I've had a nice big deck built in the back garden ready for the summer and it was looking really nice until the wood stain was applied and now it looks tosh!!! It's so bad the missus was nearly in tears when she saw it. It's a really dark teak colour and we wanted it fairly natural.

Any of you clever chaps on here know any way to lighten the colour?

no idea but the sun will cause the colour to fade over time..... but I guess you don't wann wait that long.

try using some bleach on a small section to see what happens.

sanding is another albeit not practical IMO option.

i think it'll lighten up a lot by the end of the summer. did you just put the stain on today? maybe (a big maybe) its still drying and a bit wet under the surface? might dry a bit lighter in a few days?

Yeah it's only been done today and i think it will get a bit lighter but it's a million miles away from what we wanted. Unfortunately I didn't do it myself so I wasn't here to stop it. Ideally i need some chemical solution or something as the deck is 24m squared and there's also fence panels and spindles and stairs and allsorts!!

The only way I know of is to sand it down to remove the top layers of stain. Just be careful not to take too much off. It's tedious and time consuming.... but then again so is locosting.

A rougher grit will take off more wood obviously, but you will definitely need to finish it off with a high grit paper to smooth it out.

You could try bleaching the wood. Attached is a link to a site explaining this.
Regards, Neil
http://www.easy2diy.com/cm/easy/diy_ht_index.asp?page_id=35720398

Cheers fellas, anyone ever used Oxalic acid??

If this thread was on Pistonheads, someone would, by now, have posted something along the lines of 'worst I've got a 24sq mtr deck and I didn't have to build it myself' thread ever!'

Fortunately this isn't Pistonheads.

Bleaching it will certainly make it lighter, but the effect will be very patchy. Basically I think your best bet is to live with it until the UV in the sunlight bleaches it naturally.

John

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

How true.

Sorry cant help with the wood staining though.

Steam pressure washer should do the trick.

Steve

hi, im a joiner by trade anyway the only way to get a uniform lighter colour is to leave it in direct sunlight for it to fade! so you have to wait im afraid unless you fancy relaying it all !!!!!!

If its a square/rectangular deck, and given that deck boards normally have a simular pattern both sides, and that the boards have been screwed down, you could turn them over and start again. Just a thought.

I did the same with mine - used cheap Cuprinol wood stain in 'oak' and it went orange!! Now use nothing but Sadolin for a good finish. I waited 12 months then got the powerwasher on it, that did the job.

Turning the boards over would be the most instant method if you can face it....