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What to put on deck
Old 07-30-2015, 11:43 AM   #1
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What to put on deck

I am sure that someone here has done what I am doing... trying to restore a deck...


So, I use a chemical to try and clean the deck... did not do great, but OK....

Next I used my power washer and cleaned it.... now looking pretty good...

The wood is old and has some cracking... not that bad... it could be left alone but would age quickly....


I was thinking of putting on the 4X deck restore, but have seen a number of videos that show it failing... so I am not looking for what else to do...


Any suggestions? Just use a water sealant? Stain? something else?
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Old 07-30-2015, 11:46 AM   #2
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Treated yellow pine? Full sun? How old is old?
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Old 07-30-2015, 12:35 PM   #3
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Did similar research about a year ago, if you have big temp variations, esp in winter, every "restore" treatment I looked at, had serious delamination risk. My deck is cedar but I suspect treated products may have even more delamination risk.
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Old 07-30-2015, 01:17 PM   #4
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What ever product looks like the answer is likely going to need application every 3-5 years, esp. if it is sun exposed continually. UV pounds the stuffing out of everything; some products contain uv filters, which may help, but the sun wins in the end.

I have used Penofin products in the pacific nw, and it needs renewal ~3 yrs, it is a penetrating oil of some sort. Hard film coatings usu. look great for about a month...
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Old 07-30-2015, 01:29 PM   #5
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We use this Behr product:
http://m.behr.com/h5/mobile/en_US/pr...ing-wood-stain

As mentioned you will need to reapply on a regular basis. Somewhat determined by wood type, age, climate, exposure.... Every couple of years I'll have to replace on or two pieces but that's better than what the sun and rain will do left unchecked.
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Old 07-30-2015, 01:54 PM   #6
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I "restored" our deck a few years ago. Cleaned/scrubbed it thoroughly and applied a Thompson's Brightener (probably just dilute acetic or oxalic acid). Looked great. Applied 2 coats of Thompson's water seal. Looked great. But it lasted 1 maybe 2 years at most. So I wouldn't bother with that again unless you want to do it annually.

DW wants me to apply Behr DeckOver 4X. I don't like the artificial look of it to begin with, and there's no turning back once you put that stuff down. Looks like stripping it off if it peels, cracks or otherwise would be a nightmare.

I'd like to just put down Trex or another composite and be done with it, but I'm too cheap. And from what I hear that stuff isn't maintenance free either. So we just live with a weathered deck...

I'd love to hear about a better solution though.
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Old 07-30-2015, 02:20 PM   #7
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Treated yellow pine? Full sun? How old is old?

Not sure of the wood, but probably yellow pine.... looks very yellow right now But, does not look treated anymore...

Full sun in the afternoon for most... part under shade near the hot tub...

Do not know how old... It looked pretty bad before I did the treatment and pressure wash... now just looks like top surface cracks... will try and get a pic...
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Old 07-30-2015, 02:21 PM   #8
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Concrete precast pavers, say 24 x 24" x 2" thick [about 90#], make a great long lasting deck if you can tear off the existing wood decking and use the framing that it was on. It's better built new for the higher dead load, but a small simple deck wouldn,t be hard to retrofit. local precasters can make it custom, and there are some stock pavers around. Fairly easy to cut with a wormdrive saw and a cheap diamond blade and garden hose.
Pricey,and labor intensive, but getting off the re-coat treadmill has some attraction. Sometimes the difference in thickness kills the idea. UV has little near term effect on concrete.
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Old 07-30-2015, 02:24 PM   #9
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I "restored" our deck a few years ago. Cleaned/scrubbed it thoroughly and applied a Thompson's Brightener (probably just dilute acetic or oxalic acid). Looked great. Applied 2 coats of Thompson's water seal. Looked great. But it lasted 1 maybe 2 years at most. So I wouldn't bother with that again unless you want to do it annually.

DW wants me to apply Behr DeckOver 4X. I don't like the artificial look of it to begin with, and there's no turning back once you put that stuff down. Looks like stripping it off if it peels, cracks or otherwise would be a nightmare.

I'd like to just put down Trex or another composite and be done with it, but I'm too cheap. And from what I hear that stuff isn't maintenance free either. So we just live with a weathered deck...

I'd love to hear about a better solution though.

It was the Behr 4X that was in my thinking when I started... but looked at a few videos and have thought that it is not what I want.... as you mention, it is kinda a one way with that....
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Old 07-30-2015, 02:33 PM   #10
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I used deck cleaner, then Olympic maximum stain. We liked the look of cedar stain we used before, so wanted to stay with it. Last time I did it I did pressure wash then stain. Damaged wood cause I got too close for too long, so tried cleaner this time. Looks good now, except I only did floor, this last May. Now come fall I have to do remaining parts, posts, spindles, rails.

Many in my neighborhood use paint, and repaint like 3 or 4 years. Wonder if there is that much difference in the work to clean and redo.
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Old 07-30-2015, 02:33 PM   #11
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Treated yellow pine in hot sun has a lifespan of 10 - 15 years unless you paint it or coat it in something highly resistant to UV annually - and even that might not help much.

I tried to use a high quality UV resistant stain on my deck every other year and was successful in getting it to last (drum roll...) 15 years - although I had to replace a few boards each year starting at year 10. By year 15 I gave up and replace the entire deck surface.

My advice to you would be don't spend a lot of money on painting/staining/sealing it as nothing will really preserve it for long.
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Old 07-30-2015, 02:38 PM   #12
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I'd like to just put down Trex or another composite and be done with it, but I'm too cheap. And from what I hear that stuff isn't maintenance free either.
Not only is it expensive, but my experience is that it gets far hotter underfoot when baked in the summer sun. I went to an early evening summer gathering on what I believed to be a Trex deck and it had retained so much heat from the afternoon sun it was like we were standing on a heated floor.
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Old 07-30-2015, 02:43 PM   #13
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After 20+ years of dealing with a wood/cedar deck, powerwashing, staining, we bit the bullet and went composite...wishing we had done it years ago.

20150711_093639.jpg
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Old 07-30-2015, 02:51 PM   #14
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Nice deck. Wish we could make the awning thing work but the winds we get on the side of this hill would rip that thing off in a heartbeat...
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Old 07-30-2015, 02:53 PM   #15
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OK... here are the pics


Wow... do not know how to attach properly...

There is a pic of the deck I have not cleaned... the whole deck looked like this or worse...

A pic of the section I have cleaned...

And a pick of the top left part of the pic up close to show the surface cracks....
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Old deck.jpg (690.4 KB, 24 views)
File Type: jpg Large deck.jpg (577.5 KB, 29 views)
File Type: jpg Close deck.jpg (587.1 KB, 26 views)
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Old 07-30-2015, 02:55 PM   #16
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We have a huge cedar deck that is 25 years old and structurally sound, but worn and cracked on the surface. Would hate to think of the cost of replacing it. Last year I spent many hours filling cracks with Elmer's Wood Filler, then applied 3 coats of Behr Deck Restore (the 4X stuff). The difference was astonishing. The old, worn, cracked deck looked new.

Unfortunately, this year's power washing (necessary, because of dirt from an overhanging maple tree) knocked away some of the paint and filler. So we can see this is going to be a yearly maintenance thing, although not as laborious as doing it the first time from scratch.
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Old 07-30-2015, 02:57 PM   #17
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Looks great!!!

So what does collective wisdom say? Paint or seal ? Can't wait for what you do and new pics
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Old 07-30-2015, 03:01 PM   #18
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Nice deck. Wish we could make the awning thing work but the winds we get on the side of this hill would rip that thing off in a heartbeat...
Thanks. We are right on the ocean so we do get some pretty strong winds and evening squalls. Our tack is to keep it rolled in when we're not home or if wind/weather/storms are predicted. We also have a well trained neighbor who'll roll it up if something comes up and we're not around.

90% of the time it's great!

I am tempted to get an automatic roller-upper that is triggered by high winds but so far our current system seem to work.
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Old 07-30-2015, 03:06 PM   #19
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Looks great!!!
+1

Looks far, far better than my deck did after 15 years. You do get some shade, which can make a huge difference. Mine gets full sun virtually all day long.

I decided to go commando on our new deck, since as I mentioned above, nothing seems to do much good for more than a few months.
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Old 07-30-2015, 03:31 PM   #20
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Our cedar deck is 20 years old. I've replace a few boards in the last five years or so but it is largely in good shape.


We tried a few stains over the years but settled on Olympic Maximum Stain & Sealant. This is a semi-transparent stain. Our experience (Michigan) is that it lasts about 3-5 years. This week we power washed and re-stained the horizontal surfaces. The vertical surfaces (spindles mostly) still look fine so no re-coat for them. The deck surface itself is easily done but our spindles take a huge effort.
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