The Deck!!

Since it has been nearly 4 years since we moved in to this house, the back deck was seriously in need of some tender loving care.  The previous owners simply did a quick paint job to get it ready for sale, and I doubt that they sanded or removed any of the underlying paint before reapplying.

Everything was peeling.  Every time I watered plants, the force of the hose could lift up large pieces of paint and pull it off the wood.  I had had enough!!

The first stop of the project was stripping and sanding the existing paint to reveal the wood.  I bought a few different types of stripper and figured this would take a day or two to complete.  NOPE!  IT took a few months of stripping, sanding, stripping again, sanding again, and repeat.  The hardest part was getting in between all of the railings.  That took forever and I quickly began to curse myself for undertaking this project.

As you can see, the first round of stripping didn't really remove much paint.

So we repeated the process, over and over again!  In the photo below, you can see the patches of bare wood on the floor of the deck.  That is what the deck looked like before the project started (and for months during the project)!!

We started to see some results, and Chad even joined in by helping me with the belt sander.  

(I kind of blew threw a few sanders during this project)

After pressure washing the deck, we got most of the paint off and then we had to let it dry.

Looking pretty good!

After the deck was completely stripped and sanded, we had to wait for a long period of dry weather.  Unfortunately, this spring and summer was one of the rainiest that I can recall and we waited a LONG time.

But finally, we had a week of dry weather and I decided to go for it.  I bought non transparent stain (no more deck paint for me) and headed outside.  Lauren helped me quite a bit and we got half of the deck project done.  It took a good afternoon to get between all of the railings and the outside of the deck.  She was such a big help and I loved working on this part of the project with her!!

After waiting out more rain, I was finally able to find a day to do the floor.  I started on one side, and once the stain dried, I moved all of the planters and patio table/chairs to the finished side to finish the last half.

It turned out great and I am very pleased!

I am hoping that this new stain will require less upkeep.  After a year or two, we can sand down any trouble spots and reapply.  I certainly enjoy watching the water pool up, after it rains, and it definitely feels better on our feet . No more worrying about splinters!!  All in all, this project was a real pain but absolutely worth it.