Maintain Your Deck

Revitalize a worn-looking deck with simple cleaning and finishing methods.
Skill level: Beginner. Estimated time: 1/2 day.

Materials: Stain or finish suited to your wood.

Tools: Screwdriver; hammer; flat pry bar; drill with screwdriver bit; paint brush; roller, or pump-type sprayer; sanding block, perhaps with a screw-in pole; power sprayer.

Overview
It often only takes a year or two for a fresh-looking deck to become dreary. Where you once enjoyed barbecuing and chatting with friends, you now dread to tread. Often, however, what looks like severe damage can be fixed with a little elbow grease and the right products.

Give your tired-looking deck a facelift sooner rather than later. Wood that is left unprotected will soak up moisture, leading to serious damage. Because decks come in for abuse—harsh sun, foot traffic, rain, snow, and ice—you may need to treat your deck on a regular basis, perhaps even once a year.

1. Inspect the deck.
If your deck was built with pressure-treated lumber rated for ground contact, the wood will be very resistant to rot. If it was built of untreated redwood, cedar, or other wood, there is a greater risk of rot, particularly if the wood is light-colored sapwood rather than dark-brown heartwood. Just about any wood, however, can rot if it stays wet for long periods. (Look at tags at the ends of boards, or printed stamps on boards, for information about your wood. A deck may use several types of lumber.)

Take the time to examine all the wood carefully, to see if any boards are rotten (see Figure 1). Unfortunately, most wood rot occurs in places that are hard to see—under the decking boards, at the ledger (the board that is attached to the house), on the underside of stair treads, and so on. If possible, crawl underneath the deck to make your inspection.

2. Make repairs.
If the rot is less than 1/2 inch deep, the board can probably be left in place. More extensive rot calls for the replacement of boards. Hire a carpenter, or use a flat pry bar to carefully remove rotten boards. Replace them with rot-resistant wood.

If nails or boards are popping up or coming loose, do not simply pound the old nails down again; remove them and replace them with longer nails, special decking nails, or decking screws.

3. Ensure against future rot.
If any part of your deck stays wet for a day or more after a rainfall, take steps to see that it can dry out. You'll probably need to sweep away leaves and dirt from between boards, or where the deck meets the house. Perhaps a bush or tree limb needs to be trimmed back, or a gutter downspout moved to direct water away from the deck.

4. Clean a discolored deck.
If the deck has taken on a dull gray color, the problem looks much worse than it is. Chances are it's covered with a thin film of mildew and needs only a cleaning. (Redwood decks are sometimes left untreated and allowed to go gray, attaining a silvery appearance than many people like.)

Dark stains may be due to mildew; cleaning with soap and water or bleach will clear up the problem. Ensure that your deck can dry out so the mildew does not return.

To clean a deck, purchase a deck cleaner and follow directions—usually, this means scrubbing and rinsing. For more serious problems, purchase wood bleach (oxalic acid), mix it with water, scrub, and rinse. You may need to repeat the process. For a quick cleaning, rent a pressure-washer and equip it with a fan tip. Work carefully, so you do not make indentations in the wood.

5. Seal and finish.
Seal a deck as soon as possible after cleaning it. Sprinkle a few drops of water on the wood. If it doesn't bead up and instead soaks right in, the deck needs to be sealed.

Consult with a paint supplier or other expert to choose the finish best suited to your deck. It should contain either oil or paraffin to keep moisture from soaking in. In addition, it should have UV blockers or pigment (color) to keep rays of the sun from turning the deck gray, unless that's the look you want. If your home is subject to wood-eating bugs, see that the finish contains insecticide as well.

Apply a finish using a paint roller, brush, or pump-type sprayer (see Figure 2). Stand back every few minutes and examine the finish to make sure the color is being applied evenly.

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Article Summary

Teach you how to maintain your deck.

Keywords

Deck

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