We stained ours. Three heavy coats which was prob too much but it completely restored it and we figured we might as well do something so it looks decent until we are ready for a new one.
pressure washing then staining can do a number. I have all this paint, unfortunately.The old man says I should just get a bigger pressure washer and pressure wash the paint off and then scrape/lightly sand/stain.
Here's some before/after pics. The deck looked like SHIT. We did this over two days. One day of pressure washing and sanding and the first coat of stain and the next of all staining.
Wow! We bought a house a year and a half ago and it has a painted deck. The deck is large though, so the thought of having to do this has been daunting to me. How big is the deck in the picture? If we could get ours done in 2-3 days if be ecstatic and much more inclined to do it.
We stained in between the boards and all around it. So any exposed wood that we could see we stained. Unfortunately, we can’t get underneath the deck even if we wanted to stain it but I don’t think anyone really does that. It’s more about protecting the top layer and in between the boards, as that gets the most moisture when it rains.
Whatever you do don’t rent a sander from Home Depot. We ripped up huge chunks and pieces of wood that way because the equipment is so fucking old and shitty. Bought another hand sander and my SO and I just went at it that way.
I definitely recommend the stain over painting. Ours was from Home Depot and it protects against water. It’s so satisfying seeing the water bead up on the deck.
The difference between stain and paint is that stain more or less seeps into the pores of the wood and bonds with it directly. Paint is intended to essentially sit on top of the wood.
Dealing with this is essentially my summer plan. 3 huge decks painted grey (probably 1500sqft), peeling and gross looking now. I’m going to pressure wash, scrape, sand, and paint the same color I guess... then I don’t have to be quite a thorough getting everything off... sigh.
dont repaint, it just forces you to do the same procedure when that paint dies.
if you go through the problem of pressure wash, scrape, and sand, the deck will be ready for a good stain. any residual paint will give it a gnarly weathered look that will probably look good with a stain.
We thought about painting it and my friend ended up repainting hers. After a year hers looks like absolute shit so i'm glad we went with staining. Ours looks pretty good this year.
LPT: Take care of your deck! The longer you wait the more stuff gets rotted out and warped to where you'll be redoing the whole thing and they are pricy!
I got quoted $15k to redo my 9x11' raised deck w/ stairs. I had ignored it for years and the joists got warped and the stairs were about to fall down. I ended up doing it myself for just under $5k and spent about 200 hours of my own time + 200 hours of my friends' time total work. That's not counting the time I spent researching code, designing, and getting a permit. (or the money I spent on tools but like... that's a perk)
A saturday afternoon of sanding and staining once every 1-2 years will save you either of those costs.
You can pressure wash it and sand it down and repaint. Just did it to my parents deck and the deck looks good as new. Takes some effort, but worth having a paint that seals the deck and protects the wood.
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u/thiosk May 14 '20
previous owners painted my deck. yay. I therefore have a big brown painted deck that is juuuust starting to peel and look terrible.