

Here is a link that might be useful: The Sealer Store

I am about to install my cumaru deck, and I had a couple of sample boards lying outside. It rained last night and the boards are now almost black. What the hell??

Instructions for staining include a prewash, but with this happening to the boards after a little rain, I am not so keen on 'washing.'

??

My gates that i put Ipe on looked good for the first year and then when I reoiled them the following year they turned basically black after a few months. They sat black for a few years until i decided to do something about it. I pressure washed the wood and got all the black crappy oil off of them and they look brand new again waiting for some oil to be applied. I mean they really look good. After i clean up a couple of spots that i missed. I will need to do a quick/light sand to take off the small little pieces of grain that are sticking out. I was so surprised that the pressure didn't do any damage to the wood.