Perpetual Deck Project!

When we moved into our home in the summer of 2001, we were excited to have such a large deck on the back of the house.  The deck is essentially three tiers.  The top tier is right off the dining room and is accessible from the sliding glass door.  It is 9′ x 12′.  A walk down 4 steps takes you to the lower deck which is 13′ x 14′.  One step down from the lower deck is a landing that is 3′ x 5′ foot and from there, an additional set of steps – 6 – brings you to the backyard. 

I know this deck and all its wood intimately as I have refurbished & refinished it many times.  It feels like I have sanded, stained, painted, and sweated on that deck every single year we’ve lived in this house but as I look back over the photos, I see that there are some years that I didn’t work on the deck or maybe we’ve misplaced the pictures?!  I’m not saying that it didn’t need some attention every year, I’m just saying that I don’t have proof that I gave it any.  Those of you who have a wooden deck can relate, I’m sure. For the most current update on the deck, click on the year in the Table of Contents.

Deck appearance by year

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2001-2005 Railings redwood/Deck redwood

The initial deck color was, well ‘Deck Color’, your basic reddish-brown, redwood stain.  It didn’t look like it had ever been given any love or attention after the first round of stain.  It was patchy and dry and to top it off, it did NOT match the grey tones of the house – eww!

Although I knew the deck needed some love and I hated the color, it was several years before it got to the point where I just could not stand it any longer.  I decided it was time to tackle the project of sanding and staining.  

2006 Railings grey/Flooring grey

After those first few years, it was obvious something would have to be done with the deck.  The deck stain was already in desperate need of attention when we moved into the house.  Add the wear and tear of the 4 additional Inland Northwest seasons and the need for some intense attention just grew.

I did some research to find out just how to go about this big project.  From past experience with stain, I knew that if I applied the stain too early in the year – before the wood was nice and dry from the winter – it would just peel off IF it dried at all.

What I read told me that the wood on the deck would need to be nice and dry, so starting the project too soon would be an issue.  With our weather, you really can’t count on good, hot temps until after the 4th of July; so I started the deck project on July 22nd.  The suggested steps are: clean the wood, sand down rough spots, add two thin coats of stain.  That didn’t sound too bad.

There are many products on the market that you can buy to clean your deck; there are even recipes for a do-it-yourself deck wash.  Or, you can choose to just power wash it. If you don’t know what you’re doing with a power washer, though, you can scar the wood.  I decided to buy a deck wash.  After applying the deck wash with our little hand pump sprayer and letting it sit on the wood so it could work its magic, I used a shop broom with stiff bristles and scrubbed down the floor planks.  I used a hand scrubber for the railings.  After the scrubbing, I washed it all down and let it dry. 

A few days later, when the wood was good and dry, I used sandpaper and sanded the ENTIRE deck, railings, upright spindles, and the floor planks….hands and knees style.  As I said, I know this deck intimately!  Once everything was sanded, I swept it off and got ready to stain.  I had bought a grey stain to match the house and started applying it.  I have to say (and you can see it in the picture) I worried that it wouldn’t cover the redwood stain very well.  But, I soldiered on and stained the entire deck then applied a 2nd coat on all the railing.  By now, it was obvious that it was NOT going to cover the red.  Ugh! 

First coat of grey stain

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2nd coat of grey stain on the railing

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I stopped staining and drove to Home Depot to see what my options were.  The associate I spoke with said I basically had four options:  1) Leave it as is.  2)  Buy stripper, remove the stain I had just applied, sand it down really well and then apply the stain again.  3) Prime the deck then apply a solid stain.  4) Hire someone to do it for me.   I stood there in Home Depot pondering the options and trying to think of any other option that would prevent ALL that extra work before I caved and decided that I really didn’t have a choice if I wanted to continue doing the work myself … so… I bought primer and solid grey stain and brought them home. 

When staining your deck, you have your choice of using a paint sprayer, roller, or paintbrush.  I prefer to do things the hands-on way (read the long, hard way), so I used a brush.  One of the reasons for choosing a brush, honestly, is that I thought using a sprayer or roller would just create a mess and I really didn’t want stain getting all over the house. 

I applied one coat of primer, let it dry, then two thin coats of solid stain.  At this point, I had worked every plank on that deck 8 times:  apply deck wash, scrub deck wash, rinse deck wash, sand, apply stain, apply primer, apply 2 coats of solid stain – and this is just year one of the perpetual deck project.

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2006 Finished look

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2009 Railings grey/Flooring natural

I have to say, taking the steps I did to refinish the deck in 2006 paid off for the uprights and railings!  The solid stain did very little peeling and cracking over the years.  The floor planks, however, were a different story and showed a lot of wear.  By 2009, it was time for another facelift.

The first step was to use a special nozzle on the hose and do a pseudo power wash of the floor planks.  Once those were nice and dry, it was time to sand and stain.

Since the uprights were still in decent shape and I had left over grey solid stain, I decided to stick with the color scheme.  I scraped off any loose stain and applied a thin coat on them.  My friend, Linda, came over and helped paint the uprights on the lower decks. Although it doesn’t look like it in the pics, we had lots of time to chat and catch up on each other’s lives while giving the deck some love.  It was much less painful and way more fun than the first round of the deck project!

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I took a different tact with the floor planks and top rails, though. The stain had worn so much, I decided to sand it ALL off and stain it with a natural color stain.  Since I was going to be doing a more intense sanding project, I bought a little hand sander from Black and Decker – one of the best tool purchases I’ve made.  I have used it many times and it works great!  For small projects, the dust collector that came with the sander is sufficient, but for this project, I needed something beefier.  I found that the tube on the sander that held the dust collector was the perfect size for attaching the hose to my little shop vac.  I used duct tape to secure the hose to the sander.  Although running both the sander and the vacuum was loud, the combo worked efficiently and I didn’t have to stop frequently to empty the dust collector.  

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For the floor planks, I rented a floor sander but I have to admit, it was more trouble than it was worth.  I forget the rental charge, so I can’t comment as to whether the price was reasonable.  What I found is that it’s very heavy and a bit too powerful for my size.  It was hard to maneuver and too big to get into the corners.  The sandpaper wasn’t easy to replace and due to the number of screw & nail heads that protruded from the floor planks, I had to replace many sheets because they ripped frequently.  The pictures below pretty much say it all, especially the last one.  It’s nice to see that I was wearing protective eyewear, a dust mask, and gloves.  I probably should have had long pants on, but with the heat, I chose to chance it in shorts.

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Wood ready for stain

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Now that all the top rails and floor planks were sanded, swept, wiped, vacuumed, it was time to apply stain to the fresh, clean wood.  The natural stain color I bought had just a hint of golden brown and gave the wood a warm, well, natural look.

2009 Finished look

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2010 Railings-touch up/Flooring-clear stain

Since the uprights were still in decent shape again this year, all I needed to do was scrape the loose areas and do a little touch-up. The floorboards and top rails were also in good shape. I did a quick power wash with my hose and then applied a coat of clear stain.

2010 Finished look

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2011-2012 No deck work?!

It seems odd that I didn’t do ANYthing to the deck for two years, but it appears that I just didn’t. I did lose pics from 2011 when we swapped out computers but I checked my albums on Facebook and there are none for Deck 2011 or Deck 2012. I must have decided to give the wood a break 🙂

2013 Railings burgundy brown/Flooring Taupe

In 2013, I was ready for a new look and decided to accent the exterior of the house.  I had scored on some shutters at Habitat that was a nice burgundy wine color so that became my color of choice.  Amazingly, the shutters were the right size for several of our windows and I was able to find the same style shutters online for all the other windows.  It made sense to change the color on the deck to match the shutters.

The steps of the project this year were a bit different.  A friend, who has heard me talk (i.e. whine) about my almost-yearly deck project, offered the use of their power washer.  I told her I thought I’d ruin the wood but she convinced me that I could do it.  It did take some time, but I figured out the right angle to hold the wand so the tool would do its job without damaging the wood.  After the power washing was finished and the wood nice and dry, I used my little hand sander/shop vac combo to sand the top rail and floor planks.  A quick scrape of loose stain on the railings was all that was needed to prepare them for stain.

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Now that I had my new color scheme, I went on the hunt to find a solid stain that would match the shutters.  I took in a color swatch to Home Depot where they created a stain color to match.  Since I didn’t want to take the time to sand off all the grey solid stain or take the time to prime (although that would have ended up saving me a lot of time) I just started staining over the grey with the burgundy.  Unfortunately, it just didn’t cover well.  The pictures don’t show just how splotchy it was.  I considered leaving it but just didn’t like it.

So….. I went back to Home Depot where they added more brown to deepen the color.  When the associate showed me the new color in the store it looked a bit like chocolate brown, not burgundy.  I figured it was the light inside the store giving it that color so I took it home.  Alas, it also looked like chocolate brown once I painted it on the deck too.  Ugh!!!  Not one to toss a can of paint or stain, I decided to go ahead and use it.  I never did fall in love with it even though it was on the deck for several years.

We still loved the natural look of the floor planks and top rails and planned to stay with that color of stain.  I had used all of the stain I’d bought the last time I refinished the deck so I headed to Home Depot for another couple of gallons.  When I got there, though, I saw a 5-gallon bucket of a taupe stain that was on the ‘we mixed it and they didn’t like it‘ shelf.  The price was too good to pass up – $15!  Design twist – we’ll have taupe and burgundy/brown then!  

I applied two coats of taupe stain using a brush.  Although I didn’t love the burgundy/brown on the railings, it did go well with the taupe stain.  Now that the deck was refreshed for the year, I made new chair cushions and umbrella using painters canvas drop cloths.  The white deck chairs were also painted a nice wine color.

2013 Finished look

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2014 Railings burgundy brown/Flooring taupe

When 2014 rolled around, surprisingly, the stain on the floor planks had worn significantly.  This is why I have a feeling I refinished the floor each year instead of waiting 3-4 years in between.  Since I still had about 2/3 of the 5-gallon container of taupe stain, this year I would continue with that color scheme. 

The steps this year were more simple.  I did a quick light ‘power-wash’ with a special nozzle on the garden hose and then a quick sanding with the hand sander/vac combo before applying two coats of the taupe stain.  

The railings were holding up well and only needed a quick scrape to remove loose pieces and then just one quick coat of the solid burgundy stain; I still had plenty left so that was nice.

To help prevent (or so I hoped) wear on the floor planks, I bought outdoor rugs.  I found them online at Amazon for about $35 each and had them shipped to the house.  We really liked them!  They are made of woven plastic, weather-resistant and so they are soft to walk on.  At the change of seasons, they fold up easily and we stored them in the shed.

2014 Finished look

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2015 Railings burgundy brown/Flooring weathered

Here it is a year later and the flooring is worn yet again.  This is the life of a deck owner who lives in a State with all 4 seasons.  Although, I have friends with decks and they never touch them, just let them wear with the weather.  The neighbor that lives behind us has been there for several of the deck updates.  He usually comments a few times during the project, letting me know he likes he newest update or color; asking if I’m tired of working on it almost every year while his deck was left untouched and yet used by he and the family a lot for BBQs and sitting in the sun.  This year, though, he and his wife refinished their deck!  It’s a single deck about 8′ x 12′.  One day as I was outside working on my deck, they were both working on their deck -staining the railing.  I hollered over to them and asked how it was going.  ‘It’s SOOOOO much work!‘ they both said.  I smiled and said ‘Yes, it sure is, but it’s looking really nice!’

As I mentioned, the stain on the floorboards was worn again.  I was commenting about that to a couple of friends at separate times and showed them pictures of the wear.  Each of them said, ‘I like that weathered look, have you thought about just leaving it to wear’?  Really? Just leave it looking like I don’t care?!?  Then, while standing on the deck, contemplating whether or not to stain it again, I glanced out over the backyard to look at the fence which is weathered and I like it that way.  Hmmm, could I really get by without all the work on the deck this year?  Well, the answer ended up being Yes!  I took their suggestion and decided not to sand and stain the deck floor or top rail….at least not in the way I had been doing it.  There were some rough spots, so I did a quick, light sanding with sandpaper – no electric sander this year-just my hands.

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Once the sanding was complete, I sprayed the entire deck with water and let it dry.  Since I was keeping the weathered look, I chose to apply clear Preserva Wood to help prevent the wood from drying out in the summer heat.  Speaking of heat – it was in the 100’s while I was refinishing the deck this year.  I applied the Preserva Wood early in the day using my favorite method – brushing it on.  Then let the heat of the day toast it dry.

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After the Preserva Wood dried for a couple of days, the deck furniture and rugs were brought out.  This is the 2nd year with the deck rugs.  I am pleased with how well they held up for both summers.  The canvas cushions I made in 2013 were needing replacing.  I’ve made several sets of cushions, but this time, I bought some.  I found a good deal online at Lowe’s and bought 6 colorful chair cushions – 4 for the deck and 2 for the swing that sits on the back lawn.  I also repainted the plastic chairs, changing them from burgundy to an aqua/teal.  You can see that we replaced the umbrella also.  The last one bent in a wind storm that came up while we were at work so we weren’t home to take the umbrella out of its stand – an activity we do often when the wind kicks up.

The railings were still in decent shape and only needed some touch-ups which was good because I didn’t have a lot of stain left to work with.

2015 Finished look

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2016 – No deck work

2017 Railings teal/Flooring weathered

In 2017, I decided it was time to change the color scheme for the outdoor accents.  The burgundy shutters were showing wear and some of them needed painting again.  I figured it was a good time to change the color since I had to do the work of painting them anyway.  I was tired of the deck color, too which made it a perfect time for an overall color update.

I searched around to see what other color would complement the grey of the siding but would add more warmth.  I found teal!   Off to get some paint samples.  Like many colors, there are several shades of teal (who knew?!) and I brought home many many paint swatches. 

Home Depot is my go-to for paint so I began there, confident that I would find the perfect shade of teal.  I brought home some paint swatches, taped them on the upright railings of the deck – the ones I could see outside the dining room slider – and lived with them for a few days.  Nope, didn’t like any of them.  This activity went on for a week or so until I had tried every shade of teal that Home Depot had…..so, off to Lowes I went.

The same process started all over again….go to Lowes, grab some paint swatches, go home and tape them to the railings and live with them for a few days.  I did find a few that I thought would work so I bought their little jars of sample paint and painted 5 different railing posts, side by side so I could see which paint looked best and ones we liked.  Two of the choices were nice and complimented the deck cushions.  I decided to buy the darker of the two choices to be used on the deck, shutters, front door and trim and the brighter/lighter one to be used on flower pots and deck furniture.

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Now that the hard part was done, it was time to buy the paint and start on this year’s deck work.  Against the standard process for deck refinishing, I decided not to sand off the old solid stain but simply paint over it.  And also against the norm, I bought paint, not stain.  After all, if I have to refinish the deck almost every year anyway, what difference would it make if I use paint or stain? I did take the time to scrape off any loose pieces.  That solid stain lasted really well on the uprights so there were not a lot of spots that needed scraping – the flat parts of the deck railing were pretty chipped as you can see in the pictures above. 

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve painted the railings and I’ve never actually counted how many there are between all three sections of the deck. Let’s just agree that there are MANY!  When you consider each of the uprights has 4 sides, you can imagine how tedious it is to paint them all – twice!  I love to paint and like it is with so many of my projects, working on the deck is a type of therapy.  Watching the process come together and seeing the final result is so satisfying!  However, a few days into the painting these uprights, and I am looking forward to being done!

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For the 2nd time, I left the weathered look for the floor planks and top rails.  With the Preserva Wood, they didn’t wear all that much.  Another quick wash down with water, a light sanding with sandpaper followed by a coat of the clear Preserva Wood, and that part was done!

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Time for the deck furniture with the cushions from last year.  The new items were another umbrella – I found this umbrella at Bed Bath & Beyond – accent pillows and rugs both from WalMart.  I couldn’t find the right color rugs but figured the burgundy would coordinate with the rest of the colors so I bought two of the same size.  Over the course of the summer, the color morphed into teal!  Believe it or not, it is the identical color of the chair paint!  See pictures below….

2017 Finished look

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2018 – No deck work

I didn’t work on the deck this year.  I was busy with other outdoor projects.  Most of them were in the backyard but I also enlarged the front porch.  The deck, however, still looks great from last year.  The paint on the railings has held up as well or maybe even better than the stains I have used in the past. 

2019 Coat of Behr Transparent Waterproofing in Clear

The deck needed a little love and attention this year. While the teal paint held up really well, it did show some wear and tear. With a putty knife, I scraped off the loose areas, gave them a light hand sanding, and added two coats of paint. Since I didn’t add any protection to the top rail and floorboards, it was time to do that this year. I decided not to do any sanding first, so this was a quick job. Since I was out of Preserva Wood, I needed to take a trip to Home Depot. As I was looking for the Preserva wood, I saw a new product (new to me anyway), Behr Transparent Waterproofing in Clear. It looked interesting so I bought a gallon. When I got home and opened the can, I was surprised that it was not clear but a cafe ole’ color. Weird. Using a large paintbrush, I applied the new product and since it really wasn’t clear, it gave the wood a nice, golden color.

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2019 Finished look

Even though the ‘clear’ finish was not clear, it complimented the teal & really looked nice!

2020 New decking!

About a year ago, I noticed that the floorboards on the outside corner of the lower deck had started to ‘sink’. I asked my Contractor, James, to look at it and he said that the inside of the outer beam was rotten and would need to be replaced. We decided to wait until the summer. While waiting for James to come and work on the lower deck, I started refinishing the upper deck, top rails, and stairs. Using my orbital sander, I sanded all the wood then applied a coat of Behr’s Transparent Waterproofing in Clear (although it’s not really clear). The wood looked SO good! Now, I just had to wait for that corner of the lower deck to be fixed and I could finish the deck work for the year.

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When summer came about, he started to replace the beam then and decided to ‘sister’ in cross beams to shore up the existing cross beams. While James was working under the deck, he noticed that several of the boards were rotting also. We decided to replace them. Before he headed to the lumber yard, we looked closer at the top deck and found there were several boards there that also needed replacing. There was also rot on some of the 2 x 4’s. After much discussion, we decided to replace ALL of the deck flooring, both upper and lower, and any other rotting wood. I also made the decision to replace all the facia. With the exception of the top set of stairs, the landing above the bottom stairs, the top rail, and the spindles, we have a whole new deck!

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What that also meant, was that I had wasted a lot of time sanding and staining the top deck, top rail, and both sets of stairs. Drat! The entire deck replacement saga can be found on these posts; Part 1 & Part 2 What started out as a simple, one-day project took James weeks to do. Once his work was done and the wood had time to ‘weather’, my part started. I sanded all the new wood, then applied stain & paint. Since some of the wood was not replaced, I was tasked with choosing what stain to apply to the new floorboards. I so loved the look of the old wood so I took a risk and created a ‘weathered’ wood look by using 3 different stains. The first picture below is where I was trying to match the existing look. The original wood is on the left and the faux stain on the right. Looked pretty close to me! I applied two different stain colors – Ebony & Provincial using small artists brushes; covered both stains with Olympic Elite Woodland Oil Transparent Advanced Exterior Stain and Sealant in One in Natural. The technique gives it that burnt wood look and I was thrilled!

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2020 Finished look

You can read about the technique by clicking on the picture of the finished look below. What started out as an experiment, turned into a beautiful, unique look that we just love!

2021 Coat of Preserva Wood

Since the deck floor was replaced last year, the stain was in good shape but just a little dry. I did not feel the need to sand but I did want to protect the wood with a clear coat. I totally forgot that I had used the Olympic Natural stain over my faux stain last year, so I bought Preserva Wood and used it instead. While it did a great job to seal the wood and bring out the color, the color is more reddish than it was last year. **Note to self – use the Olympic next year!** I like to apply stain & sealer to the deck floors using a paintbrush because I have more control over where the product goes. Because I am doing the job on my hands and knees, I use my gardening pad to protect my knees from the wood. I also wear Since it was bright and sunny outside when I applied the sealer, I used the deck umbrellas to shade the wood while I worked.

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Last year, I applied a coat of Minwax Spar Urethane on the wood that did not get replaced: the top rails, upper set of stairs, and landing on the lower set of stairs. Over the winter, that topcoat began to peel. Even though I’m sure it will peel again next year, I really like the look so I reapplied a coat. Before applying the new coat, I used a putty knife to remove the loose coat and then gave it a quick sanding with a sanding block. I applied the new topcoat with a 1 1/2″ angled brush. Most of the paint is in great shape but there are a few spots that need touch up. I am currently out of the teal paint and will do the touchups once I buy more.

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2021 Finished look

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You might notice that we lost the tree that used to shade the deck. We plan on replacing it in the Fall when its a better time to plant trees. Since we also lost privacy, while we wait for Fall, I am working to provide a little by using faux trees and a trellis. The trellis is on it’s way. I hope it helps give us the privacy we lost.

Supplies I’ve used to refinish the deck

• Deck wash or power washer
• Broom/brush with stiff bristles
• Orbital Sander/Sandpaper
• Stain/Paint
• Mineral spirits
• Kneeling pad
• Putty knife
• Nail gun & compressor
• Screws
• Drill
• Applicator:  Various sizes of paint brushes
• Protective gear: face mask, goggles, gloves, earplugs

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