In order to refinish and re-stain this deck in Parsippany, NJ we first had to remove the existing dark, almost black stain. We started with a thorough, high-pressure power-wash with bleach. We then used Sherwin Williams’ brand “SuperDeck: Stain & Sealer Remover” chemical stripping/cleaning solution. It was applied liberally, scrubbed, brushed and rinsed off. Since this deck was constructed with Western Red Cedar – a wood with a chemical tannin – we needed to restore the wood with SuperDeck’s “Revive”, which nuetralizes the wood’s natural tannin and restores it to a bright, clean, bare-wood deck. “Revive” is not a cure-all, however. There were still spots of old stain and tannin bleed after the stripping and cleaning, so we power-sanded the entire surface of both decks using coarse- to fine-grit sanding discs. It was finally stained with Sherwin Williams brand SuperDeck Semi-Transparent deck stain in "Classic Barn Red".