Tips on Pressure Washing Your Deck

Power washing your deck is not hard to do, but it does take some practice. If possible, use a machine with at least 3 gallons per minute (4 is better). The machines with less gpm than this tend to leave marks where the water "cuts" into it. With more gpm, you are hitting it with a "bigger hammer" so to speak, so it does not have the propensity to leave the cut marks. When power washing always go with the length of the board, never across it or it will leave lines. Never stop in the middle of a board, either go to the end or sweep in and sweep out, or again you will get lines in the wood. Keep a consistent distance away from the wood (about 3-4") or you will get light and dark areas. The lighter areas are where you got closer and got the deck cleaner. The absolute BEST tool for the flat areas of your deck is a "surface tool" that cleans a 12"-16" wide path at a time and automatically keeps the consistent distance for you. They are available for rent at your local rental yard I'm sure. See the link below for a detailed description of these devices. Also make sure you seal your deck after you power wash it. This will help protect the wood by preventing cracking and buckling by keeping it moist. It will retain it's beauty longer as well. Use Olympic Professional sealer and for ease of application, put it on with a pump up sprayer. Cover all areas throughly but do not put on so heavy that it puddles. If it does, go over the flat areas w/ a paint roller on a stick. Be careful not to get the sealer on any vegetation, or it'd dead. If you do, rinse throughly w/ the garden hose when done. Jerry out.
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Odds are that you would damage the wood by trying to get it off with water pressure alone unless the paint was literally flaking and peeling off. Go to a paint store (NOT a Bib Box store!!) and tell them your predicament. Tell them you need a stripper for paint on redwood. It will be a mess, but there is no other way to get that paint off of there short of media blasting. Make sure to cover all vegetation in the area as stripper is nasty. There are different degrees of "nastiness" and of course the better it works the more toxic (generally). Good luck!!