what to do with old deck wood in the garden

If your shabby old deck has go a source of shame, there's usually a fix short of replacing information technology. Assuming the structure is sound, your deck can be restored. Depending on the desired look, you can bandbox up a worn-out deck with a new stain or paint-based protective seal.

A deck rejuvenation project like this tin be done in 2 days, merely for homeowners who cull to utilize stain, information technology's best to spread the work over two weekends to ensure the wood is completely dry before you apply the stain. You too need a clear weather forecast, every bit a paint-based sealant coating requires 48 hours to dry earlier existence exposed to pelting or farthermost humidity.

Stride-by-Step Instructions for Sprucing upward a Worn Deck

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

Inspect and Prep the Deck

Photo by Laura Moss

Steps:

• Begin by inspecting the unabridged deck. Pay special attending to any part that's in straight contact with the ground, such every bit the posts, stair stringers, or joists that are at ground level. If you lot can sink the tip of a screwdriver into a post or joist, it means yous've got rot.
• Remove whatsoever damaged deck boards and cut off the rotted portion—all the way back to the centerline of the nearest joist.
• Use deck screws to reattach the skillful end, then cut a piece of like decking to fill up the gap, and screw it to the joists.
• Check the handrails and balusters, and so replace any damaged sections. Utilize a v-in-i tool to remove large splinters and reset raised nailheads with the nailset and hammer.

Protect the Surroundings

Photo by Laura Moss

Steps:

• Tape plastic sheeting over the siding from the decking up to near waist top. Cover or remove annihilation beneath the deck as well.
• The level of backyard and leaf protection depends on the type and concentration of the chemicals you cull.
• For weak solutions and "institute-friendly" cleaners, mist the plants beforehand and then the chemicals won't get absorbed 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.

Clean Decks that Weren't Previously Stained

For decks that are not stained, a good scrub is the next step. While there are abundant deck cleaners on the market, a DIY cleaning solution volition work just fine.

Here's a deck cleaner y'all can brand yourself. Recommended past the U.Southward. Department of Agriculture Woods Products Laboratory, it's good for mildew and dirt.

Ingredients:

• 1 qt. sodium hypochlorite solution (household bleach)
• ⅓ cup powdered laundry detergent
• three qts. warm water

Steps:

• In a 5-gallon plastic bucket, add the bleach and detergent to the water
• Then, castor the cleaner onto the deck.
• Rinse thoroughly, per directions below, and allow the deck to dry overnight before applying a finish.

Apply Stripper to Previously Stained Decks

Photo past Laura Moss

For previously stained decks:

• Fill up a pump sprayer with the recommended stripper and adjust up with protective gear, including goggles, rubber boots, and gloves.
• Working in 20-square-foot sections, saturate the deck boards and handrails.
• Permit the stripper stand up for 15 minutes, then use a push broom or brush with synthetic bristles to work the stripper into the coated areas.
• Watch your basis—moisture decking is glace.

Rinse the Deck

Photo by Laura Moss

• Affix a forty-degree fan tip to a pressure level washer and set it to spray between 1,500 and 2,500 psi for pressure-treated woods. For non-force per unit area-treated wood similar redwood, pressure washing is withal recommended. If you're worried about gouging the wood from the power sprayer, use a scrub brush 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 wood'due south surface and repeat several times until the runoff changes from foamy to clear.

Sand Everything Smooth

Photo past Laura Moss

Steps:

• Once the wood has stale, don a dust mask and use a sanding pole and 50-grit paper to roughly scuff the entire deck, including the handrail and balusters. Always sand with the grain.
• Sweep or vacuum whatsoever dust.

Test the Surface on Decks that Were Previously Stained

Photo by Laura Moss

To cheque for whatever remainder sealant:

• Pour a capful or two of h2o on different surface areas—high traffic and low traffic, shady and sunny, exposed and covered, new and onetime.
• The h2o should soak into the forest quickly, in less than a minute.
• If it beads up, you'll demand to strip and sand those areas again, then redo the water test.

For Staining

In one case all of the repairs accept been made and the deck is clean, it's fourth dimension to apply a protective finish. Clear finishes and transparent stains are fine for new wood, but for older decks, using a semi-transparent stain is ordinarily recommended. The grain all the same shows through, but the pigment gives the old wood a clean, uniform color and helps whatever new wood blend in.

The pigment also provides extra protection from the damaging effects of the sun and volition concluding longer than clear finishes. An advantage of stain, unlike pigment, is that stain is absorbed by the wood and does not form a film on its surface, so information technology will not peel or chip.

Before stain can be applied, the wood must dry, or it won't absorb the finish. 3 or four consecutive days without rain is enough time in most climates. (When in dubiety, check with a moisture meter; when information technology reads xv percent or less, the forest is gear up to coat.) Sweep the deck clean before applying stain.

Stain the Railings

Photo by Kristine Larsen

• Using a constructed filament brush slightly wider than the deck'southward boards, apply the stain full-strength in the same order y'all scrubbed: superlative runway, balusters and posts, bottom rail, then the decking.
• Castor up drips and runs immediately. For an fifty-fifty color, stir the stain frequently during application.

Tip: Stop all four sides of each baluster before moving on to the next one.

Stain the Deck

• Brush the deck's boards one at a time with long, even strokes, working with the grain.
• Go on a wet edge to avoid lap marks, and immediately castor out whatever pools of stain.
• For extra protection, a clear h2o repellent tin exist applied after the stain dries.
• When y'all're finished, let the deck dry for at least two days before replacing the furniture or walking on information technology.

For Applying a Paint-Based Protective Seal

• Once the wood is dry, fill whatsoever gouges, holes, and cracks deeper or wider than ¼ inch with a paintable acrylic caulk.
• Use a putty knife to scrape off the backlog, so allow the caulk to set until it skins over, probably thirty minutes.

Coat the Balusters

Photograph past Laura Moss

Steps:

• Use a modest roller or a brush to glaze all the vertical surfaces with the solid-color sealant.
• If your deck requires more 1 gallon, combine equal parts from multiple cans to ensure the color is evenly mixed.
• Once the seal dries, await for any missed gaps or cracks, fill up them with caulk, and reseal them when the caulk is dry.

Cutting in

Photograph by Laura Moss

Earlier coating the deck, use the paintbrush to work the pigment into the gaps between deck boards, which will be hard to reach with the thick resurfacing paint

Fill in the Field with Paint

Photograph by Laura Moss

Steps:

• Employ a corded drill/driver and a stout mixing paddle to thoroughly mix your resurfacing paint, blending batches if you accept more than than one.
• Working from a back corner, apply a heavily saturated roller and slight pressure level to push a dewdrop of the paint alee of the roller into the surface cracks—in 1 direction only.

Annotation: Using a thick-napped roller volition not work. Do non roll back and forth, as it volition peel the coating off.

Break the Moving picture

Photograph past Laura Moss

The blanket is so thick that it volition bridge the gap between boards on nigh decks.

• Run the v-in-one tool forth the gaps to break the picture, letting the excess drip downwards along the edges.
• Permit the first glaze to dry out for 4 to 6 hours. When the surface is no longer tacky, start the second coat.

Cover problem areas

Photo past Laura Moss

For cupped boards, use a small roller and get beyond the width of each lath to use the coating.

Employ Finish Glaze and Fill Cracks

Photo by Laura Moss

Wait to apply finish coat until dry weather is expected for 48 hours mail service-application. Apply the finish coat in the aforementioned manner as you applied the initial coat, covering all surfaces. Take care to fill any visible fissures and cracks in boards.

Tip: Using a 4-inch roller on the 2nd pass does a squeamish job of filling whatsoever remaining cracks because information technology fits perfectly betwixt the edges of the boards.

Polish the Finish

Photo past Laura Moss

Optional: If you want a less textured end on the handrails, use the chip brush to back-brush the second coat while information technology's still wet.

At present comes the hardest part: Allow the finish coat to dry for at to the lowest degree 24 hours before walking on it, and 4 days before placing any furniture on it. Oh, and make sure to not let information technology rain for 48 hours later on you terminate.

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Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/decking/21164885/how-to-restore-a-weathered-deck