Unpopular opinion: hand-sanding a weathered deck is way faster than renting a power sander

I spent 6 hours last weekend hand-sanding my 20-year-old cedar deck with 80-grit paper and got a smoother finish than my neighbor got with his belt sander in the same time, has anyone else ditched power tools for plain elbow grease and seen better results?

2 comments

2 Comments

wells.brooke18d ago

I spent a Saturday on my redwood deck with 120-grit paper and a sanding block and ended up with way less dust and a finish that held up for two years. Power tools just dig in too fast for me.

masondixon18d ago

120 grit on a block is the sweet spot for redwood, keeps the grain open.