Best product to use

Got a couple decks. It was stained, then a polyurethane put on top. Customer wants to strip it and use an all in one stain and seal. What's yalls recommended product for the stripping?

Id reach out to Everett

He'd probably tell you something with a Sodium hydroxide base in it to cut through those layers of finish

Bob @ PT has some good stuff that you can prob dial up by adding some S Hydrox to if need be

If the deck isnt real big maybe Wolmans over the counter is pretty good ($20-25 Gal?) avail at any quality paint store

Ive used it with some good success- my guess is something strong to cut through

Removing poly is a completely different level of stripping , knowledge and pricing . Research it ! Starting with very difficult jobs makes you learn faster or quit wood .

Tiger Pressure Wash said:

Got a couple decks. It was stained, then a polyurethane put on top. Customer wants to strip it and use an all in one stain and seal. What's yalls recommended product for the stripping?

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Jeremy the stripper you need to take off polyurethane will blind you, burn your skin, melt vinyl siding and a bunch of other things, you need to wear the right chemical resistant gloves ot it will melt right through. You also need to wear a mask cause you can seriously burn your lungs. If you don't know what you are doing, I would politely decline this one. I had a few of these back in my deck restoration days and was right where you are. I bid $1800 not knowing what was on the deck. I had just bought a tub of HD80 and thought I could strip anything. I mixed up the strongest batch of sodium hydroxide you could possibly make and it bounced right off.

Stripping poly entails using a special spray bottle that won't melt or brushing the stripper on by hand. It is extremely time consuming and dangerous. Not to mention if the stripper gets on certain stuff it can melt or destroy it. There are some "gentler" strippers you could use but it takes quite a while to work. If the customer is willing to pay...

Oh yeah I just remembered. After spending an hour stripping one piece of lattice that surrounded the deck. I found it cheaper and less time consuming to remove the lattice that surrounded the deck and buy new sections and replace them. Like Jim said that had me contemplating giving up wood restoration!

(this was back in the late 90's, they might have come up with better strippers by now. I doubt it though. Poly is a b!&ch!)

Sounds like I may be declining unless Everett has some good ideas. Not worth it to me at this time if it's gonna be a headache

Sometimes it is easier to walk from work that is too much of a pita than deal with all the stress, issues and nit-picking of people looking over your shoulder while you are trying to help fix their problems. I hate to walk from work but it happens.

Christopher said:

Sometimes it is easier to walk from work that is too much of a pita than deal with all the stress, issues and nit-picking of people looking over your shoulder while you are trying to help fix their problems. I hate to walk from work but it happens.

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That is the truth.

While it is true some chems can be rough to work with, there are GOOD products that are not necessarily harmful. I have Drododo Strip 3031 which was designed to take paint off things like aluminum planes. You can't use caustic products to do that. DoradoStrip 3031 Architectural Paint Remover is a low VOC water-based paint stripper that effectively lifts urethanes, lacquers, latexes, alkyds, elastomerics, and varnish. Recommended for use on architectural surfaces such as wood, brick, and masonry where non-lead based paints are present. Yes, you do have to price differently then when you strip oil-based sealers, and they can be a bit more difficult to do, if you want to do wood, you may want to add this to what you do as there is plenty of work of this nature available. Use of the correct product to clean with is essential. Call me if you would like more info.