Refinishing our back deck was a huge job, but these stunning results were completely worth the effort!
Prep Round 1: Scrub
The first step in prepping your deck for stain is to spray it down with deck wash and scrub with a firm bristle deck brush like the one linked above. I purchased my deck wash at Lowes, and made sure to get the kind that attaches directly to the garden hose. It works best if you let the wash sit for at least 10 minutes before scrubbing. I was surprised by how much scrubbing with deck washed helped the appearance of the wood. The downside is my arms and shoulders were on fire for 3 days from the scrubbing. The best thing you can have for this kind of job is someone to help.
Prep Round 2: Pressure Wash and Sand
The next step is to thoroughly pressure wash the deck. In my opinion, this step is the most important and the most fun. I was shocked at the amount of gunk that came out of the deck while pressure washing. Unfortunately, pressure washing caused a lot of splintering. This meant I had to do my least favorite job in the world: sanding.
Before sanding, make sure your wood is completely dry. It normally takes about 48 hours in the summer sun for wood to be dry after being pressure washed. I then used 80 grit sandpaper on a palm sander to knock off all the splinters. If your deck is nicer and newer than mine you may want to follow up with a finer grit to really smooth it out. Our deck is older and in rough shape, so a rough sand was pretty much as good as it was going to get. I would recommend renting a floor sander to save your knees and back, but I decided to just suffer with my palm sander. After prep, our deck was looking way better than I could have ever imagined! It was finally time to stain!
Products Used
I used one coat of Cabot solid color acrylic deck stain from Lowes in the color “Brickstone.” Solid stains are recommended for decks that are in bad shape. They look more like paint than stain in my opinion. If your wood is newer you may want a transparent or semi-transparent stain instead to showcase the woodgrain. As our wood has lots of grooves and imperfections, I decided to use a brush, like the one linked above, to apply the stain. If your surface is smooth, a roller or stain pad on a pole would likely be faster and easier. I also used the edger pads linked above to stain the sides of the boards. My boards have big enough gaps to fit a pad in between, and I found it much easier to use the pads in the gaps rather than trying to shove the brush down in between.
Stain
I suggest finding a small board or a less visible area to test out both your chosen application method and your color. I tested on a small board in the corner, and then had to send pictures to every person I know to reassure me that the color would look good with my maroon back door. Once I was convinced of my color decision, I moved on to the long task of hand staining the entire deck.
In theory, you should stain each board end to end to avoid having lap marks. Since I was hand painting on my hands and knees, I did the deck in sections rather than board by board. This method saved me a lot of crawling around. I think since I used a solid stain the lap mark at each section are much less visible than if I had used a transparent stain. In the end I was happy with the result, and that’s the most important thing.
The Result
After many many weeks of labor in the sun and several rain delays, the deck was FINALLY finished! Refinishing our back deck remains my most labor intensive project so far. I am still blown away by the difference in my before and after pictures, and I have gotten tons of compliments on the results.
The Update
It is now two years later, and the deck stain has held up pretty well. I didn’t really know what to expect when it came to the durability of this stain. Considering our 3 big dogs run across this deck every single time they go out, I would stay it is holding up decently well. As you can see, it is very scratched, but it is still significantly better than the point we started at. Next summer I might try pressure washing it again before adding another coat of stain. For now, I think I need a little more time to forget exactly how exhausting the process was before attempting a touch up.