Sanding a deck?

[Star1pup]

We just bought this house last fall and the previous owner put some sort of paint that blistered on the second floor deck.  I tried a pressure washer with very little success and now into the tedious job of using by belt sander.  I'm open to any suggestions for an easier way and what to use to stain or paint it.  It's treated lumber, but the sanding might be taking that away.

[buffermop]

sanding won't take away the treated properties of the wood. I highly recommend skin and eye protection when sanding. The treated wood contains a poisonous preservative and can raise havoc to the skin and lungs and eyes. I found out the hard way.

[Beers]

I would rent a drum (floor) sander from (if you've got one nearby) your local equipment rental company. 'Round here you can get one for roughly $50-$60 a weekend. (I just refinished my hardwood floors last year)

You may want to seek more opinions first tho, I'm no pro and I'm not sure whether or not a drum sander would be too aggressive on softwood.

[TribReady]

You should be able to sand, clean up, and then stain, just like "regular" wood.

I do think there's special stain for treated wood, but I don't know if it's required to use. I would think any stain should work fine given that the treated wood is well dryed by now and the stain will only be penetrating the outermost parts of the wood