Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Seal That Deck

Since we started working on the yard, we can't really keep our hands off it. Ahem, exhibit A and exhibit B. We are really starting to love the yard now that its had some TLC. It has a long way to go still, but it is closer. One area that really needed attention was our deck.

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I love this deck! Buuttt the wood was rather weathered and we wanted it to last as long as possible so we decided we should clean it and reseal it. BEHR all-in-one wood cleaner and semi-transparent weather proofing all-in-one wood stain and sealer were our products of choice, mostly because of comfort level with the brand name.


We followed the instructions on the bottle and wet the deck, sprayed the diluted mixture on, scrubbed after 15 minutes of sitting time, and rinsed. 


Now the all-in-one cleaner claims pretty intense results with its before and after pictures, but I was not a believer. Granted, I knew the cleaning of our deck wouldn't be that dramatic since we didn't have stain or paint we were stripping off, but still, I didn't think I would even notice a difference. Admittedly, I was wrong. I could definitely tell that it did its job. 


The next morning I started staining the railings. Thaaattt took a little while. I did the first layer solo and it took about 4 hours :-/ I used a sponge with little soft bristles to apply and it worked really well. The difference between the railing and the untouched deck were already obvious after the first coat and became more defined after the second coat. Thankfully The Engineer helped the second time around. and it only took us about 2 hours. 


Once the railings were finally done we tackled the deck with a sponge type applicator on an extended pole. 


It already felt like a new deck after one coat! Unfortunately our little whim of a project turned into an all day deal. After a dinner break we came back for round two (1-2 hours of dry time was recommended between coats), mosquitoes and all. 


The rest of the night we kept looking out the window and saying, "Woah, look at our new deck!" It is a good feeling to know that we did out part to keep it lookin' good. 

A few days later when I went outside to take some after pictures I was greeted with this.....


WHAT!? Right after we rented the man lift and trimmed all our trees! We hadn't trimmed this one because it didn't really need it (or so we thought) and knew we could get some of the small stuff later if we wanted. Turns out that last time this tree was cut it wasn't cut properly and the stub rotted back and through this perfectly healthy limb. :( Luckly no one was out there when it came down and it didn't damage anything. We are sad though because that limb gave the best shade. 

Back to those after pictures though. 


And the view without that shady limb.


It was a great one day investment because it makes the deck look so much better. I don't feel like it is going to fall apart anymore and now its protected and will live a much longer happier life :)





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