What to put on deck

[Texas Proud]

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?

 

[REWahoo]

Treated yellow pine? Full sun? How old is old?

 

[nwsteve]

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.
Nwsteve

 

[bld999]

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...

 

[MRG]

We use this Behr product:
http://m.behr.com/h5/mobile/en_US/p...m-semi-transparent-weatherproofing-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.

 

[Midpack]

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.

 

[Texas Proud]

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...

 

[bld999]

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.

 

[Texas Proud]

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....

 

[RetireBy90]

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.

 

[REWahoo]

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.

 

[REWahoo]

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.

 

[marko]

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.

 

[REWahoo]

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...

 

[Texas Proud]

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....

 

[Amethyst]

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.

 

[RetireBy90]

Looks great!!!

So what does collective wisdom say? Paint or seal ? Can't wait for what you do and new pics

 

[marko]

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.

 

[REWahoo]

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.

 

[misanman]

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.

 

[pb4uski]

We have the same issue. The deck is one of the few remaining things from when we bought the house (along with a sliding glass door, the water pressure tank and what is now the beer fridge) so it is at least 10 years old, and likely more like 15 years old.

A couple years ago I cleaned and lightly pressure washed it and applied two coats of Thompson's Water Seal. It has held up well but needs to be refreshed and that was this week's project (but is now next week's project).

A neighbor friend did the 4x thing a few weeks ago so I'll see how it works out for him. Once I'm convinced that the new products work in this environment, I'll do that if it is still structurally sound.

 

[bmcgonig]

Definitely don't paint it. Use a good stain like TWP, which is what all the pros in my area recommend. I do mine every three years and it works great.

http://www.restore-a-deck.com/TWP-Stain-Reviews.html


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[harley]

I think whatever stain or treatment you use, you'll get pretty much the same results. Decent coverage for a year or two, then rinse and repeat.

As far as the cracks in the boards, here's a link to an article on a website (SFGate) I like for information about homes and gardens. They say:

Try unscrewing cracked boards and turn them upside down. The bottom side of the board often is in better shape. If the bottom of the board also is cracked, or is in worse shape than the top, inject the cracks with flexible polyurethane caulk. Deck boards expand and contract; any other type of wood filler -- such as wood putty -- also will crack after a few weeks or months, so don't use it. Purchase a dark-brown or colored caulk to match the wood color. Some of the cracks or splits can be clamped and bonded back together. Liberally inject waterproof resin glue into the cracks or splits. Place clamps across them and tighten until glue oozes out or the crack is closed. Allow the clamps to remain on the boards overnight before removing them.

Based on my limited knowledge of woodworking, this sounds like excellent advice. I'll have to keep it in mind when I get around to redoing the deck on our rental townhouse.

 

[jazz4cash]

We went with the Behr Deckover product from Home Depot. The deck is 12 yrs old and decking pressure treated Fir. I don't think they had the 4X version when we bought ours last year on sale Memorial Day weekend. We had used the "regular" Behr product previously and it did not hold up very well on the horizontal surfaces. The new stuff comes in matching colors so we were able to re-do the deck without having to re-do the PIA spindles. We screwed up and only put one coat on in the fall but it held up pretty well over the winter and we put two more coats on at the beginning of last year which are holding up very well but we expect it will need a touch up (or more) after 3 seasons. Big Improvement over everything else we tried. Over the years we gave up on transparent and semi-transparent stains and even the solid color stains just would not hold up to the sun. The deckover stuff is thick and you pretty much lose all the wood grain but I dont care anymore about that!

 

[Danmar]

Just had our large, 25 year old cedar deck refinished. Had a carpenter in to replace quite a few boards. Then the refinished sandblasted it, then sanded some rough spots, then applied by brush a Sikkens oil based stain. Looks great but I don't expect if to last more than 2-3 years. Looks great. Whole job cost about $25k and I think might cost $80-100k to replace the whole thing.