Sanding a Deck (Chipping Paint)

[Street_Soldier]

Ok I have a painted porch/deck. The paint is severly chipped and is coming out. I m going to have to remove all the paint and then paint it. Does anyone have any ideas on how to remove the chipping paint. My idea is renting a Pressure washer and spraying my deck hardcore. Hopefully that will remove all the chipping paint, and whatever is left i can just sand away. Has anyone done this before? Or have any other suggestions?

[turbotrip]

when i did it we used a bunch of rotary sanders and it took quite a while, but it worked great

[Davetronz]

Yea, sanding seems to work the best....
Pressure washing is tricky... One, it makes a hell of a mess. Two if the wood is a little bit soft, pressure washing it may make dimples in the wood or leave a "ribbed" grain to it...

Just a few things to watch out for.

[TrevorK]

I'd never wash an old deck with a pressure washer as a substitute for sanding. Remember, with an old deck the water may soak into the wood, which means you have to let it thoroughly dry before applying any sort of paint/primer.

Sand it down and remove the paint. Apply a thick coat of primer, followed by 2 coats of paint.

[Xtrema]

Or sand it down, just a thick coat of primer and wrap the walking area with those plastic material design for decks.

Then replace wood railing to metal/plastic.

Never have to paint it again.