Diggin’ Doin’ the Deck Over the Long Weekend

We bought some Citristrip, orange-scented paint stripper, from Home Depot, to get the dark paint off of our deck. Not to my surprise, it didn't work. But it smelled nice!

"I think I'm going to sand it," Marie-Anne announced, frustrated by the stuff she's spread all over the deck to no avail.

"You can't use a hand sander on that," I said.

"Why not?"

"Because it'll take forever!"

It's Saturday morning. So now what?

I called Hussey's to see if they rent floor sanders; Nope. Augusta Tool Rental; No Answer. Home Depot; they only rent in the Topsham store. Eagle Rental in Waterville; BINGO!

So we get there, pick our big, square bottom, vibrating sander, get all the sandpaper we'll need (and then some) and return home.

Wow! That thing worked great! Slow, but it did a nice job and created a lot of sawdust which, of course, went right into the pool! Finally, put a tarp up between the deck and the pool to prevent that as you can see below. I'm not very quick sometimes.

It was good, but we couldn't get the pesky edges under the railing...so back to Home Depot to buy a belt sander...one that looked like it was made for this job!

I finished the job Monday while Marie-Anne worked, took the behemoth of a sander down to the lawn and blew it off with compressed air. When Marie-Anne got home from work, we loaded it into her Jeep for return today. I didn't even hurt my back...and that thing was heavy!

So, now to spray it down with Thompson clear coat! Anybody know a place that rents paint sprayers?