Decking stain problem

itsanne

I moved 18 months ago, to a house with a fairly new deck. The railings had been varnished (!) but the deck didn't appear to have been treated with anything. It didn't look treated and water didn't bead on it. I cleaned it with Ronseal decking cleaner, power-washed it to death and gave it two coats of Ronseal Ultimate Decking Stain. It looked great.

Unfortunately, it didn't look so great after winter! Even after thoroughly cleaning it and applying another coat of stain, it looks patchy, as if more stain has taken in some areas than others. If it had been built with the grooves downwards I'd sand the lot and start afresh, but the grooves are on the top.

Any suggestions? The stain is water based - could I oil the deck on top of the stain? (I know that Ronseal make something that strips any decking treatment, but I'm past the days of down on  hands and knees scrubbing a large deck!)

twopenny

Does your power washer have a patio brush attachment or can you get one?
That should solve the hands and knees problem. 

Then you could start again with something new.

When you get it clean put the new stuff on with a soft broom, cheap one you can bin.

The ridges are upwards because decking gets slippery when wet and the ridges should help grip.

ButterCheese

Ronseal used to be a trusted brand but like with many brands now, cannot be assumed to be good.  We used a Ronseal decking treatment (it was on special offer, I wonder why) and it was utter rubbish.  A stain is also not the best thing to use; it's more for colour and UV protection but isn't really oily enough to provide good waterproofing.

You could go belt and braces, ands the top and then use something like a trowel on a broomstick to wrap your sandpaper around and sand in between the grooves.  One or two passes should be enough but this will depend on the size of the decking.

Otherwise, you may have to conceed that the colour may not be ideal but you can at least put somehting (expensive) over it to provide good rot resistance