what type of sander is best to sand a deck?

Question

I have a large deck and i'm changing the color of the stain. i already tried using the bottled removers that home depot and lowe's sells - they did not fully remove the old stain. which type of sander should i use to remove the rest - orbital, belt,...

Answer 1

One that uses sandpaper.

Answer 2

I think you're punishing yourself if you sand off the old stain. If you really want to do that, I'd rent a floor sander for the main areas and then use a combo of a belt sander and an orbital to get into the corners where the big one won't fit. Most likely, you will need to start off with a heavier grit sand paper and then move down to something like a 150 grit. I recently changed the color of my deck and used a solid color stain rather than a transparent stain. A transparent stain will not cover up anything. It is just designed to protect and enhance the wood. A solid color stain is designed to actually cover like paint without hiding the fact that it is applied to a wood surface. I liked the look of my deck so much that I used solid color stains to do all of my outbuildings. Good luck.

Answer 3

A large drum sander would be your best bet. If you are looking to remove stain color, you will need to do some pretty serious sanding. You should be able to rent one of these.

Answer 4

I would recommend any sander held by a unsuspecting relative while you drink a beer and say how good of a job they are doing. If that fails a belt sander is good for this job with even pressure applied it does the job effectively.