The Deck Project

With all of the work on the driveway, the rain barrel project, the garden, the walkway and getting ready to go to Alaska, you may have thought that we couldn't possibly have had time to work on anything else, but somehow we managed to fit refinishing the deck into the mix.

We have two very nice decks - a larger deck off the living area and a smaller one off the master bedroom. Unfortunately, the main deck had never been properly stained and sitting in the sun every day had left its mark.

The underside of the deck was even worse - because it never saw the sun, it was coated in layers of black mold. The smaller deck had been stained at some point and although it was not very well done, the wood was better protected from the elements, so we decided to start with the larger deck.

After doing some research on deck refinishing, we did the following:

Step 1. Clean the deck

Using a power washer, deck cleaner, and a lot of elbow grease, we sprayed, scrubbed, and rinsed until most of the black mold was removed and the most of the random remnants of old stain had been wiped clean. Between the power washer and the deck cleaner, it was surprisingly easy to remove the build-up, though still hard, hot work in the sun, so many thanks to the deck cleaning crew!

Step 2. Sand the deck

We did this by hand and with the help of a small hand sander. It was a big job and took longer than expected due to some rainy weather. Rainy, wet weather will definitely delay every step of refinishing a deck.

Step 3. Stain the deck

We choose a semi-transparent stain that was rich in linseed oil and promised to make the wood water, UV, and mildew resistant. Starting in one corner we worked our way across in stages. This took place over multiple weekends and mostly in the early morning and evening as the deck stain was easier to apply when the wood was not baking in direct sunlight - for me and the deck!

After three weeks, several rain delays, an extra tin of stain, and some close calls - including a storm alert as I rushed to paint the final few steps..........voila! A beautiful "new" deck!