Hit The Deck

I told you monday that it was a hardworkin' homeowner weekend, and here's the proof.

There's been talk of re-staining our deck for about a year now, and it just didn't happen last summer. Well the time had officially come this year, with a couple spots wearing bare and the rainy season coming quickly.

I saw a stretch of nice weather coming, and decided to seize the weekend. Off to the hardware store and home with a gallon of stain and a wide brush made just for the project.

Picked these up at Home Depot.

Luckily, we already had cleaner and a spray pump on hand, so that was step one. I followed the directions on the cleaner (mix with water, etc), sprayed and let it sit for the recommended time (5 minutes in this case), and began the real work: Scrubbing.

Ohhh the scrubbing. I ended up doing every board and the top of the railing three times apiece. Rough. But with the requirement of a dry deck to apply stain and a very wet one in front of me, at least I was done for the day.

More bare spots than I ever imagined appeared once the deck was clean.

That's the brush I used for scrubbing - It's day job is sweeping the garage.

The next afternoon (once the damp from the morning dew was long gone), I slapped on some old clothes and rubber gloves and got down to work. Here again I trusted the expertise of the container, applying a moderately thin coat and trying to avoid drips. It was a fairly quick process compared to the previous day's cleaning extravaganza, and wow, the results were immediate and spectacular.

Looking from the screen door to the bottom level.

After 24 hours of drying time, I applied a light second coat to a few of the heavily worn areas. They looked exactly the same, but at least now we know for sure they're protected.

From top: Before, post-scrubbing, and after.

This 'after' shot looks crazy red - It's not quite this day-glo in real life.

Just shy of a week later, the deck is still ever-so-slightly tacky, but we can walk on it without leaving marks. With rain expected this weekend, I think I snuck in just under the autumnal gun.