Deck Restoration

I was hoping to get some insight on restoring my porch. To explain things better, I'll first describe what I'm working with, and then what I'd like to accomplish.

I bought my house this past winter, it's about 17 years old and as far as I can tell the wood on the porch is too. Living close to Chicago, we get (great) weather, hot and humid summers coupled with bitter cold and wet winters. The porch seems to have not seen any maintenance for at least 6 years (as the house was unoccupied). The wood is cracking, boards are starting to arch in the centers, but surprisingly not warped and flexing off the joists. From what I can tell it was last painted (the wood and paint is so weathered it had a 50 grit sandpaper feel to it.) The porch is a pretty good size, about 750 sq feet, sits on the south side of the house and sees a lot of sunlight.

I'm on a bit of a budget, so instead of replacing the whole deck I've decided to sand off the entire deck with a belt sander and 36grit to help level off some rougher areas. The handrails were fully unsalvagable so I pulled those off and bought replacement spindles with it (used to be ugly, falling apart lattice).

I'm not sure what wood was used for the deck originally, even after sanding it down. My concern is mostly what stain should I use for such an old and cracking wood and should I use a cleaner/brightener? The sander got most areas so-so, theres patches of paint/stain that the belt will not get on fully and the gaps are still untouched and a bit rough. Would a stripper help with this? I have a lot of tools available to borrow from friends and family, I just need to be steered in the right direction for the best job I can do for some questionable baseboards.

Thanks for any help in advance.

 

Chances are that the deck is pressure treated. I hope you wore a mask when you sanded it. There are a lot of chemicals in it. A stripper might remove the left over paint but you could replace a few boards. Cabot & Sikkens are the most well known stains. You still may have to pressure wash it first.

 

I'd suggest a solid stain, it's looks kind of like a thin paint but doesn't normally need a primer and isn't apt to peel like paint would. You'll find the better stains at your local paint store [not a paint dept] Make sure it's a deck stain as siding stain doesn't fair well on decks.

A pic or two will help us better understand what you are dealing with and if anything else needs to be done. http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...-pictures.html .......You shouldn't need to use a brightner - it's mainly for transparent stains.

btw - welcome to the forums!

 

Welcome to the forum.
I'm in the same or similar situation with a painted porch floor that needs some TLC.
As marksr mentioned, deck stain is the way to go.

One thing to note, if brush the stain on, a can will go much further. If you use a spray gun, you'll consume a lot of stain, but it'll be much thicker (and noticeable).
My parents used a spray gun for half their deck before realizing they consumed more stain on half then they should have needed for the whole deck. They did the other half with a brush. ~10 years later, you can tell the difference as the sprayed part shows less signs of wear.
Personally, I'm brushing mine. It'll take longer, but I'm on a tight budget and it will still last many years.

 

When a coating is sprayed on wood it is almost always a good idea to back roll [or brush] the coating. That works the coating into the grain which will produce a better looking and longer lasting job. When applicable, I like to spray, back roll and spray again. Spraying isn't as simple as pointing the gun and pulling the trigger. There are ways to minimize the amount of overspray but there isn't any way of getting away from it completely.