How to clean old decking prior to staining?

I am staining my porch and I am unable to get a consistent finish on the bare wood before I apply stain.

Its an old home we purchased recently. The porch was painted so I removed the paint using a power washer and chemicals. However I was unable to remove all the paint, so I got a “Diamabrush” head for my 4-1/2” angle grinder and used that to remove the paint.

now that all the old paint has been removed I am realizing that the bare old is “ugly” and dirty. I applied a little stain (oil-based Stain, Perserva Wood Tacoma Brown) as a test, and the stain looks great on the clean boards but accentuates the finish on the ugly boards. (I can’t figure out how to add a picture on the mobile site at this time.)

how do a I get a consistent finish on my porch? I’m wondering if the wood is just too old and damaged and I should replace it all?

I tried an orbital sander with 80 grit paper with minimal results. I also tried “skim cutting” the top layer of wood with the diamabrush with mixed results as well.

First time home buyer and first time poster so any help is appreciated.

 

You might try applying a deck brightener, that will lighten up the darker wood. I generally clean decks with a bleach/water solution and it pretty much does the same thing.

Old decks often don't take transparent or semi-transparent stains well and will look better with a solid deck stain [looks like thin paint] Hard to say without seeing what you have.

almost forgot welcome to the forums!

 

Pretty good review of cleaners here:

https://www.deckstainhelp.com/catego...eaner-reviews/

FWIW at our last house we used to use the Wolman product and it did a decent job, but I notice some of the other products have higher ratings.

 

Thank you for the input, much appreciated.

I have pictures attached. My concern is the wood doesn't look "clean" and the finish quality is very uneven. How do I get a consistent, clean finish (looking like fresh wood). I think, after reviewing your comments, I need to use a deck cleaning agent and power washer to do that?

if so, next steps would be;

• wet deck with water
• apply deck cleaner
• scrub with brush (per direction on cleaner bottle, duration, etc)
• power wash

At this point, the deck should look 'like new?'

then,

• let it dry >24 hrs
• sand with orbital sander, 80 grit
• remove grit, clean with blower
• apply stain?

 

...adding pictures...hopefully. same deck just different lighting but the wood color is quite different

 

Those pics don't show what I was expecting to see. Cleaning might help but I think I'd try a small section first [rinsing with a garden hose is fine] I suspect it will take sanding to get to a clean even look.