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15 year old deck, newbie, ouch!

4K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  Brik 
#1 ·
Hello everyone, this is my first post and I want to thank you all in advance for any guidance you can give me (very much appreciated)...this will be my first deck that I attempt to treat/stain (cringe)....

I have a 15 year old deck (treated wood) that looks to have never been stained or treated before. Structurally it looks sound, some nails are pulling out which I plan on replacing. I have already cleaned once with Olympic Deck Cleaner and the pictures provided are after the cleaning. It still looks pretty bad. Couple of questions...

1. Does it need to be power washed to get it to a starting point? (or is there too much risk to damage the wood?)
2. Power Sander? (the rails are splintering in spots)
3. Oil based solid is what I plan to stain it with (definately not semi-trans)

Again, thank you very much, this newbie could use some words of wisdom!

Theron
Baltimore











 
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#2 ·
I think it looks very good for a 15 year old deck. I never recommend power washing wood. It raises the grain and can strip off some wood. It's especially bad is you get too close and hold it in one place too long.

You could hit the rough spots with a sander. An orbital sander with a medium grit maybe.

I use Olympic Maximum Solid on all our deck and fence projects. It's water based with 8 years Deck and 20 years fence protection.
 
G
#4 ·
I'd use a cleaner like Wolman Deckbrite on it and power wash it off. There isn't anything wrong with power washing so long as you keep the pressure low and don't leave it aimed at one spot too long. Failure to properly wash down a deck can frequently lead to failure of the coating you put on it. You need to remove the dirt as well as mold and mildew spores.

As for coatings I'd go with a good semi-transparent like Sikkens SRD. The deck looks too good for a solid IMO. If you do want a solid I also recommend Sikkens Rubbol DEK. Flood is a decent product as well. It's owned by Sikkens now. We use to sell Olympic and I can't say it's all that great. It's not the worst one by far but certainly not the best. Behr is probably the worst one on the market.

Also I'll mention that those warranties on the can don't really count for much either.
 
#5 ·
looks pretty good for 15 years, i have to disagree with poppameth - i dont know how well sikkens srd would absorb into it or look and it looks fairly clean for 15 years old. If you went with sikken you gotta sand it and thats just a lot of work. In terms of stains, oil based is a definite - but, i really haven't seen a difference in the oil based solids. E.g. between CIL and Cabot.

and o ya, behr sucks!
 
#6 ·
Looks in great shape for 15 years old

A cleaning with a TSP mix or store bought cleaner (wolman/cabot/etc) would be a good idea

A good alternative would be the powder cleaner/brighteners like DeckBrite/Wash-Safe

A power/pressure washer in properly trained hands poses virtually no risk
That being said; in the hands of someone who hasn't the proper experience, it can do some real damage

Sanding if needed (sounds like you'll want at least a little)

Cabot, Ben Moore, Sherwin Williams, all have good solids
The edge has to go to Sikkens though
If using the Sikkens Rubol DEK do not worry about getting all the old finish off, just get it cleaned well and sanded if needed
Two coats of DEK (first time only) and regular maint. coat (1) when needed and this deck will see another 15+ years w/o a problem
 
G
#7 ·
Sikkens does not require sanding. It's speced in their brochures now but that's only been a requirement for a couple of years now. For the many years they've been in business before that their brochures always said "sand or power wash" not necessarily both. It's only been changed to cover their butts. I sell a LOT of sikkens every year and probably 1 in 100 people are actually going to do any sanding. Power washing is the norm.
 
#8 ·
From your pictures and description "I have already cleaned once with Olympic Deck Cleaner" I wouldn't worry about a further cleaning if you are going solid unless the manufacture recommends something specific. I would make sure its 100% dry though. Sand any rough spots. Don't buy a sander if you don't have one. Some medium 100-150 grit, paper in you hand can easily take off rough edges. One of those foam sanding blocks works pretty well for small areas too.
 
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