How To Repair Wooden Deck

If your shabby old deck has go a source of shame, at that place'southward usually a fix short of replacing it. Bold the structure is audio, your deck can be restored. Depending on the desired wait, you can spruce up a worn-out deck with a new stain or paint-based protective seal.

A deck rejuvenation project like this tin can be washed in two days, only for homeowners who choose to use stain, it'southward best to spread the piece of work over two weekends to ensure the woods is completely dry earlier you apply the stain. You lot also demand a clear weather forecast, as a paint-based sealant coating requires 48 hours to dry out before existence exposed to rain or farthermost humidity.

Stride-by-Stride Instructions for Sprucing up a Worn Deck

By doing the work yourself, most decks can be rejuvenated for a lot less than the cost of replacement—and certainly for less than hiring a professional. The post-obit are some techniques you tin can use to give an old deck a new lease on life.

Inspect and Prep the Deck

Steps:

Begin by inspecting the entire deck. Pay special attending to any function that's in direct contact with the ground, such equally the posts, stair stringers, or joists that are at ground level. If yous can sink the tip of a screwdriver into a mail or joist, it ways you've got rot.
Remove any damaged deck boards and cut off the rotted portion—all the way dorsum to the centerline of the nearest joist.
Use deck screws to reattach the adept finish, then cut a piece of like decking to make full the gap, and screw information technology to the joists.
Check the handrails and balusters, so replace any damaged sections. Use a 5-in-1 tool to remove large splinters and reset raised nailheads with the nailset and hammer.

Protect the Surround

Steps:

Tape plastic sheeting over the siding from the decking up to almost waist height. Encompass or remove annihilation beneath the deck as well.
The level of lawn and foliage protection depends on the blazon and concentration of the chemicals you choose.
For weak solutions and "plant-friendly" cleaners, mist the plants beforehand then the chemicals won't get captivated by the leaves after using the cleaner. Powerful corrosive agents can burn leaves on contact—in that case, you should cover nearby plants with plastic sheeting.

Make clean Decks that Weren't Previously Stained

For decks that are not stained, a good scrub is the side by side step. While there are abundant deck cleaners on the market, a DIY cleaning solution will work merely fine.

Here's a deck cleaner you tin can brand yourself. Recommended by the U.Due south. Department of Agronomics Forest Products Laboratory, it's good for mildew and dirt.

Ingredients:

1 qt. sodium hypochlorite solution (household bleach)
⅓ cup powdered laundry detergent
3 qts. warm h2o

Steps:

In a five-gallon plastic bucket, add together the bleach and detergent to the h2o
Then, castor the cleaner onto the deck.
Rinse thoroughly, per directions below, and permit the deck to dry overnight earlier applying a terminate.

Employ Stripper to Previously Stained Decks

For previously stained decks:

Fill a pump sprayer with the recommended stripper and conform upwardly with protective gear, including goggles, rubber boots, and gloves.
Working in 20-square-pes sections, saturate the deck boards and handrails.
Permit the stripper stand up for xv minutes, then apply a push broom or castor with synthetic bristles to work the stripper into the coated areas.
Scout your footing—wet decking is slippery.

Rinse the Deck

Affix a 40-degree fan tip to a pressure washer and ready information technology to spray betwixt 1,500 and 2,500 psi for force per unit area-treated wood. For non-pressure-treated woods like redwood, pressure washing is still recommended. If yous're worried about gouging the wood from the ability sprayer, use a scrub castor and gentle cleaning solution instead.
Wearing your protective gear, work from an inside corner outward, using long, controlled strokes to push the stripper or cleaner off the ends of the boards.
Keep the tip about 6 inches from the woods'south surface and repeat several times until the runoff changes from foamy to clear.

Sand Everything Smooth

Steps:

Once the wood has dried, don a grit mask and use a sanding pole and 50-dust paper to roughly scuff the unabridged deck, including the handrail and balusters. E'er sand with the grain.
Sweep or vacuum any dust.

Examination the Surface on Decks that Were Previously Stained

To check for any remainder sealant:

Pour a capful or ii of water on different surface areas—high traffic and depression traffic, shady and sunny, exposed and covered, new and former.
The water should soak into the forest chop-chop, in less than a minute.
If it chaplet up, you'll need to strip and sand those areas again, and then redo the water test.

For Staining

Once all of the repairs have been made and the deck is make clean, it'southward fourth dimension to utilize a protective finish. Clear finishes and transparent stains are fine for new wood, but for older decks, using a semi-transparent stain is commonly recommended. The grain still shows through, but the pigment gives the erstwhile woods a clean, compatible color and helps any new wood alloy in.

The pigment likewise provides extra protection from the damaging effects of the sun and will last longer than articulate finishes. An reward of stain, different paint, is that stain is absorbed past the forest and does not form a film on its surface, so information technology will not peel or chip.

Before stain can be practical, the wood must dry, or information technology won't absorb the finish. Iii or four consecutive days without rain is enough fourth dimension in nearly climates. (When in doubt, check with a moisture meter; when it reads fifteen percent or less, the forest is ready to coat.) Sweep the deck clean before applying stain.

Stain the Railings

Using a synthetic filament brush slightly wider than the deck's boards, employ the stain full-strength in the aforementioned order yous scrubbed: top rails, balusters and posts, bottom rail, and so the decking.
Brush up drips and runs immediately. For an even colour, stir the stain ofttimes during awarding.

Tip: Finish all four sides of each baluster before moving on to the adjacent one.

Stain the Deck

Castor the deck's boards i at a fourth dimension with long, even strokes, working with the grain.
Keep a wet edge to avoid lap marks, and immediately brush out any pools of stain.
For extra protection, a articulate water repellent can be applied after the stain dries.
When y'all're finished, let the deck dry for at to the lowest degree two days before replacing the furniture or walking on information technology.

For Applying a Pigment-Based Protective Seal

In one case the forest is dry out, fill any gouges, holes, and cracks deeper or wider than ¼ inch with a paintable acrylic caulk.
Utilise a putty knife to scrape off the excess, and so allow the caulk to fix until it skins over, probably xxx minutes.

Glaze the Balusters

Steps:

Use a modest roller or a brush to coat all the vertical surfaces with the solid-color sealant.
If your deck requires more than one gallon, combine equal parts from multiple cans to ensure the colour is evenly mixed.
Once the seal dries, expect for any missed gaps or cracks, make full them with caulk, and reseal them when the caulk is dry.

Cutting in

Before coating the deck, use the paintbrush to work the pigment into the gaps between deck boards, which will exist difficult to reach with the thick resurfacing paint

Fill in the Field with Paint

Steps:

Use a corded drill/driver and a stout mixing paddle to thoroughly mix your resurfacing pigment, blending batches if you have more than one.
Working from a back corner, use a heavily saturated roller and slight pressure to push button a bead of the paint alee of the roller into the surface cracks—in 1 direction simply.

Annotation: Using a thick-napped roller will non piece of work. Practise not roll back and forth, as it will peel the coating off.

Break the Pic

The coating is and then thick that it will bridge the gap between boards on almost decks.

Run the 5-in-1 tool forth the gaps to break the flick, letting the excess baste down forth the edges.
Allow the first glaze to dry for 4 to 6 hours. When the surface is no longer tacky, get-go the second coat.

Cover trouble areas

For cupped boards, use a small roller and go across the width of each board to apply the coating.

Apply Finish Coat and Fill Cracks

Look to apply finish coat until dry weather is expected for 48 hours post-awarding. Apply the finish glaze in the same manner as y'all practical the initial coat, covering all surfaces. Accept care to fill any visible fissures and cracks in boards.

Tip: Using a four-inch roller on the 2d pass does a prissy chore of filling any remaining cracks because information technology fits perfectly betwixt the edges of the boards.

Smooth the Terminate

Optional: If yous desire a less textured finish on the handrails, use the chip brush to back-brush the second coat while it'due south still wet.

Now comes the hardest part: Permit the finish glaze to dry out for at least 24 hours earlier walking on it, and 4 days before placing any piece of furniture on it. Oh, and make sure to not let it rain for 48 hours after you lot finish.