To plane or not to plane ?

[Johnny Generic]

Situation,
I have a deck ( 5/8" ) 24' x 24' plus a 10' x10' extension and approximal 50' of walk way 2"x. All wood is prs treated and about 25 years old. All wood needs " freshened up ".Thinking about buying a planner to remove / resurface a few 16ths or 32nds vs replacing wood. Would have no use for planner after use. Lumber prices out of this world.
Thoughts, suggestions, ideas. Thanks a head for your replies. JOHNNY GENERIC

 

[CraigStu]

Sander instead of a planer? I have a hand held planer and find I need to be real careful about the direction of the grain because I find the planer blade can pick it up and snap it off when it's in the wrong orientation. Or power wash and use Behr DeckOver paint.

 

[rsanter]

Pressure wash
If it still need more a rented floor sander will be better than a planer

 

[Renegade1LI]

I think your biggest problem will be the nails, how close to the surface are they? Are protruding? Sander or planer will not play well with nail heads, power washing & scrubbing will be your best bet. Even if their are no fasteners protruding it's still hard to sand if the boards are slightly cupped & you can't sand the edges which are typically rounded over.

 

[Mark_17]

If trying to extend the life, see if flipping the boards would work for you.

 

[K'ledgeBldr]

There are wood “brighteners” on the market that you use in conjunction with pressure washing.

No Sanding, planing, required! Nails and screws would be your demise- and the tool’s!

 

[couch67]

Rent a walk behind floor sander, the vibrating kind (not the drum). Used one on my 15 year old cedar deck last year. 16x16, took 2 hours total. Looked new after!

 

[jshillin]

Pressure wash the deck, then make sure all nails are slightly below the surface and follow up with a floor sander when it's dry.

 

[Slednut]

Pressure wash the deck, then make sure all nails are slightly below the surface and follow up with a floor sander when it's dry.

This and rent one of these.

 

[The Cobbler]

a planer would be the wrong tool for this job.

 

[Kaizen]

If trying to extend the life, see if flipping the boards would work for you.

The winner.
Unless this is mahogany or such just flip and stain. If expensive wood maybe a handheld sander and lots of beer. Big sanders won’t work well as the boards are cupped so you need to finesse a sander to reach.


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[Slednut]

The winner.
Unless this is mahogany or such just flip and stain. If expensive wood maybe a handheld sander and lots of beer. Big sanders won’t work well as the boards are cupped so you need to finesse a sander to reach.


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After 25 years the deck boards will have such deep stains on the bottom from the joists it would look bad.

This deck was 30 years old the last time I used a rectangular floor sander on it. It took about an hour.

When I was younger I use to take each board up, belt sand it and put the boards back. One time I even rounded the edges with a router before reinstalling them.

It would take hours.

 

[Marctrees]

Many of the screws will snap if backed out.

Marc

 

[Meursault74]

no suggestions for your project, but did anyone else think of this when they saw the subject matter of this thread?

 

[Renegade1LI]

I have heard of people flipping the boards with no issues but I think it's more like a big foot sighting. Any deck that I've seen come up the boards never looked good, remember the good side was chosen to face up to start. Pressure wash, scrub & treat it will look good.

 

[Kaizen]

After 25 years the deck boards will have such deep stains on the bottom from the joists it would look bad.

This deck was 30 years old the last time I used a rectangular floor sander on it. It took about an hour.

When I was younger I use to take each board up, belt sand it and put the boards back. One time I even rounded the edges with a router before reinstalling them.

It would take hours.

All true. Thanks for pointing that out. I figured he would dark stain so not an issue. Flipping is a money saver but will take work.


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[southalabama]

Normally treated pine is put crown side up. Flipping over even after this length of time may cause issues.

 

[HenryAZ]

The grime embedded in deck wood will play heck with a planer's cutters, dulling them quickly. If you really want to go the planer route, at least pressure wash the deck thoroughly before planing.

 

[toolmiser]

You didn't describe the current surface. Is it peeling, degraded from lack of maintenance, etc. There may be better ways of improving it.
I had made the mistake of using solid color stain a couple times. I had to "strip it" and then I went back to semi solid stain and it's held up good for 6 more years.

 

[Showkey]

If you were to renew the wood surface that is worn, cupped and rough.........remove each board. Then either surface plane or surface sand each board. Then stain and seal with you favorite product ......which is another topic.

None of this is easy and involves hours and hours of work. If cost and work is an issue ......remember each 14’ deck board is about $40 at current pricing. So 24’ deck length is two pieces might be $60. Just the deck boards not the walk way would be $2500 in materials ???? +/- 20%.

Yes, the Planer blades will take a beating. Cleaner the boards ( less dirt the beter) Typical surface planer:



Floor sander will NOT work on cupped warped decking plus there still the fastener issue.

 

[nadogail]

I agree that the planer blades would not be up to the task.