What to put on deck

[target2019]

I was going to post a question about deck treatment, as ours is getting tired after at least 10 years of exposure to the NE US weather.

I redid the the upper green deck before the treatment. I used 2x6 pressure treated pine. After a year or two I bought a large container of something like BEHR PREMIUM Semi-Transparent Weatherproofing All-In-One Wood Stain & Sealer previously mentioned. I still have the can, and mine also mentions alkyd and acrylic in the name. A 5-gallon can did everything twice. Some sections held up better. Also, for about 5 years there were two very large trees growing through the deck, providing a lot of shade from the intense sun. You can see the sun has washed out the picture completely at the right.

I will probably go searching for the same Wehr product, or similar, for the upper green deck. I have found that a couple of gallons of deck wash, and a light power scrub, cleans the surface very well.

The lower red decks are 2x4's, and a lot of those need to be replaced. I found that the red non-Wehr product did not hold up as well. I will probably also use a Wehr product for that portion.

I looked at online reviews of the newer products, and too many are negative. So I'm being really cautious, as I do not want to redo any of this work, which is costly and time-consuming.

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amethyst Perhaps they took too literally, the videos showing people effortlessly applying the product from a standing position with no preparation, and then dancing barefoot on the finish? Or heaven forbid...attempting to SPRAY the product? (Picture thick liquid substance hitting a rotating fan)

The deck restore 4X or 10X cannot be sprayed.... but there are deck sealers that can...

As others have mentioned... who knows if they did it correctly... but I did see one video where the guy showed how he did it and it looked like it was better than what most would do... filled in the cracks, brushed the edge of every board before using a flat something to brush the planks.... he then had problems I think in a year or two.... flaking off etc....

One guy had ripples on the deck.... like it did not stick to the wood at all... so you know they are going to crack....


Right now I think I am going to go with the water seal... I can live with doing it every 2 or 3 years (even though we have lived here 5 years and this is the first time I am getting to it )....

[tryan]

Don't bother with the Behr Deckover. Used it at the lake .... married the color and now it peels up in SHEETS .... every year. What a waste of time. Forget I followed the instructions to a tee.

Now I am faced with popping the boards and flipping them to get back to what I started with. What a MESS!

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack ... I'd love to hear about a better solution though.

Masonry products. Natural or man-formed. Many styles available.

We did our patio area in cement patio pavers. A random pattern of 3x6, 6x6, and 6x9 pavers. Looks great, almost no maintenance (a little weed pulling/spraying, a little sand spread in the cracks maybe once a year).

Might be too hot for full sun in the South, ours gets some shade from trees, and the house blocks the afternoon sun.

-ERD50

[REWahoo]

Like NW, our deck is elevated. Masonry isn't an option.

[pb4uski]

+1, 7' off the ground. I did add plastic panels under the deck so I can now store things under the deck and they don't get wet. Also thinking that under the deck mght be a good spot for a hot tub, but that is a whole different thread.

[NW-Bound]

Some people have found a way to do an elevated concrete deck. I wonder about the requirement of the supporting structure. See photo from the Web.

[REWahoo]

Looks like some massive columns. Steel beams underneath for strength?

[NW-Bound]

Nothing that money cannot solve. For some of us, it's too late to do OMY to get that extra money. Here's another photo from the Web.

[bld999]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Looks like some massive columns. Steel beams underneath for strength?

I think the columns are holding up the second floor of the house above.
It could be done new with a 3" slab on metal form-deck over treated wood framing. The concrete in that case would weigh ~34 pounds per square foot.

[Bamaman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound When I redo the deck it is going to be composite. With a 1000 sq.ft. deck, it is going to cost a bit of money. A composite deck does hold the heat, but that is not a problem at 7000 ft elevation.

I put Trex on a deck on the back of my screen porch. The stuff was about $8 per square foot. That means 1000 square feet installed could cost you as much as $10,000 including labor. That's pretty expensive stuff.

I just spent much of a year rebuilding a balcony deck over a screen porch. I sure wish my father would have poured a concrete deck when the house was originally built.

[pb4uski]

I'm starting to wonder if plastic or aluminum might be the answer. Hear me out. Around here there are docks that are decked with plastic panels or aluminum decking that seem to hold up well and are low maintenance compared to a deck (though I concede we do pressure wash my Mom's aluminum dock).

I previously had a dock that I made with Aqua-Dek panels and that was no maintenance and worked with 24" on center joists. ThruFlow panels are designed for 16" on center and should be low maintenance as well. But low/no maintenance would be pricey.... Aqua-Dek runs about $7/sf, and Thru-flow runs about $9/sf compared to $4.50/sf for Trex.

ThruFlow™
Aqua-Dek Marine Decking Panels

An aluminum decking product. http://www.nexaninc.com/products/dec...rproof-decking

Anyhow, an interesting possibility that would be low or no maintenance.

[NW-Bound]

I am sure these aluminum decks will outlast wood or even composite decks. The problem is the house must be of a modern design to fit the style. A metal deck would look awful with my house and its wood stained siding.

[ExFlyBoy5]

I can tell you that my next home will be four side brick, metal roof and concrete patios. I've had it with shingle roofs, cedar siding and most recently a 50x15 deck and a 60 foot long 'bridge' to our front door. The big deck has taken forever to prep and stain (only horizontal surface so far) and I'm trying to figure out if I can spray the 150+ spindles without making a huge mess.

I. Am. Tired.

Sent from my mobile device so please excuse grammatical errors.

[NW-Bound]

We have more than 2x the number of spindles, and we have re-stained them by hand with brushes 4 times in the 10 years we own the house.

At least the spindles still look good, compared to the deck.

[ExFlyBoy5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound We have more than 2x the number of spindles, and we have re-stained them by hand with brushes 4 times in the 10 years we own the house. At least the spindles still look good, compared to the deck.

How long did that take? I'd prefer it not take a week! Especially with the nice, hot weather!

Sent from my mobile device so please excuse grammatical errors.

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlyBoy5 ....and I'm trying to figure out if I can spray the 150+ spindles without making a huge mess. ...

Makes my cable railings look pretty good right now!

They were actually an experiment... a guy down the lake had some and I liked that they did not block the view of the lake as much as spindles, but his was SS and big $$$$$.... much more than I was willing to spend. I made a plywood template to drill holes through the posts and bought vinyl coated cable and some SS eye bolts from Home Depot and it has worked like a charm. Cost me probably $300 in materials vs thousands and I don't have to paint it.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamaman I put Trex on a deck on the back of my screen porch. The stuff was about $8 per square foot. That means 1000 square feet installed could cost you as much as $10,000 including labor. That's pretty expensive stuff...

The local store has a brand other than Trex, but its name escapes me at the moment. They have 3 different grades. I priced out the mid grade, and the cost was about $10K before labor.

I am thinking about doing it myself, replacing a plank at a time whenever I feel like it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlyBoy5 How long did that take? I'd prefer it not take a week! Especially with the nice, hot weather!

With the wife staining the inside of the spindles while I do the outside on a ladder because of the height, it takes but 3 days. And it's not 3 full days either. Maybe 3 or 4 hours each day.

[dallas27]

bleach and dish soap to clean, and stain with a quality product. Don't you dare buy stain or paint at homedepot/lowes.

[pb4uski]

I remembered that my Mom had one of these accessories that attaches to a pressure washer. I'm using it to clean my deck right now (I'm waiting for the deck wash to do its work on the other half of the deck) and it seems to work great. Much faster than a wand.



Shop Briggs & Stratton Rotating Surface Cleaner for Pressure Washers at Lowes.com