# Forum Home Renovation Decking  Trouble removing Cabot's Aquadeck

## adjool

Hi all,
I am wanting to clean up and recoat my merbau deck and I am having trouble removing the original Cabot's Aquadeck finish that is on there. I pressure washed it then applied napisan and scrubbed with deck brush, then followed it up with another good pressure wash and there is still alot of the old finish still there. I am planning on refinnishing with Feast & Watson's, but I'm assuming that I need to completely remove any signs of the aquadeck first. I am hesitant in sanding it back as it is fixed with dome head nails  :Frown: . Searching through the forums I see oxalic acid mentioned. Would this be the answer? Where would I purchase this? Any help/advice greatly appreciated.   :Cheers2:  
Adam :Wink 1:

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## Pulse

think of the aquadeck like paint.. you won't get it all off with a pressure cleaner and napisan.. 
You will need to sand, use a conventional paint stripper or a heat stripper. 
good luck 
Pulse

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## Dusty

You will have to sand it. No alternative.

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## jimj

I totally agree with Dusty, 
I see this exact scenario on approximately 75% of all the decks I am called to inspect. Initially I attempted to use special strippers and high pressure clean to save the nails from having to be punched. After 6 months of this methodology ,I realised that this is not the way to solve the problem of returning the surface back to a clean,bare and smooth state. The mess of the old coatings being thrown on to everything around and sticking to everything is beyond a joke. If you don't then clean this mess of the walls,plants,fences,pavers,tiles and everything else within the next 20 minutes iot is virtually stuck on like glue. Even if you have succeeded with this the timber is unlikely to be anywhere near as good as had it been sanded with regards to new,clean, bare and smooth timber.
I realised through this forum with a posting from Larry McCaully that you need to punch the nails. So I started punching and have probably punched over 100 decks in 2.5 years. Most homeowners are shocked that this is the method, upset that the nails were used, have already called the deck builder or the original painter that used sikkens cetol deck and hls,intergrain DWD,ultradeck,aquadeck,spa&deck and more over domeheaded nails for its first new coating. I get called when all of these products have given up and the deck is looking like@7^^%. You can't just sand over the nails and mow the heads off. It can damage the sanding gear and abrasives. If you did do that and leave the nail now as flat metal flush with the woods surface and it gets wet it will almost certainly leave a black oxidised ring around each nail which can be very difficult to remove if not impossible. Yes the nails will remain below the surface forever. Some owners are concerned only by the loss of the look of the nails being disturbed and others are concerned about the water that may gather in the small holes. When you coat it and maintain it on a regular basis  the coating will go into the holes and help with the waterproofing of holes. I have found that the greatest contributor to the degradation of the timber and coatings to be the suns UV and to a much lessor extent any water. One terracoota pot plant sitting directly on a deck will cause more permanent damage in a year than water sitting in small nail holes. What is the answer? 
In my opinion use stainless steel countersunk screws. This will truly help years later when it comes to renewal and maintenance. I have thought about removing the nails and replacing them with screws but the time this would take along with the costs of the screws makes it a frightening and prohibitive cost to the most customers and this is before I start sanding. I have also yet found a technique to remove the nails with no damage to the woods surface near the nail head. If anyone reading this has a technique could they please it on? 
Sorry for the longish tirade. Just saying what I see and  have found. I realise there will be many critics out there of this technique and I would be thrilled to hear how else it can be achieved. 
JimJ  www.restore-a-deck.com.au

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## adjool

Thanks so much for the replies...and Jim, I appreciate the longish tirade. 
I have certainly learnt my leeson on the nails and have used SS screws on everything outdoors since the deck :Doh: . 
Just to clarify, bang the nails home / punch them and sand over that. Being largish dome head nails will they split the timber? That's my only real concern, otherwise I'd be happy to punch them down, as I'm not wrapped with the look of them sticking up anyway. 
Cheers
Adam

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## jimj

Yes that is pretty much it. I have two methods of punching. One is with an air tool and the other by hand. I would use the punch and hammer by hand about 80% of the time. Yes it may cause splitting. I tell my cutomers that it may be between 10-20 % with an average. Last week I split less than 0.5 % on a deck. It isn't any fun but it needs to be done. Look for a punch that has a concave ending that rests nicely over the nail head. I use a 1.5kg or 3lb hammer. About 2pm on a day that I have been punching the thought of the beer fridge gets me through. 
Good luck 
JimJ        www.restore-a-deck.com.au

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## Dusty

I'm with you Jim. Cool beer _and_ hot sex is what keeps me punching along on a stinking hot, smelly old deck. Fortunately, I've been lucky enough to get a fair bit of co-operation on both counts: :Biggrin:  2tsup: 
Anyway, that's enough about me. I just wanted to say you do a great job of explaining to the folks at home what goes into creating a great deck. Your good work helps blokes like me get our message across. Well done. :2thumbsup:

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## dcwalker

One other point..... don't use Spa'n'deck on your revived decking! It's designed to be "easy" to apply and apparently the convenience of being able to wash up your brushes and rollers in water far outweighs the trouble it takes to get the stuff off later!  
Use a good quality penetrating oil. Organoil is my first choice. 
Using a good all natural oil like this means you can simply wash it with one of many cleaning products later when you want to spruce it up. It also looks and performs great. 
Regards 
Damien

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## adjool

Thanks again boys :Biggrin:  
Hammer...check
Punch....check
Cold beer...check
Hot sex......married with two small children....it aint gonna happen :No:   
Cheers
Adam

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## Dusty

> Thanks again boys 
> Hammer...check
> Punch....check
> Cold beer...check
> Hot sex......married with two small children....it aint gonna happen  
> Cheers
> Adam

  Don't give up just yet, Adam. 
You do have two small children, so it must of happened at _least_ twice before in the past. This should provide hope for the future. :Wink:  
Always optimistic

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## Mick Nash

You could try a scarsden??
And try scraping the stuff off.
I like flood decks Ol'e.
It kind of melts into an old application of itself  and comes up a bewdy without sanding.
Any other you blokes use Decks oil? I love the stuff

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## UteMad

Funny cabots dont seem to see a problem with there product ( aquadeck) i was trying to source coating through orica and they tried to push aquadeck onto me instead of feast ... Not on your life i told him .. much to his surprise..I really dont think they understand how the crap products they sell actually weather and whats involved in the recoating .. Can you imagine a rsand on 500m2 of deck when the aqua deck dies which it will do.. 
As others have said napisan wont help with aquadeck as its a waterbased coating and napisan breaks down the oil in the coating 
cheers utemad

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## Dusty

> You could try a scarsden??
> And try scraping the stuff off.
> I like flood decks Ol'e.
> It kind of melts into an old application of itself  and comes up a bewdy without sanding. *Any other you blokes use Decks oil? I love the stuff*

  Not wealthy enough to use this product. 
But, you are right, it's the duck's nuts of deck finishes, but just too expensive for most folk to get excited over.

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## MISTERK

Hello Jim and everyone,
I read your comments regarding Cabots Aquadeck with interest. 
Jim, I note you use the Flood waterbased products (SpaN-Deck) which can be applied to damp decking. 
What is the advantage of using The Flood water-based products against the Cabots products please.
Thanks
MRK

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## jimj

Wow this thread came out in Feb 2009 so that has been some time. I have never applied Cabots Aquadeck so I can't comment on using it. I have seen it however on some 8-10 decks in total sun after being down for around 12 months give or take several . I was called by the folks who own the house to have a look and offer my thoughts. After some 12 months it loked rather patchy. In saying that all products require a regular maintenance regime. If they were to have coated the Aquadeck as it was it would have turned out rather patchy looking. 
In my own opinion I don't believe there is a worlds best product. I have to choose something and have found Spa&Deck has given me the best result. Each of us is free to choose the product that we feel will do the job we want. 
Jimj

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## LynnieY

I used the aquadeck water-based oil on our new (thankfully small) deck recently and am really really unhappy with the finished colour.  We used Blackbutt timber as we liked the fair colour of it and the aquadeck turned it dark orangey colour, similar to baltic pine.  Not happy Jan.  I want to get rid of it now but we thought it best to let it wear and sand in about 12 months time?  Is this the best plan of attack?  What should I use next time that will preserve the colour of the timber (we want it light) without having to use a urethane? 
Lynnie

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