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The best way to sand a deck is by cleaning it, sanding the boards and stairs with 60- or 80-grit sandpaper, and sanding the railings and posts with 80-grit sandpaper. You should sand in the direction of the wood grain to avoid damaging the timber. When sanding your deck, use medium pressure and aim for an even sand. Pressing too hard with a sander can damage decks, as most are softwoods.

Sanding and pressure washing serve different purposes in deck maintenance, so one is not necessarily better than the other. Pressure washing is ideal for annual cleaning to remove dirt, grime, mold, and mildew. Sanding is a deeper restoration method used to smooth rough surfaces, remove an old finish, and prepare the wood for a new coat of stain or paint. The ideal process for refinishing a deck is to first clean it (with a power washer), then sand it, and finally apply the new stain or finish. While cleaning should be done annually, sanding and staining are typically needed only every one to three years.

There are two ways sandblasting could be dangerous: improper use of the equipment so that the stream touches your skin, and air particles created during the sandblasting process. While the first is easier to avoid and fairly obvious, the second has the potential to be more serious and is much more difficult to understand. This is why you should always hire a pro to sandblast, as they understand the dangers associated with the process. If proper safety measures are taken, then sandblasting is rarely dangerous.

If you’re DIYing the project, it could take up to a week if you aren’t able to dedicate full-time hours. If you hire a professional and they arrive with a team, expect your stairs to be sanded in as little as 2 hours (for simple projects). Finishing the stairs takes a while longer as there are drying and sealing times to consider, but the actual work will take much less time than the sanding portion.