Trying to determine type of wood on my deck?


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Old 07-20-16, 02:18 PM
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Trying to determine type of wood on my deck?

Hi.

Moved into a 1970's house and am trying to re-finish deck rails and deck itself. Can I post pictures of the wood to see if anyone can help me identify the wood?

The paint was old and peeling, so I assumed that there was no primer. The only reason that I'm trying to figure out what kind of wood is because I'm afraid of the health risks of sanding Pressure treated wood. Do I have to be so paranoid about it?

Thanks
 
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Old 07-20-16, 02:28 PM
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Old 07-20-16, 02:34 PM
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No concerns sanding the wood, I'd be more concerned with the paint, could be lead based paint if it was painted that long ago.
A painted deck is going to fail and peel 100% of the time.
Picture would be nice.
If it's really bad a pressure washer will remove most of the paint.
There's lots of safe strippers that can get the rest of it off.
 
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Old 07-20-16, 02:40 PM
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Pictures will help. Take one of the surface close up and one of some end grain. If it is the old CCA lumber the arsenic would be bad for your health, but you really shouldnt be breathing ANY kind of dust, it's all harmful to your lungs / health. Either way, a N-95 or N-100 mask would be advisable.
 
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Old 07-20-16, 03:20 PM
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Thanks everyone.

Yes, the deck itself is not that bad, I think I'll just wash and stain that with bleach/water and a scrub brush. I'm talking about the railings and specifically the handrail. The handrails are rough on top and have small cracks in them lengthwise here and there. The handrails are painted and I think the deck had a semi-transparent stain on them before.

The paint was peeling off on the top handrail parts of the rails and so I used a scraper to scrape all the loose paint off. I don't think its lead based paint, but I'm not sure. Now of course I'm at the bare wood level. It's cracked and rough in places, etc, so I did try out my new Makita palm sander on it for a couple minutes. Should I just prime and paint em without sanding the rough areas down?

I also noticed that someone had caulked the small cracks with a flexible caulking of some sort and of course where the railings join at the corner, etc there is silicone caulking.

As far as PT wood, I don't see ANY marking anywhere and no SLITS in any of the wood, handrails or the decking itself.

I'll try and post some pics later or tomorrow. Thanks !
 
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Old 07-20-16, 03:57 PM
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Sanding latex paint will generally just make the remaining paint gum up, but if you have most of it off, and the hanrail is rough, hitting it with some 80 grit would be okay. But don't caulk with silicone... 100% silicone isn't paintable. Great Stretch caulk is good for filling in gaps.
 
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Old 07-20-16, 05:12 PM
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Really need those pictures.
A palm sander is about useless for what your trying to do, in most cases a radium orbital sander or even a belt sander in extreme cases is called for.
A palm sander is fine for light sanding to prep something something for a second coat, little else.
 
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Old 07-21-16, 03:52 AM
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The odds of lead based paint are low as it was on it's way out for residential use in the 70's and it's likely if lead base paint was used it would have peeled off long ago anyway ...... unless there is multiple coats of paint where it was repainted frequently.

Pics might change my mind but I'd be inclined to use a solid stain on the railing rather than paint.
 
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Old 07-21-16, 01:43 PM
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Thanks, but I'm not gonna scrape all the paint off the railings, there's a lot of it! I'm just going to repaint them white like they were. A lot of the paint on the spindles and sides of the rail is stuck on good, so I'm not gonna scrape that, just paint a new coat right over.

Another painter said just paint right over the rough area. I'll have to take some pics. When I mean ROUGH I mean more or less just check cracks and a few splintering areas, but nothing that a good coat of primer would hide I would think. I'm not real fussy, it's not a new deck anyways, just as long as the rails are nice and white and the paint stays on for a year or two.
 
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Old 07-21-16, 01:46 PM
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Yeah, sorry. Forgot all about it. I was cleaning all the mildew off with bleach and water most of the morning sweating my socks off! It was great fun though. Took a shower and now I feel good that I got all the grime off. Still got a lot more to do though, but I had enough today as it was getting a little hot here. Then I was vacuuming up all the pine needles stuck in between the deck boards and washing some trim.

By the way is the black stuff mold or mildew??

Thanks
 
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Old 07-21-16, 01:54 PM
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Black stuff and green stuff on my deck?

Just wondering. I think the green stuff is algae, but I was wondering if the black stuff is mold or mildew. It comes right off with bleach and water though. The black stuff is mostly on the white railings and I've been cleaning it off before I paint. It's also on a lot of the trim on the house, so I've been cleaning it off there a little too.

Thanks all!
 
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Old 07-21-16, 03:00 PM
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Probably mildew but hard to say for sure without seeing it.
You can add extra mildewcide to the paint. Most paint stores will either add it to the paint for you or sell you little packets that you can mix in yourself.
 
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Old 07-21-16, 03:03 PM
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As stated in your other thread it's hard to say without seeing it. Here in the SE mildew is prevalent and gets washed off prior to repainting/staining. Mold is usually thicker than mildew and takes more effort to remove than mildew.
 
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Old 07-21-16, 10:19 PM
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Two threads on one topic combined.
 
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Old 07-25-16, 11:25 PM
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Here are some pics of the deck and the rails
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Old 07-26-16, 03:24 AM
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That looks like well weathered PT pine. The decking should clean up fine for a semi-transparent deck stain. You'll want to prime the top of the railing prior to repainting.
 
 

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