Deck Prep for re-doing semi-transparent stain

The coating on my deck is about 5 years old and is coming up. I moved in 4 years ago, so I don't know who applied it or how. I did find some extra material. It's Behr-brand semi-transparent stain. It's a custom tint so I'll have to see if I can get them (Home Depot) to duplicate it.

My question is how to prep it for re-staining. I power washed it (just water, no chemicals) and it knocked the really loose stuff off, but it doesn't feel like enough. So I need to scrape and/or sand?

I'm guessing with a semi-transparent stain that a color change is out of the question without sanding down the entire deck?

 

I wouldn't, you can do better by going to a paint store instead of a paint department.

I don't own a pressure washer so my process is to spray the deck wet with the hose, spray on a 50/50 bleach/water mixture, scrub with a stiff brush and then rinse clean with the hose.

How drastic a change in color are you trying to achieve?

 

I'd use an old broom to scrub it with TSP and then rinse with a pressure washer [garden hose also works fine]
From the pics it looks more like a solid stain.

 

Thanks - it does look like solid stain but the can says semi-transparent. They must have put 500 coats on it. I replaced 2 planks and stained it to try to match. I stopped after 5 coats - it was close but still didn't match 100%.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'd do gray again, but a little darker.

 

If you're going to go a little darker grey, I wouldn't be worried with removing any more of the current stain.

 

It's possible they bought both semi-transparent and solid stain, mixed them together and then stored the leftover stain in a semi-transparent bucket.

IMO your deck is iffy for using a semi-transparent stain unless more of the existing stain is removed. A solid deck stain can be used over your deck as is and there are no color restrictions.

 

Thanks - I'll have to think about it. I don't really have a preference semi-transparent or solid. I was just going to put whatever was on there previously.

 

I'm afraid that even with the same color stain in a semi-transparent the 'solid' areas of the existing stain will show thru differently.

 

Ok - I rented a sander from Home Depot and took care of the trouble spots and then some.

Home Depot had still carried the same semi-transparent product. I brought the old can in, but the color label had faded so we couldn't read it. The paint person said the colors hadn't changed since my deck was last done. I guessed at the shade of gray based on the drips on the side of the old can. I chose correctly which made me feel like I won the lottery - do you know how many shades of gray there are (more than 50, I'll tell you that).

Anyway, here are the results. The can calls for a minimum of 2 coats. After the first, you could see the old stain. After the second it was uniform.

 

Looks good, thanks for the update

IMO that looks more solid than semi-transparent but I'm not very familiar with Behr's coatings .... could just be the way it shows in the pic also.

 

Thanks!

It definitely appears solid, their definition of "semi-transparent" is off a bit. The first coat is truly semi-transparent - you can see the wood grain through the stain. But they say to do 2 coats. The second coat makes it appear solid.