Back Deck Refresh
With all the extra time we’ve had lately to spend on the back deck, I’ve been itching to get it feeling a little fresher. The deck was built before we moved in, but was never sealed or stained, so it quickly wore down to a yucky grey color of unstained wood! I decided to stain and seal it when we had a few sunny days in a row last week, and I’m so happy with the results! Here’s how I did it.
The first step is cleaning! You have to make sure your wood is free of previous paint or stain, and as clean as possible. It needs to be able to absorb the stain you paint on, so having it clean and dry is really important! I used a power washer, and the recommended cleaning solution to go with my chosen stain. The cleaner we used was Valspar’s All-In-One Wood Prep. I sprayed the entire deck down (in sections) really good with the cleaner – like really soaked it. It took four bottles of the cleaner! I let it sit for about 15-30 minutes, and then hit it with the power washer. I was later informed I could’ve just mixed the solution through the powerwasher to get rid of a step but hey, that’s how we learn I suppose! The power washer is probably my favorite tool ever. It’s so satisfying to see it wipe away all the dirt and grim!
After you’ve thoroughly cleaned and power washed your deck, you need to let it dry for a MINIMUM of 24 hours. This is where the few sunny days thing comes in handy. You need to make sure it isn’t going to rain if you plan to stain it the next day. If the deck is still damp when you stain it, the stain won’t absorb properly, and you’ll end up having to re-do it all.
Once you’ve got a clean and dry deck, it’s time to cut in! I chose to use the Valspar Stain & Seal in Solid product from Lowe’s. The color we went with was Spicy Brown. I wanted something dark and didn’t want to see the wood itself so this ended up working perfectly! You can use a regular nylon paint brush and roller to apply the product I picked. I did the railing first with a brush, then went around the edges of the house with the brush. Once the cutting in was done, I hooked up my paint roller and rolled the rest of it. The only problem I had with the roller was getting into the cracks between the planks of wood. I had to go back over the cracks with a brush once it was dry enough. But overall, rolling goes a lot quicker!
After your brushing and rolling is done, you just let it dry! It dried beautifully and really looks great! We’re happy with the end result, and would definitely use the Valspar products again.
