Removing paint off a deck

I have a 3' wide by 9' long deck that the original builder painted with a grey oil paint. The other two sections of my deck are are newly installed and untreated.

I have tried pressure washing , a belt sander, a sanding screen. The paint just will not come off in some areas. The color is hideous.

I have two gallons of Urethane fortified oil based porch and floor paint(brown). Would I be better off just re-painting this deck? I think I can get underneath the deck and paint the underside of the deck to prevent moisture from lifing the paint.

Do I really need to prime before painting? The kid at the hardware store says no. Oil paint will stick to anything.

 

Oil base paint can be very hard to remove - often requires paint remover. IMO porch & deck enamel should only be used as a last resort - I would recomend a solid stain instead - a lot less maintinence. With all the prep you have already done I would think solid stain would do ok over what paint is left.

Many porch and deck enamels require no primer - the first coat is thinned down and becomes the primer.

I assume you are wanting the new and old decking to match and I would not recomend using paint on the new.