Field notes

Hay trailer decks: steel, wood, and preparing each

Livestock trailer being blasted back to bare steel

Plenty of flat decks and hay trailers are steel frames with timber decking. That combination is completely normal and it changes how the job runs.

Two materials, two settings

Steel frame work runs dry at higher pressure. Timber needs wet, low pressure, and softer media. Those are not the same setup, so a mixed deck is genuinely two operations rather than one pass.

The usual decision

Most owners are replacing tired decking anyway. If that is the plan, pull the boards first — it gives us clean access to the crossmembers underneath, which is exactly where corrosion sits and exactly what you want coated before new timber goes on.

If the timber is staying

It can be stripped back to fresh grain, and the result is genuinely good. It costs more than steel-only because of the change in setup, and it needs sealing afterwards reasonably promptly.

Bale decks running the highways between Medicine Hat, Redcliff, Bow Island and Brooks see enough road salt and enough loading abrasion that the deck and the frame usually need different treatment on the same trailer.

Best value orderBoards off, frame blasted and coated, new deck on. You end up with the corrosion arrested where it actually was rather than sealed under new timber.
Rush service available

Talk it through with Matt.

Call 403-702-4435 or text a photo of the job for a straight answer.

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