bleaching and pressure washing are necessary to properly finish a deck

before and after of a bleached and pressure washed deck

Not only does cleaning the deck well allow the stain/paint adhere better, but it also effects the finished color when using a semi-transparent stain.

Decks that have a solid stain or paint on the floors often have flaking problems. Pressure washing by itself doesn't always remove all of the paint without first applying stripper. If the paint is stubburn, it may require several coats of stripper.  It is common for the knots to have paint remain on them, even after using stripper.  This is why we do not recommend using solid paints on new deck floors.  

We recommend using semi-transparent oil stains.  Another option is to use a solid on the rails and a semi on the floor.  The background picture is a two-tone deck.  

before and  after of a deck with semi-transparent stain 

 before and  after of a solid rail/semi floor in the same color

before and after of the under side of the same deck