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We have two five-bar gates across the drive, a six-footer and a ten-footer. The previous owner painted them with a grey water based woodstain, which is flaking in places and, well, we don't like the colour anyway.
Ideally we'd like to take them back to be plain wood and then oil/treat them, but attempts to remove the stain with a rotary and belt sander are proving to be a Massive Pain In The Arse - the stain, whilst flaking off as it obviously never took properly in some places, is really quite soaked-in in other places and, being a five-bar gate, there's loads of nooks and crannies and bits that aren't sander-accessible. It's going to be hours and hours of work. And hours. And hours.
So now we're weighing up our options.
a) Keep sanding
b) Do/can we get the gates taken off and chemically stripped?
c) Just get the worst off with a stiff brush and redo them in a colour we prefer
d) Something else?
WWSTWD?
I'd maybe have a word with the guys at Tomlinson Parbans in High Lane and see if they have any suggestions / contacts. They're good guys and not far away. They know lots about gates:
https://www.tomlinsonparbans.co.uk/bespoke-joinery.html
Sand them back. Either take them off, lay flat and use a belt sander, or in situ, though having them lain flat will probably be easier on the old arms.
Chemical stripping destroys the glue in the joints, causes the area to swell and could push the joints apart.
Maybe a jetwash could get flaky bits off?
Pressure washer. Seriously. Try it, can work well depending on the finish.
Looks like you can get stain stripper. That could be worth a try. parbans should have something in that hopefully wouldn’t kill any glue on joints.
Jet wash.. worked on the old decking to remove the paint but that was a chap with a big jet wash.. not a b and q special, and I wonder if stain is a bit different.
I jet washed the original deck at the back of my house, painted with some black stain stuff, sounds similar to what you have.
The jet wash took it 80% back to bare wood in a couple of hours (about 40sqm). Adding some deck soap took most of the rest off.
Wasn't quite a BnQ special but a Karcher K4 using the high pressure nozzle and the deck brush (for applying the soap).
Cheers all, I'll have a go with the jetwash.
If you want a similar opaque finish and an easier solution, you could just sand off the flaky bits and not worry about the parts that have stuck well. Then paint with Treatex classic colour. It's a very oily product that covers and sticks to existing finishes. On their website, under customer photos you'll find Wharton Lodge, that garage had the same issues.
Just been doing the same recently on my own driveway gates for the same reason.
Used a belt sander on the accessible areas, a small orbital sander for the corners both with 80 grit paper and varnish remover on the nooks and crannies. Didnt all come off with the varnish remover, but enough to go over it with new oil and these bits aren't noticeable anyway.
Angle grinder.
Or a knife. Just scrap it. You might be surprised how quick this is.Draw knife for big bits.
Jetwash if it's flaky.
However, what are the gates made of? If hardwood your idea to oil them sounds fine, but if they are off the shelf farm gates with a skin of tanalising they will look a bit odd and patchy where you have sanded them. In this situation you would be better off wire brushing the loose bits and repainting in a colour you like IMO.
However, what are the gates made of?
I think they're cedar. At least, there's definitely some redness to them when they're sanded.
Okee doke, Monday morning thread revival. Operation Jetwash over the weekend worked pretty well, taking off 80-90% of the stain. What's left is going to need something chemically to get rid of it. Plus, the jetwash has, unsurprisingly, really raised the grain so it's going to need a once-over with the sander anyway. So, further questions:
- any recomendations for a stain remover? This is the stuff I'm trying to get rid of
- once stripped, is it worth giving them a cleanup with something like this
- and finally, what to treat them with after? Something as simple as linseed oil? Like I've said, I think they're cedar.
Danish oil.
Just done mine with 4 coats and I have cedar panels on my gates. The they're like new again.