Restore-A-Deck Wood & Deck Stain Stripper – Removes Failed Coatings & Stains from Wood Decks, Fences & Siding – Exterior Wood Restoration Prep

We used Restore-A-Deck stripper, brightener and natural stain to refinish our 12+ year old 14x20 cedar deck (photo 1). We've used Cabot Australian Oil in Honey Teak over the years, washing the deck and adding new finish every 2-3 years. The original finish was blotchy, worn off in some places and still thick in others. We applied Restore-A-Deck stripper on an overcast day using a bucket and a stiff deck brush to apply it and an old powerwasher to remove it. The first pass removed nearly everything (photo 2), however we chose to do one more quick pass with the stripper the following day, also overcast but with a light drizzle. We followed the 2nd pass of the stripper with the Restore-A-Deck wood brightener (photo 3). We were so pleased with the results that we ordered Restore-A-Deck wood stain in natural finish which we applied a week later on a sunny mid-to-high 60 degree day, following the directions of keeping the deck lightly misted with water for the first coat and then brushing on a 2nd coat while the first was still damp. Application was done with a deck brush attached to a long handle and a hand-held deck brush for edges. 1 gallon of finish did the job with just enough left over for touch-ups between the boards (which weren't needed). Finished deck is shown in the 4th photo. We are very pleased with the results and how easy it was to do such a big job. All photos are of a dry deck.

Works as described. However, you will need to scrub the surface with a deck brush before you rinse it off. Suggest you use a power washer to remove the product.

The cedar color was perfect. So easy to apply! One day process.

Fantastic working product. If you use it just like they tell you too, no problems or worries. This stuff is a life saver. Our deck is very large, our stain had been on for a long time. It was in bad shape. We tried to hire someone , they were going to charge us more than we wanted to pay to have it done and done right. So, we tackled the job ourselves. We used this stripper as well as the brightner when we redone our deck, along with a power washer. The product isn’t the cheapest, but well worth the money. Our deck turned out GREAT! The customer service from the company is Amazing!!!! Definitely will use this product again when needed.

Did not remove any stain. Followed the instructions and it did nothing.

I think it worked how I wanted and expected. I'm honestly 50-50 if it was an improvement. Seems like it worked, but if you told me the power wash would have done the same work, I'd believe it. But it seems like it did exactly what it was supposed to do. So...I recommend it.

This is an excellent stripper. Trying to keep an old deck going for a few more years, the stripper really removed the he old stain and helped prepare for new. When partnered with the brightener, it really helped prepare the wood for the new stain, which looks really nice.

Review Update: Restore-A-Deck customer service reached out to me about my issues. I sent a photo and this is what they responded with. “ What you have on your porch was a poly/varnish-type stain. The RAD Stripper description does state that it will not remove these coating types.” They still offered me a full refund. I appreciate this customer service Initial review: Bought this the Restore-a-deck deck stripper with the goal of stripping the previous stain off our douglas fir deck and cleaning up the areas of the deck that were weathered. Areas that were sunned (grey wood) out or the stain was already degraded it appeared to work on. However it did not appear to remove any stain on the sections of the deck that were in good shape. As we did not stain the deck previous to purchasing our house I do not know why this product did not remove the stain. I ended up renting a sander and spend 2 full days sanding to remove the top layer of previous stain down to fresh wood. Cost of this deck stripper is half that that to rent a sander.