When your deck looks worn out and run down, you can restore its beauty by cleaning, stripping, and staining the surface. It's an easy job you can do on your own, and should take about a day to complete. These tips can help the job go smoothly.
Testing The Deck
Start by dripping some water onto your deck and see how the wood reacts to it. If the water beads up on the wood, it means that you still have a good finish on the deck. Consider leaving it alone if it's still in decent condition. If the wood absorbs the water that you dripped onto it, it means you need to refinish the wood surface.
Cleaning And Prepping
You'll need to clean off the wood surface using a deck cleaning solution. Before you begin, it's a good idea to wet down plants that surround your deck and then cover them with plastic. This will protect them from harmful chemicals.
The cleaning solution can be applied by putting it directly into your power washer. Using a fan tip on the power washer will prevent the wood from becoming damaged during the cleaning process.
Now is the time to look for boards that are damaged and need replacement. Use a chisel to identify boards that have soft wood that is starting to decay. You'll need to remove and replace these boards before moving on.
Stripping
The wood's grain will be raised from pressure washing the surface, so you'll need to wait for the deck to completely dry before you can sand. The most time consuming part will be the handrails, which will need to be sanded by hand. You can use a belt sander to smooth out the majority of the deck's surface.
Finish by sweeping away all dust left from the sanding process.
Staining
You should do the staining on a day where there is no rain in the forecast for several days. You should also test the stain on a small area to get an idea of what kind of color the stain will look like once dried. You can even apply a second coat to the test area to see how dark it gets.
Use a larger brush for the deck boards, and a smaller brush for the handrails. Follow the directions on your stain for how long it needs to dry, which should be about 2 days. You can then move your furniture back to your deck and enjoy the rejuvenated look.
If you do not feel confident restoring your deck, even with these tips in mind, contact a local contractor to do the job for you. Click here for help with deck restoration or do an online search.
Share20 April 2016
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