Every couple of years we have to pressure wash deck and apply another coat of stain topside.
When we bought house, the deck was in rough condition and I thought would need to be replaced – it was black and dangerous walking on the slippery wood due to years of neglect.
First thing I did was to open up all the gaps between boards with a razor saw to get some ventilation and drainage going (that was in Nov 2017). Winter arrived before I could pressure wash. Following spring pressure washed top and bottom (used bleach and vinegar mixture to kill any mold/staining).
Stained 3 times over the years – 1st was a mahogany semi-transparent (2018) that hardly lasted 1 season, 2nd (2019) was mixed up solid body stain that looked like chocolate milk, and 2 years ago we finally settled on matching the trim color. Benjamin Moore Arbor Coat (Jade Romanesque- solid body stain). Held up pretty good so will put another coat on top and underneath.
Spent 6.5 hours yesterday pressure washing underside of deck and another 3 hours today topside. Amazing how well the wood now looks – 2 pressure wash cycles in 6 years really adds years of life to deck. Not certain actual age of deck, maybe 15 years but it basically looks new. Will let things dry out for couple of days and get the stain on.
Here is where I missed a section and had to go back this morning to fix. It was challenging to be looking up to see where you are cleaning with lots of crud/water cascading down on you.
Missed this section
ps – we bought the pressure washer probably 12 years ago to clean out the fish pond in our Bonney Lake house. Been a great and frequently used tool.
UPDATE JUNE 23 – finally caught break in weather and got stain down
