"ransley" wrote

Quickest might be rent a floor sander and sand off glue, get extra
rolls of course paper, then stain with exterior porch oil stain. on an
exterior floor a clear Marine poly will last a few years then need
removal, alot of work in a few years. If the porch is covered paint
will hold up but I would stain it this year.

Concur. I have done similar (Habitat for Humanity volunteer, refinishing
work). It's actually easier to just sand down than mess with chemical
strippers which *may* cause problems later with older but still firm woods.

If you have to replace any wood, it will have a different coloration so a
darker stain is a better bet overall. I had to also replace several
spindles (cosmetic, not truely load bearing, but collectively held up the
railing). Puppy chewed g. Anyways, it was easy to get the fellow who
knew how match up patterns, to wood work that. Due to coloration however,
we painted all spindles and used stain on the rest. There were 2 steps, one
of which needed to be replaced but I replaced both. Reason being I wanted a
perfect stain match between them. (Only takes about 30 mins to replace the
top portion of a stair, if that and I'd done it many times so for me, 30
mins for both). Then, deck needed 5-7 planks replaced (I forget exactly)
but we sanded down, replaced, resanded, then dark oak stain on railing,
stairs, deck. Painted 'spindles' to match trim of house. Because I'm not
particularily big or strong, one of the guys ran the floor sander for me
while I fixed something else (wood trim along a back screened porch, and a
dog house roof if memory serves). It was about a 12x6 porch on the front of
the house. I think it took him perhaps 2 hours? Not sure. I am sure it
would take longer with a hand sander.

Yes, oil based stain please and later if desiring to paint, oil based paint
if legal for your area (some I gather now dont allow that?). If older wood,
it will be soaking up some stain so very likely to need 3-4 coats. Dont
worry, thats making the wood heathier.