Quote:
Originally Posted by d00little
I have a deck that must have been painted before I moved in 4 years ago. It's looking pretty bad so I plan to redo it this summer. I got quotes around $1300-1500 to have somebody else do it, so I figure I'll try to do it myself when I have a week off in July. Are these the correct steps?
- pressure wash the deck about a week before
- apply chemical cleaner
- use orbital sander on some tough areas (thought about renting a drum floor sander but this may be overkill)
- apply 1st coat of stain (use brush in between boards and pole brush overall)
- let dry for 2 days
- apply 2nd coat
It's currently got a dark coat of paint, but I'm thinking of doing a semi-transparent stain.
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I might be wrong, but I thought it was more like:
- Pressure wash with a chemical cleaner.
- Before sanding, make sure wood is dry and not damp. (After power wash, wood should not be exposed to precipitation, dirt/dust and not exposed to UV rays for too long (ie: a few days to a week max). Otherwise, you might have to start over.
- Stain and let dry.
- Once dry and not sticky (half a day to a day depending on weather, you can add a second coat if required)
Typically, I understood the timeline to be 2-3 days with a potential touch up day the next weekend. I don't recall ever seeing suggestions it was a week or two with a bunch of gaps like what you mentioned.
I was told you typically wanted to always aim for 2-3 days where there would be no precipitation or wind strong enough to be blowing large chunks of dirty stuff that could stick to the stain (ie: Leaves and clods of dirt).
