Refinishing our deck with a heat gun instead of chemicals, felt risky but paid off

I spent a whole Saturday in June stripping layers of old stain off our 20 year oak deck using a heat gun and scraper instead of the chemical stripper everyone recommends, mostly because I hated the idea of fumes near the flower beds. It took longer but the wood looks cleaner and I didn't burn through as much sandpaper, would any of you go back to the chemical route for a bigger deck?

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butler.abby6d ago

Totally feel you on the fumes thing. I did the same last summer on our smaller deck just because my dog likes to nap under the railings and I didn't want her breathing that stuff in. Heat gun took forever but honestly the wood came out looking like new, no weird residue spots like I've seen with chemical jobs. Plus I didn't have to wait days for the smell to fade before we could use the space. For a bigger deck I'd probably still stick with the heat gun, just split it over a couple weekends and maybe invest in a cheap paint scraper with an angled edge, saves your wrist so much.