Worn decking stain - what to do..?

[t78]

hi guys,
we moved last year and the new place has a nice decking out the back. it's not grooved like most I've seem and looks like some kind of hardwood.

apparently, it's only been down a couple of years and was stained/coloured a red colour originally which has work badly in places, but looks quite decent in others.

here's some pics to give you an idea..

Untitled

• t78
• 18 Jul 2013
• 1

Untitled

• t78
• 18 Jul 2013
• 1

Untitled

• t78
• 18 Jul 2013
• 1

the previous owners left some decking protector, so I tried applying that to one board. this has covered but does not hide all the previous stain...

Untitled

• t78
• 18 Jul 2013
• 1

now I don't mind this look too much, but am wondering how it will look when applied to the sections where the original stain is still quite solid?


what are my options? I don't want to have to sand all the original stain off and I don't think it will power wash off.


thanks.

 

[kbdiy]

I would have thought a quick run over with a floor sander would be the best approach. If you don't get all the old stain off any new application will turn out patchy.

 

[shorn]

I put decking down about 3-4 years ago.

After the first year i painted it with an awful paint type stain. Never again, as it flakes and looks terrible.

You can try a mixture of bleach/washing powder/hot water. Scrub that in and it seems to clean really well. Read that somewhere, and tried it. Don't have to be to exact with the ratios, I just chucked a good few glugs of bleach, half a cup of washing powder in a watering can (5l) and topped with warm water.

It worked pretty well, but was still very patchy.

After doing that and using a decking revivers etc I rented a floor sander. (smallest belt one) and ran that over it. Came up a treat! I suggest this as well!