How to fix un-maintained deck?

robertr4836

The house we just bought has had no maintenance done to it for at least five years. The back deck is structurally sound but it was painted at one time and the paint is completely pealing off. We would like to stain the deck but, since I have no idea what I am doing, I would like some advice.

I'm planning on scraping the old paint and then completely sanding the deck to bare wood (and I'm not looking forward to that task even with a power sander!).

Then I was planning on finding an outdoor stain in a color we like and staining the entire deck just following the instructions on whatever stain we wind up buying.

Is this what needs to be done? Is there anything I am missing? Is there any particular type of stain I should be getting or anything I should be looking for in the stain I buy?

I know I need to stain a small out of the way section of the deck first to make sure the final color is what we want and I read that I should mix the individual gallons of stain together prior to starting the deck to insure a uniform color but other than that I'm at a loss.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Robert

Termite

Hopefully under all that peeling paint you'll find a weather-resistant species or treated lumber.

I'd suggest using a power washer to remove the loose paint. It will raise the grain a little but you're sanding anyway, and it beats scraping.

If you find cedar under the paint, I'd suggest a product called PENOFIN. It is a penetrating oil stain, and does a wonderful job of protecting the wood. There's several colors.

If you find CCA treated, Penofin makes a product called marine oil that works very well.

Stay away from the Thompson-type of products...You won't see much benefit from them. You need to plan to spend some good money on a quality oil stain.

robertr4836

Thanks!

Our neighbor actually came by last night and brought over a power washer for cleaning the mildew off of the siding and foundation...I had been wondering if I could use it to get rid of the pealing paint rather than scraping.

I'm hoping for cedar since the siding is cedar and both the siding and porch are original to the house.

Termite

Like I said, the power washer will raise the grain of the wood in some places, making it appear fuzzy. Knock that down with a sander.

It won't look new, but it might look better than it does now!

robertr4836

Power wash, sand, stain.

Anything would look better than it does now!