The stairs leading up to our home are made from pressure-treated
lumber, which has been painted with latex paint. After every winter,
we find they look worse and worse, the show shoveling and weather cause
a LOT of flaking/peeling. Looks bad.

One thought I have is to chemically strip all the treads and "arms,"
essentially all the horizontal surfaces and repaint with oil paint that
is the same color as the latex. Would that work? My feeling is that
the oil paint would permeate the wood better and stick better through
the seasons. Right/wrong?

thanks!

Chuck
(in New England)

what @#$@$# painted it in the first place, pressure treated should
NEVER be painted stain ONLY

Solid color stain is a compromise.

I am really interested in the responses about this. A friend has a
painted deck Paint 10 years old and have been wondering what to do?

We inherited this mess from the previous owners. I guess I'm assuming
it is pressure treated wood, because it just appears to me to be
decking material. I suppose I could strip it and find an oil-stain
that is tinted the same color.

What's funny is that the house has clappoard and is stained.

-Chuck

On 30 Apr 2006 10:17:55 -0700, wrote:

The stairs leading up to our home are made from pressure-treated
lumber, which has been painted with latex paint. After every winter,
we find they look worse and worse, the show shoveling and weather cause
a LOT of flaking/peeling. Looks bad.

One thought I have is to chemically strip all the treads and "arms,"
essentially all the horizontal surfaces and repaint with oil paint that
is the same color as the latex. Would that work? My feeling is that
the oil paint would permeate the wood better and stick better through
the seasons. Right/wrong?

thanks!

Chuck
(in New England)


Stripping works, but it will require a LOT of elbow grease. If you
sand, get a tight-fitting dust mask. Forget about using paint, use a
decking stain or oil with UV and mold/mildew inhibitors.

if it was mine...assuming the underlying framing is in good shape, i'd
replace the decking before i'd chemically strip it. yeah, it would
cost more, but seems like it could be done faster without dealing with
toxic strippers, horrendous messes, etc. and you'd get a better end
result. then use a solid color stain like hallerb said. .

wrote in message
ups.com...
The stairs leading up to our home are made from pressure-treated
lumber, which has been painted with latex paint. After every winter,
we find they look worse and worse, the show shoveling and weather cause
a LOT of flaking/peeling. Looks bad.

One thought I have is to chemically strip all the treads and "arms,"
essentially all the horizontal surfaces and repaint with oil paint that
is the same color as the latex. Would that work? My feeling is that
the oil paint would permeate the wood better and stick better through
the seasons. Right/wrong?

thanks!

Chuck
(in New England)


Have you seen the 'natural' stripper advertised on the infomercial which
states taht it lifts the paint and binds it to the stripper and you peel the
dried combo off of the wood? Who knows if it works. I'm just thinking that
from mess and toxin standpoints it's an improvement. There are some citris
strippers in the hardware stores but you're back to the messy cleanup.

OK -- sorry have to update. Turns out it IS stained. However it is
the stain itself that is peeling. Sure does look like paint, but it is
indeed Cabot stain.