LS 130 for this deck?

[Joelm]

Hi everyone.

I'm refinishing a deck for my mother in laws new house before she moves in. The previous finish bit the dust over the winter and I'm starting to sand it all down. What was on there was a water based stain that is peeling like crazy. I'm planning on using a light yellowish oil stain instead, so I need all of the previous stain removed.

I just started sanding yesterday with my RO150 and RO90 and was wondering how I would remove the old stain from between the deck boards. I remembered seeing a youtube video from "This Old House" where they used an LS 130 for the cracks. Do people actually recommend this? What profile should I get with the kit? I was thinking the 88 degree corner profile might work well.

Here is a picture of my progress. Not a lot done as it was quite hot out and my CT15 kept overheating and shutting off. Hopefully the temp drops a bit in the next day or two so I can get more done. Thanks for any advice.
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[AlexThePalex]

I think the 88 degree profile will not give you enough depth and might be a bit too thick to get in easily. Also, the LS130 is slow.

I think a RO90 with an extended delta pad will be quicker and easier to use. Nevertheless it will still be a slow and tedious job.

I would probably put a 150 or 180 mm fiber disc with rubber backing pad on the RAS or angle grinder. Or make a hand sanding block with stick on paper.

 

[Bohdan]

The LS 130 would be able to clean the chamfers but I dont think it will go any deeper. If you want to clean the boards on the sides I would use a track saw and lightly shave each edge before hitting them with the LS 130.

 

[Joebuck]

As Alex pointed out, the LS 130 is very slow. It would be faster using a thin hand file. Have you considered using a stripper and wood cleaner/brightener?

In order for the RO90 delta pad to work, those gaps between boards would have to be pretty wide as it’s not that low profile.

I recently did a similar operation on a set of outdoor teak chairs with slats on the seats and backs. I used the profile sanding kit on my Fein multimaster:
https://fein.com/en_us/accessories/profile-sanding-set-63810031010/

It worked fairly well, but was still super tedious. I had to change paper every 2-3 minutes as it gummed up quickly.

For what’s it worth, I use a low (700 psi) pressure washer on jobs like yours to get the lions share of the work done, followed by stripper and brightener. Sanding then becomes pretty routine.

Let us know how it turns out and what you ultimate solution was.

 

[Cheese]

I'd finish off a small section of the deck and then put on the stain and see if you even need to get in between the boards. With shadow lines and shadows from trees the space between the boards may just disappear. It's probably visually more important to just get the top flat and the edge radiuses sanded and the rest may go unnoticed. 

 

[rst]

When I refinished my Adirondacks, my RO90 with extended pad was outstanding in getting into cracks and crevices.  I also used the extend pad for my LS30 but the brunt of the process was with the RO.

 

[AlexThePalex]

In order for the RO90 delta pad to work, those gaps between boards would have to be pretty wide as it’s not that low profile.

Extended delta pad. Though it still is fairly bulky compared to the extended pad of the DX93.

I agree with Cheese that it might not be necessary to put too much work into the seams, because you might not even notice it once you're finished staining the entire deck. I would make sure all peeling is gone, but not sand it to bare wood in the seams.

 

[Joelm]

Thanks everyone for the great replies. Sounds like I should skip the LS 130 for this job. My wallet thanks you.

This is the second deck I'm doing this summer. The first was the one at my house. We moved in here last fall and it drove me nuts looking at this deck. The deck itself had no stain, was cupping, had stains from a bbq and my kids kept getting splinters on their feet. The stiles had an ugly faded red stain and the rails were also bare.
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Once school was over, I bought a Rotex 150 and 90 with the delta extension pad and started sanding away. The cupping on the deck was so bad I ended up buying 24 Grit Saphir disks and flattened the deck.
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My wife and I chose Rosewood decking oil from Osmo and I went to work staining the deck. I found painting or using a roller made the stain too dark. So instead I hand applied the first coat of oil with a rag. Once that was dry I applied a second coat of clear Osmo with anti slip material. I think it turned out pretty good.
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Anyway, for my mother in law's deck I'm finding the milling marks are too deep to flatten with the Rotex. I'll do my best to flatten the high spots and then use oxalic acid to brighten up the grey recesses. The oil my wife and mother in law chose is Thermowood decking oil from Osmo. I did a sample board and brought it over for them to check out. Thermowood is the middle of the 3 samples. As you can see it is much lighter than what is there and that's why I was worried about the cracks. I do have the RO 90 delta extension so I guess I'll use that again. I modified mine slightly by shaving it even thinner for another project I did so it should fit just fine.
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[huntdupl]

I looked through all my saved content to no avail. But I remember seeing where someone folded a piece of sand paper with a camelback (for lack of a better term) to reach grooves/cracks. You could try this maybe with a round pad on delta mode. Crude sketch attached
View attachment 2

Edit: Correction, actually think this approach was used with a 1/4 sheet palm sander, not RO90.

 

[sancho57]

Id use a pressure washer to get rid of the flaky stain/ finish, then hit it  with grinder with a wire brush attachment like this

https://www.harborfreight.com/4-in-crimped-beveled-wire-brush-60493.html?_br_psugg_q=4+inch+grinder

then go over it with the rotex 150 to clean it up

 

[Joelm]

Thanks for the replies. I'll try the folded paper on my RO 90.

I guess I was lucky on my own deck.  It either didn't have a stain or the previous owners never bothered with upkeep and everything had already peeled off.

I gave away my pressure washer when I moved and don't have an angle grinder. Maybe it's time to go shopping. It is stupidly hot here this week so I won't be working outside anyway. Is the festool angle grinder a good option or should I just grab a cheaper one from the big box store nearby?

 

[sancho57]

depends on ow much you will use a angle grinder. i bought a cheap one fro the bix box bc I didn't have the $$$$ to buy a festool one.
If yer not going to use it much get a inexpensive one

 

[Bob D.]

I rented a 4 disc random orbit floor/deck sander to do my 1200 sf deck years ago. Took less than half a day from the time I picked up the sander until I returned it along with all the excess sandpaper I bought. They told me I could return any extra when I picked up the sander so I made sure to get enough that I would not run out. As I recall it cost me less than $100 including the consumables I used. So much easier and faster being able to stand up and work. The one I rented was similar to this model and had a built in vac which worked pretty well. But since I was outside it wasn't too critical. I even used the sander on the tops of those benches you see. They wrapped around on two sides of the deck for a total of about 45 feet. The sander made quick work of them all in about 20 minutes.

At the time I had the RO125 and also a DeWalt belt sander with the sanding frame and a couple angle grinders that could take a flap disc or sanding pad but the floor sander was much easier.

But none of the above will help with the space between the deck boards. Luckily I didn't have a problem there.

Photo of the deck is ~2.5 years before I replaced some deck boards then sanded and stained it in 2014. We remove the deck and replaced it with a ground level patio a couple years ago. No more groundhogs or stray cats taking up residence under the deck and much easier to care for.