LESLIE: Alright. Now we’re going to chat with Cindy in Alaska who’s got a problem with a deck. Tell us about it.
CINDY: Well, I have an outside deck that was built with untreated 2x4s and when they sprayed my house (clears throat) – excuse me – they sprayed the deck too and I’ve never been able to get paint to stick to it.
TOM: Hmm. What did they spray your house with?
CINDY: An exterior latex.
TOM: And that’s the last paint that you ever got to stick to the deck, huh?
CINDY: That’s it.
TOM: Yeah. Well, when you get to the point where you can’t get any more coats of paint on any type of a wood surface or even a wall surface, then you have to remove what’s there. Now, have you ever tried to do any level of removal of the (inaudible at 0:05:21.6)?
CINDY: (overlapping voices) I’ve used a pressure washer and it actually chips up fairly easy and I can even, you know, chip up and pick at big strips. It will come off.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Right. Well, have you – if you’ve been able to get the paint off, then you need to let the lumber dry really, really, really well. And after it dries, then you should prime it and I would use an oil-based primer because primer is, essentially, the glue that makes the paint stick. It has different adhesive qualities than paint. So I would definitely try a good-quality primer and then a good-quality top coat over that.
Had you not painted it, we would have told you to solid-stain it because the solid stain tends to absorb in and just fade away and then when it gets light enough, you just put more stain on. But now that you’ve painted, you’re pretty much committed. You’ve got to get off as much loose paint as you can, you’ve got to prime the surface with an oil-based primer and you’ve got to make sure that the wood is absolutely super-dry or it’s not going to stick again.
CINDY: Yeah. And in Alaska that’s a tough trick. (chuckles)
LESLIE: Yeah.
CINDY: (overlapping voices) It’s got to dry completely?
TOM: (overlapping voices) I know. You’ve got to have – it’s like a perfect storm; you’ve got to wait just for the right time for the weather to be warm and dry enough. But you just can’t paint wet wood; it’s just not going to work.
LESLIE: It’ll never stick.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Cindy, thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
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