Hello I have been reading some of the threads and now I am not sure what to do about my deck. It is a fairly old deck with some new wood added. Part of it has been stained before and part has been left unstained and some parts I just put in now. So basically it has 3 different colors.

I was going to cover it with cabot's solid stain but I read here that it is not advised. So I thought of sanding the deck to get it all back to one color and then stain it with a translucent stain, but then I read that sanding closes pores.

I would really appreciate any help with my question. I am not sure if I should stripp the old stain and leave the unstained wood as it is, or just powere wash my unstained wood, or any combination of that. Thank You.

The previous coating is it a solid stain or a transparent stain. What would you prefer?

The previous coating was a transparent stain, the new one will be aswell.

The different ages of the wood will mean that yout transparent stain will come out different on them. Typically the newer wood will be lighter in color since they are not as absorbent. Usually it will even out and everything will be the same color the following season. You could cover with a solid stain to achieve uniformity. Take in consideration that once you use a soild it will be almost impossible to back to a transparent deck stain.