Every homeowner that has any type of deck goes know that every couple of years, maintenance is needed to be done to the deck. From cleaning mold and mildew off to re-staining, it has to be done. Some homeowners decide to tackle deck cleaning and deck staining themselves instead of hiring it done. There are several things to consider when deciding to do your own deck restoration project.

 First of all, prepping the deck is the most important and crucial phase of this deck cleaning project. If you decisions to make at this stage of the process. The main decision is can you  get away with just cleaning the deck or does the deck need stripping all the way down to the bare wood. Well first, if the deck has an appearance of just fading, and the stain is an oil based stain, you should be just fine with a good deck cleaning than a reapplication of the deck stain that is on there. For example, a lot of decks in St. Louis have TWP deck stain on them. Usually, a good cleaning and deck staining with TWP will suffice for this project.

 And while we are on the topic of deck cleaning, lets define what it is. Deck cleaning is usually a bleach based product with some surfactant added to it to help cling to the deck. A easy way for a do-it-yourself- homeowner is to take a  two gallon pump up sprayer, add one gallon of Clorox, ¾ gallon of water, and a few squirts of a dish soap. Then start applying on the railings first, shooting in towards the deck floor so your overspray gets on the floor and there is no loss. Go about ten feet on both sides, then rinse off using a low pressure tip on a pressure washer, or use a garden hose. We suggest using a pressure washer, but be very careful about using high pressure. You don’t want to dig into the wood.

 Once your deck is cleaned, give it twenty four to forty eight hours to dry out. Then it is time to stain your deck. You may be looking at all those spindles thinking its going to take you forever to stain them. Don’t worry about those too much. We are going to suggest the following items:

• An oil based deck stain. Figure 150 sq ft to the gallon. We suggest buying gallon jugs to any left over you can return to get your money back.
  A couple of paint trays
  A couple of painters buckets
  2-9” Shurline Pads and Handles
  2 Painters sticks, 5 feet long.
  2 packs of painting sponges you can buy from Sherwin Williams
  Some old rags
  A can of mineral spirits
  A Five pack brush set you can buy at Wal-Mart pretty cheap.

 Once again, we are going to work from the top down when it comes to deck staining. The painting sponges we find make quick work of everything. We have tried wearing gloves with these, but find the gloves just get in the way. So your hands are going to get dirty. Dip the sponge and do the outside of the top handrail,  and then the inside of the spindles. Do everything you see on that one section of the handrail where you can not get your 9” pad in. Once you are finished doing that, you can use the 9” pad to get all the other surfaces. Put the pad on the painters stick to get the outside band board and the outside spindles.

 Once the handrail is finished, you can start applying your deck stain to your floor using the 9” pads. If you happen to get some deck stain on vinyl siding, take your towls with some mineral spirits on it and it will wipe right off.

 If your deck has a peeling look to it, and you can literally pull off chunks of deck stain, then its recommended you strip that deck. Chances are you have a latex based or silicone based deck stain on there and its not doing what a good oil based deck stain will do.

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