How to strip your decking

How to strip your decking

This method works on any kind of decking coating including paint, oil and stain.

Before you start, brush any dirt off your deck and place a cover over any plants around it.

Put loads of stripper on and work in small sections. Don't paint yourself into a corner, the surface will be slippy while it's working, so be careful.

When it's stripping, it doesn't blister or fizz, so don't worry if you can't see anything happening. After half an hour, scrape it with something like a pallet knife. When it comes away easily, you're ready to scrub.

Give it a good scrub down the deck boards, then across them. That'll loosen the stain or oil right up. To get it all off, pour some water onto your deck and give it another good scrub.

Then it's ready for a good wash down, then let it dry.

Now you should protect it again to keep it looking great. Check out our "How to choose the right deck product" for more advice. After all, you don't want to be doing this again.