What to do with my previously stained/painted cedar deck?

bsmith717

Hey everybody.

I have lived in this house for a bit over three years and I believe the deck/three seasons room was painted/stained just prior to purchasing. It's time for something to be done. You'll see from the pix that the higher traffic areas are pretty much worn out.

I just don't know what to do. It doesn't look to be as thick as paint but also not as thin/translucent as stain.

What's the process to bring this back to beauty?

I'll post up the pics when I get on my laptop, photobucket isn't cooperating with my phone...

bsmith717

The interior floor in the three seasons room which is attached to my kitchen.



Where the inside meets the outside via storm door.



Here is the outside.









I didn't have a cedar board, dont be too rough on me!

joecaption

And just how good do you want it to look?
Some parts look so shinny it looks like someone may have tryed to use poly on it.

If it was mine I would sand the whole thing, replace any rotted, grease stained, badly cupped or split boards. Try to replace them with Thompsonized or any brand of decking board that has been kiln dryed after treatment. That way there no waiting to apply new stain.
Use only ceramic coated or stainless screws, not nails.

Once sanded use a brightner on it.

Wait until dry then stain it.
DO not use Thompson stain. Look at Sherwin Willams Deck Scapes, Cabit or Olympic stains.
Do not use a solid stain on the deck boards, works fine on the railings.

bsmith717

I want it to look good and protect the wood but wood protection would be paramount I suppose.

I have the knowledge of my father and father in law at my disposal, aswell as their skill to. But I want to know for myself too.

I don't think that renting a floor sander or belt sanding the entire surface is something I can commit the time to but again I still think something needs to be done sooner than later to keep the wood in good condition.

The step I replaced was damaged from water and getting kinda shaky for my comfort. The wood on the exterior has some spots that are rough feeling, not smooth in the slightest. Not sure if that is what your referring to as cupped? In my mind a cupped board would be bowed or uneaven. There's none of that going on from my light observation.

joecaption

Cupping is when a board curls up across it's width.
Without the propper steps taken to prep it, you can be sure to have a job that comes out blotchy and will not last long.

It does not need to be all done in one day.
Do not use a floor sander, a belt and a random orbital sander should be all you need.

bsmith717

This would be to even/smooth any damage? I assume it would only be a fraction of an inch that would need to be removed too.

I guess power washing (letting it dry) and staining again wouldn't be a good option for another year? I'm going to be out vacation days till this coming April after I take this following week off and unfortunately I have other tasks that are more pressing scheduled. I am a car salesman and am off Thursday's (sometimes) and Sunday's. Thursdays are my day with my daughter just her and I as my wife works m-f and trying to do this with a almost two year old just sounds like a bad idea and Sunday's are the only full day I have with my wife and my daughter so again, I can think of many more important things to do than daddy doing things by himself, if your picking up what I'm laying down.

I really just don't want to compromise the "health" of the deck/wood within the next year by not doing something if I can do something not terribly entailed that will protect it till I can get down and dirty for real in a year or so.

kwikfishron

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bsmith717

So Monday I used Olympic deck cleaner, which im convinced is 99% bleach and 1% whatever special compounds they put in it to make it more & than bleach. But at ~$7/gallon it wasnt too bad. I used 3 gallons of it and sprayed it using my pump bug spray/fert spray guy, worked well IMO. The stain/wood started to lighten almost immediately after applying and using the deck scrubber with hose attachment actually removed ~80% of the stain on the deck! I was happy with this outcome.

Waited till the next day when the deck was nice and dry to start staining. I used Olympic Maximum stain + sealant semi-transparent in 717 redwood naturaltone. After a coat Tuesday and a coat Wednesday I am really happy with the outcome. The deck looks brand new (except in the spots where the previous owner glopped the prior stain).

I see now that deck stain and furniture/woodworking stain are quite different. Where the furniture stain is more of a wood tint the deck stain is a sealant/protectant and tint/stain and is a much thicker animal all together.

I should have some pix tomorrow after I finish the slats/railing/steps as I found these are where all the time is consumed!!!

CaptRandy

Hopefully you removed all the previous stain or the new sealer will not adhere properly. Sealers are not compatible with other sealers. Do you know what the old sealer was? It looked like a Behr product form the photos.

bsmith717

I really do not know. There may have been a leftover gallon when I moved in (roughly 3 years ago) but if there was, I tossed it years ago. The outside portion had about 95% of the prior stain removed and in the three seasons room there may have been about 15% remaining, mostly near the walls of the room. So far everything looks great aesthetically but time will tell. It rained relatively hard last evening and it was a great feeling to see all the water sitting in puddles on top of the deck after the rain subsided!

Also, what would make you think it was a Behr product that was used before?