How To Refinish A Deck
If you have a deck at your home, then you probably know all about the upkeep and maintenance associated with having one and if you feel it’s time to refinish your deck, you might be looking for help to get the job done. Fortunately, this is a job that you can do at home without needing to call in the help of a professional. The following information is going to help make sure that you know everything there is to know when it comes to refinishing your deck so you can get the best results you can without the help and cost of a professional.
What You Will Need To Follow This Tutorial
If you want to get the best results when it comes to cleaning and refinish your deck, then it is important to make sure you have a few things at your disposal to help make cleanup that much easier for you. In this particular example, you’re going to want to make sure you have a broom, deck cleaner, power washer, stain, and plenty of paint brushes. With all of these items, you’ll be able to quickly and easily refinish our deck so that when you are finished with it, it looks like a brand new deck overall.
Step By Step Instructions
Sweep And Assess
Before you decide to clean or restrain the deck, you need to make sure you clean off the deck and remove any sort of debris that might be on the deck. Once you do that and you have a clear deck, you should walk around and inspect certain parts of the deck. Pay attention to where the wood might be splitting and where nails need to be pressed down. The more you find this stuff ahead of time, the easier it is going to be when you go the rest of the work.
Select And Apply Cleaner
Next, you need to choose a cleaner to use on your deck. A lot of people like to use a diluted bleach and while that is a good choice, it might not be the best one so you should look into other options. Personally, I recommend choosing something made specifically for deck cleaning in order to get the best results. Once you pick out the deck cleaner, you can use a brush or a broom to apply it or you could use a sprayer. Follow the included instructions for best results, but understand that in most cases the cleaner will need to sit on the wood for a period of time before it gets rinsed off.
Use A Pressure Washer
After the cleaner has sat on the deck for as long as you need it to, you can move on to the pressure washing step to remove the cleaner and clean the deck. The most important thing here is to make sure you select the appropriate tip for the job when it comes to pressure. The zero degree tip provides the most power but it can easily damage the deck. I recommend going with something that has a spray angle closer to 25 degrees of even 40 degree to get the best results without having to worry about any damage to the wood.
Select And Apply Stain
Once the deck is dry, you can select whichever stain you want to use for the deck and begin to apply it. In general, I recommend choosing a solid stain if your deck is in bad shape because it can work like a pain to hide some of the imperfections that have come up in the lumber. Once you pick the stain, apply it onto the deck and be sure to cover all areas of the deck including corners, cracks and crevices. Also, be sure to leave yourself an escape route so you can get off the deck when you finish staining.
Keep Up With Maintenance
Once you have done all the work to refinish your deck and you have a nice new deck, you want to make sure you do everything you can to try and limit the time until you need to do it again. As long as you clean it and inspect it yearly, you should be able to go at least ten years with the deck before you need to refinish it again. If you want the best results to increase the lifespan of the product, then cleaning and maintenance are the best things you can do.
Conclusion
As you can easily tell from all of the information provided above, there is a lot of work that goes into refinishing your deck and it is important to make sure you do everything you can to complete the job the right way. By following the information outlined in the post above and ensuring that you follow all of the directions, you will have no problem making sure you do the best job on refinishing your deck. If you enjoyed this article, please feel free to share it with your friends and family! Additionally, please drop any advice or comments you might have regarding the article in the area below!
About the Author Darrell Webster
I believe there is a handyman in all of us as long as you have the right tools. I started this blog to help anyone who is interested in fixing things to learn their way around the different tools and to know how to perform different DIY tasks. I have been doing this for years and believe I am a master of this art.