Stain a deck?

[snoopdoug1]

We're planning to stain our deck this spring and have some of the boards that are split/damaged. Do I have to replace them before stripping/staining? Am I wasting my time if I don't replace them? We really don't have to money to spend on replacing the damaged boards, and were hoping that staining it would still be advantageous.

Thoughts from the DIY ATOT crowd?

 

[nerp]

How bad is the splitting? Is the wood rotting or is it naturally occuring cracking? If it's minor, just stain over it and let the stain really work into the cracks. I suggest hosing the deck down very well beforehand or use a power washer to get all the dirt out of the cracks. Post a pic and we can go from there.

For splits that are rough and might hurt your feet, you can use an orbital sander just to smooth things out before applying stain.

Is this pressure treated wood? Natural wood?

Also, check the undersides of the split segements. You might find that simply flipping over a few boards might be a good short term measure.

 

[fatpat268]

Originally posted by: nerp
How bad is the splitting? Is the wood rotting or is it naturally occuring cracking? If it's minor, just stain over it and let the stain really work into the cracks. I suggest hosing the deck down very well beforehand or use a power washer to get all the dirt out of the cracks. Post a pic and we can go from there.

For splits that are rough and might hurt your feet, you can use an orbital sander just to smooth things out before applying stain.

Is this pressure treated wood? Natural wood?

Also, check the undersides of the split segements. You might find that simply flipping over a few boards might be a good short term measure.

Careful, using a power washer on a wood deck is a bad idea... it'll ruin your deck and cause even more wood to split and crack.

Been there, done that.

 

[snoopdoug1]

I don't believe it's rotting, and most of the splitting appears to just be natural. Most of the splits are not the type that will hurt your feet. We plan to put some stripper on the deck and then power wash it off, and then after a few days hit it with a healthy coat of stain.

I'm not sure if it's pressure treated or natural.

Thanks for the tip about flipping the boards, I'll take a look at that. That might take a while, it's a double decker that's a little over 400 sq ft - and unfortunately I would say "most" of the horizontal boards have seen better days.

 

[snoopdoug1]

Originally posted by: fatpat268

Originally posted by: nerp
How bad is the splitting? Is the wood rotting or is it naturally occuring cracking? If it's minor, just stain over it and let the stain really work into the cracks. I suggest hosing the deck down very well beforehand or use a power washer to get all the dirt out of the cracks. Post a pic and we can go from there.

For splits that are rough and might hurt your feet, you can use an orbital sander just to smooth things out before applying stain.

Is this pressure treated wood? Natural wood?

Also, check the undersides of the split segements. You might find that simply flipping over a few boards might be a good short term measure.

Careful, using a power washer on a wood deck is a bad idea... it'll ruin your deck and cause even more wood to split and crack.

Been there, done that.

I'm a little bit afraid of that, we'll probably try it on a small area and see what happens. If it's bad, then we'll just stop using it. Thanks for the cautionary note.

 

[Vette73]

If they are not split to bad and/or coming upward. Then just get a deck cleaner and clean it first. Sand any rough spots or areas coming up. After that then apply the stain. Make sure you get the ends of the boards and if you can get under the deck then spray there as well.

 

[MrPickins]

Originally posted by: fatpat268
Careful, using a power washer on a wood deck is a bad idea... it'll ruin your deck and cause even more wood to split and crack.

Been there, done that.

The important thing is to turn the pressure way down and not get the nozzle too close to the wood. If you're doing it right then you shouldn't be gouging the wood at all.

You should definitely stain/seal after the pressure-wash, though. The top layers of the wood will be dry as hell.

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: MrPickins

Originally posted by: fatpat268
Careful, using a power washer on a wood deck is a bad idea... it'll ruin your deck and cause even more wood to split and crack.

Been there, done that.

The important thing is to turn the pressure way down and not get the nozzle too close to the wood. If you're doing it right then you shouldn't be gouging the wood at all.

You should definitely stain/seal after the pressure-wash, though. The top layers of the wood will be dry as hell.

Actually, the pressure washer makes the wood wet.

 

[Squisher]

pdf alert:

http://masterhandyman.com/down...s/DeckCarFastnEasy.pdf

 

[fatpat268]

Originally posted by: MrPickins

Originally posted by: fatpat268
Careful, using a power washer on a wood deck is a bad idea... it'll ruin your deck and cause even more wood to split and crack.

Been there, done that.

The important thing is to turn the pressure way down and not get the nozzle too close to the wood. If you're doing it right then you shouldn't be gouging the wood at all.

You should definitely stain/seal after the pressure-wash, though. The top layers of the wood will be dry as hell.

Well, when I last pressure washed my deck, I did for the sole purpose of stripping this ugly red paint that was on it from the previous owner of the house.

In hindsight, it was a mistake. While the deck isn't completely ruined, but I did notice a lot more cracks showing in the wood a week after I pressure washed it.

 

[slag]

Originally posted by: fatpat268

Originally posted by: nerp
How bad is the splitting? Is the wood rotting or is it naturally occuring cracking? If it's minor, just stain over it and let the stain really work into the cracks. I suggest hosing the deck down very well beforehand or use a power washer to get all the dirt out of the cracks. Post a pic and we can go from there.

For splits that are rough and might hurt your feet, you can use an orbital sander just to smooth things out before applying stain.

Is this pressure treated wood? Natural wood?

Also, check the undersides of the split segements. You might find that simply flipping over a few boards might be a good short term measure.

Careful, using a power washer on a wood deck is a bad idea... it'll ruin your deck and cause even more wood to split and crack.

Been there, done that.

lol, what? thats how you clean a wood deck, you pressure wash it. use a little common sense and dont use the tight stream and hold it far enough away and it will be fine.

 

[WildHorse]

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[fatpat268]

Originally posted by: slag

Originally posted by: fatpat268

Originally posted by: nerp
How bad is the splitting? Is the wood rotting or is it naturally occuring cracking? If it's minor, just stain over it and let the stain really work into the cracks. I suggest hosing the deck down very well beforehand or use a power washer to get all the dirt out of the cracks. Post a pic and we can go from there.

For splits that are rough and might hurt your feet, you can use an orbital sander just to smooth things out before applying stain.

Is this pressure treated wood? Natural wood?

Also, check the undersides of the split segements. You might find that simply flipping over a few boards might be a good short term measure.

Careful, using a power washer on a wood deck is a bad idea... it'll ruin your deck and cause even more wood to split and crack.

Been there, done that.

lol, what? thats how you clean a wood deck, you pressure wash it. use a little common sense and dont use the tight stream and hold it far enough away and it will be fine.

Like I said, I used a power washer to strip paint off my deck. In hindsight, it was stupid.

Regardless, to not completely ruin your deck, you pretty much lose all advantages of a power washer, and as far as I'm concerned, you're better off with just a plain water hose and nozzle.

 

[nerp]

Originally posted by: fatpat268

Originally posted by: MrPickins

Originally posted by: fatpat268
Careful, using a power washer on a wood deck is a bad idea... it'll ruin your deck and cause even more wood to split and crack.

Been there, done that.

The important thing is to turn the pressure way down and not get the nozzle too close to the wood. If you're doing it right then you shouldn't be gouging the wood at all.

You should definitely stain/seal after the pressure-wash, though. The top layers of the wood will be dry as hell.

Well, when I last pressure washed my deck, I did for the sole purpose of stripping this ugly red paint that was on it from the previous owner of the house.

In hindsight, it was a mistake. While the deck isn't completely ruined, but I did notice a lot more cracks showing in the wood a week after I pressure washed it.

Yeah. YOu should have just sanded the deck down. Would have been a pretty tedious job if the deck was large, but it's doable. Especially if you budget it out to take 2 years of going at it one board at a time once every couple of weeks.

 

[OutHouse]

i just did mine on sunday. I pressure washed it on sat with the engine on the PW turned down and used the low pressure nozzle. my PW had a suction hose that i dunked in a gallon jug of deck/fence wash. let the deck dry all day sat and sunday morning stained it with Bher stain from home depot. deck looks great again its been 3 years since i last treated it. also the fricken price of that stain went up. 3 years ago it was 105 for a 5gallon can now its $135.00 for the same stuff.

my fence will have to wait, last time i stained it (4 years ago) i used 25 gallons. im not spending $675.00 on fricken fence stain. i could almost buy all new cedar pickets for that.