John Hyatt Question

13 years ago

Hi John.....Kim here. I'm the one working on the mahogany porch with the nail stains. I gave your suggestion a try. I used a nail set, filled the holes with TitebondIII and sawdust, then sanded away. I really like the idea/process now that I've done it. My problem is that I still can't get the stains out. A couple came out, and others looks not even close to coming out. So, I'm left with some thoughts.....

- Should I go with a lower grit paper to really rip it down? I used 80 grit..

- Should I use a larger nail set? I believe you mentioned using a larger nail set. Now that I've tried this I'm assuming that is so that you punch out more of the stain.....ie......less stain to sand out. ?? Is there a size you suggest?

- I'm using a cheapo black and decker ROS. Would a better quality ROS get me better results? Some different kind of sanding tool altogether?

At this point I would really like this plan to work. But I'm weighing the cost benefit here. (lol.....thinkstoomuch!). If I can get this process to work in a reasonable amount of time, I would like to do it. But I can't subject my neighbors to day after day after day of listening to the ROS! I think one full weekend of sanding would be as much as I could subject them to. If what I've tried so far is as good as it's going to get, I can't imagine all this effort would be worth it to still have stains showing.

To give you an idea of size.......I'm dealing with 300 square feet, plus two sets of stairs.

Suggestions?

Thanks again,

Kim

Comments (3)

john_hyatt
13 years ago
KIm those must be some badass stains ghessssssssss

If they dont come out with 80 grit they wont come out with 40 grit and you would have some major dips in the decking. Makita and DeWalt both have 3 amp motors and would work you a lot less. Depending on the size punch your using and how big the rust stain is dont go past a 1/4'' and dont put a lake size hole in your decking. Use the sprit of a sound mind.

The idea is now to stop the stains from geting any further and protect whats left of the fasteners so work that way and live with the rest of them any wider than a 1/4''. Mabey a darker finish?

Far as the noise goes with an orbital sander if they cant handle that put on some David Allen Coe,turn it up,and see how they like -If Than Aint Country-. JonMon
thinkstoomuch
Original Author
13 years ago
Well.....your response does not come as a surprise. 1/4" isn't gonna do much for the majority of the stains. So it looks like I'm going to have to live with them. The previous home owners put this porch on twelve years ago, and I can guarantee that they never did once minute of maintenance the entire twelve years. Hence the badass stains. Sigh.

At this point I think I'm going to just let it go, knowing that I'm going to have to replace this decking in the future when the nails fail. I don't think it is worth it to go through all the work of punching, filling and sanding, only to still have all the stains.

So, here is to finding a darker stain. I'm wondering how the TWP dark oak or rustic brown would look. Have you used either? I live in a green state, so I can't get the 100 series. I do worry about the set up time of 500 series....particularly the second coat. Think its still worth using if I have to use the 500 series?

Thanks for everything!

Kim
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john_hyatt
13 years ago
Sure Kim.

I have used the dark oak 100 series with very good results.
I tested out the 500 sample but no real results to report no one I know over here has used it in a while however they just took a lot of the voc out and stuck in some oily stuff so it might work fine the basic mix is the same. No help from the local plant they just keep repeating what they are told to say.I cant see it being a bad product just a little different.

You might check out the water base twp storm shield I have used the rustic color with good results also, it has the down side of a very fast set up time that takes some geting use to.

Good to meet You Kim and a big thumbs up on the project. John