DEFY Exterior Wood Stain Stripper, 1 Gallon

We had our deck rebuilt and chose to use a stain and sealer product. The product was great, unfortunately, the person applying it did not read the instructions on how it was to be used. He just "assumed" he knew how to do it.Instead of applying one coat - as directed - he kept applying coats (finally stopped at four coats) until the deck looked painted instead of the semi-transparent look we wanted. I contacted the manufacturer (PPG - totally amazing customer service!!!) and was told this product would b our best bet since regular stripping products would not work due to this being brand new stain/sealer.I tested a small area of our deck to see how it worked. I was totally amazed at how easy it was to use and how quickly it worked. It did a fantastic job or removing what looked like gray paint and bringing back the new wood look.So simple! You get your deck damp in small areas (I used hose nozzle on mist setting) ; spread the Defy on the area and wait fifteen - twenty minutes (I used a large paint brush); and then, pressure wash it off. There were two small areas I needed to retreat, but with a deck as huge as ours (three different levels), I was impressed.I definitely recommend this to anyone needing to remove old stain or staining mistakes.

We have a really challenging stain situation. Five years ago, we had a general contractor apply Sikkens (now part of PPG) Log & Siding stain on our split log siding. This is a semi-transparent oil stain. The problem is, the wood wasn't cleaned and prepped properly after they power washed the old stain off, so the end result of the stain is that it's way darker than it should be, and there is wood fuzz/felting everywhere from the aggressive power washing. It's looked pretty bad for five years.Since Sikkens is a five-year stain, we decided that this year, we'd clean the wood and re-apply the stain properly, doing one side of the house at a time. The problem is, Sikkens is a VERY hard to remove stain. In an effort to try to clean the old stain off, I ordered a gallon of this Defy stain stripper from Amazon. I followed the directions, let the stripper dwell on the wood (wet) for 20-25 minutes, and then power washed it off. While I could tell the Defy was doing something (running your fingers over the siding after application, you could see the Sikkens stain color coming off on your fingers), after the wood dried, it didn't look like any stain had been removed at all - the color looked the same!After one application of Defy and no results, I emailed Defy's customer service (parent company: SaverSystems), explained the problem I was having, and asked some questions. The lady I spoke to, Tricia, wrote me back the same day and answered my questions. She said that yes, you could apply multiple applications of their stain stripper without damaging the wood. She was very apologetic and even offered to send me an extra gallon of stain stripper to help me finish the job. I said, "cool, send it on!" Note that I also emailed Sikkens and asked them how the heck I'm supposed to remove their stain. They never responded.A week later, I received not just one gallon of free Defy stain stripper, but 10 gallons! And a couple of gallons of their wood brightener! I was amazed at the extra mile this company went to try to help me with this impossible project.In the end, on the one side of the house I worked on, I actually wound up having to hand sand (random orbit sander) off the Sikkens stain. No stain stripper wouldn't remove the Sikkens (I tried a different brand's, as well). But if you have normal, non-hardcore Sikkens stain to remove, I would highly recommend Defy's stain stripper because 1) it does seem to dissolve oil-based stain, just not ours, and 2) their customer service is out of this world amazing.

Garbage snake oil. I bought 3 gallons of this stuff. I prepped the area and used it as directed. All it did was create more work and delay the project. It did not lift anything even after 3 full attempts. A power washer with a 15* did much better and easier than using this. *****NO RETURNS***** so I’m stuck with 2 gallons of this useless stuff. Money down the drain

Just what I wanted

I will start with the positive: this product does what it says. If you follow the instructions, this product will strip stain off of wood. It is strong enough that if you don't use gloves, you will eventually start burning your hands. It is a potent chemical that does work.The problem is, it doesn't strip ALL of the stain. I have gone over various areas of the wooden ramp multiple times, and there's always leftover stain somewhere. If you only use this product, you will have splotchy areas of old stain that will stubbornly not come off.There is another issue: the instructions say that you either use a pressure washer, or a brush to take the stain off after the product has had time to work on the stain. I used a pressure washer. I do not know what the experience would be with a brush, but the pressure washer has to be used at such a close range that you will flake the wood in various areas. It is basically unavoidable. You will need to go back and sand these areas in preparation of applying new stain.Another issue is that you will spend a large amount of time rinsing the product out of the wood. There is a soapy residue that will need to be cleaned perhaps over a dozen times before it is completely out of the wood. Perhaps the product should be left in the wood, but I have purchased the separate brightener so I want the deck to be as clean as possible.In my opinion, you are better off skipping this product and just going through the effort of using a power sander with a very abrasive grit. I purchased 14 gallons of this product and have used 13. I still need to go over the entire ramp and sand rough areas. I've spent countless hours applying this product, waiting for it to work, pressure washing the stain off of the wood, then rinsing the product off of the ramp. I would have saved both time and money if I just used a sander from the beginning. It might be physically more difficult, but you can be sure that all of the stain is removed, and that you have a quality surface which is ready for new stain.