We borrow my neighbor's sometimes. He has pool noodles permanently affixed on all the bars and areas to prevent scratching.
When we had our front porch built back in 2010 the contractor talked me into mahogany instead of the usual treated wood for the floor. It was more money, but well worth it. It was overdue to be re-stained. Last time was 2020 so today was the day. I started a little before 7am to get ahead of the heat and finished around 10:30. All applied by hand with a 3” brush because the one time I used a roller I didn’t like the results. Here’s a tip: When you’re holding a brush loaded with stain near the railing that’s painted white and a deer fly bites you, don’t swat at it.
About 10 years ago I built the cedar post table for my deck... just 4x4 cedar posts from Home Depot that were glued up into a very solid table. I finished it using kind of expensive spar varnish from Epiphanes... it's known for being best in class for cedar strip boats when it comes to UV protection, etc. Totally worth it. It sat outside for years... no cover, in full sun, sleet, hail, snow, rain, ice. All the weather. Needless to say it was in need of a refinish.
This weekend was the weekend. Started off sanding off the old finish. It was way harder than I was expecting... that spar varnish was tough on sandpaper, and it penetrated pretty deep. Had to dig out the big gun... the Festool Rotex...part grinder, part sander... it's a fucking beast that will break your wrist if you're not careful. It did the job. Took about 6 hours to sand it all down to 120, but the weather was nice, and ear muffs listening to an audiobook made the time fly. That and some sangria. Just applied the new finish... some Rubio Durogrit. It's a bit of a darker stain, but I'm super happy with how it turned out so far. One coat and done... 3 hours to dry, 3 days to cure. I'm really liking it so far.
Odds are in about a week or so I'll end up putting a ceramic coating on it to help protect it after it's cured and off-gassed all that it will. I've been really impressed with the advancement of ceramic coatings in recent years, and swear by them on my automobiles and woodworking projects. The technology has gone up while the pricing has come way down, so it's hard not to apply it.
We are talking with a painter to do our house and deck. He is going to get me a quote for a special epoxy for the walkable surfaces of the deck. I am interested in this ceramic coat. What product are you using? Is it appropriate for decks?
It’s more marketed towards table tops. Not sure it would work at all for a deck. This is what I’ve got. https://blackforestwood.com/product...RnOo145oaw6OytaQ50q2EqVhsTJtjGNJKOsSBMHVB0ivj
Careful with coating a wood deck with epoxy or deck coat products - only lets one side of the wood breathe and can accelerate rot / damage the existing deck. Stick to deck stain if you’ve got a wood deck.
@Nettdata ah ok. Probably not a product for my use but it is in my brain now for later uses We are just having him paint it to match the trim on the house. Some shade of white. The deck was originally painted and we tried to have a guy sand + stain it. He was not skilled enough and it was kind of an ill advised job anyway. I have cried or gritted my teeth so many times looking at that fucking deck since he "finished" it a couple years ago. I have been informed on the (short) lifespan on paint on decks. I think we are going to just have everything painted and then in 2-5 years when it starts to need a repaint, we will look into Trex decking for a more permeant solution because I do not want to have to do this size of job for maintenance of the house every 2-5 years. At this point we can't afford Trex replacement + a full house paint job so the deck paint job is just to hold us over to a more permeant solution. If anyone sees flaws in this game plan, let me know. I haven't put a deposit down yet. Save me from myself.
Just be aware that a lot of the composite decking gets CRAZY hot in the sun. My neighbour did his back deck in the stuff, and his grandchildren burn their feet if they go barefoot in the summer.
Do they have a dark color on theirs? I wonder if a lighter color would help. Our deck is on the north side of the house and is at least partially shaded most of the day. The outside part and railing gets full sun. We also have outdoor rugs on big portions of the deck which I think would help that issue as well.
It's not about the colour, it's about the material. I highly recommend that you go and try it out at a supplier. My sister did that and found that the samples they looked at all got crazy hot in the sun. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Wifey's father has an absolutely beautiful deck made out of Brazilian Mahogany (IIRC) and used a very expensive coating on it that he researched to the nth degree. How's it look after 2-3 years of SF weather? Like shit lol. Rain and sun are just murderous on wood.
I think that kind of wood would be better under cover. I wish we had some kind of cover on the deck. Even just partial with a pergola or something. The sun out here is brutal. Summers are full sun with zero cloud cover about 99% of the time. Then we get snow that may sit on the deck for some time before we get out to clear it. We are more of top of the snow these days but we definitely let it sit in the beginning. It's taken some time to figure out proper maintenance in this home, just as new home owners but also in this climate. We are not perfect but we've figured out some of the pressure points and things to prioritize ASAP. This deck is stupid big. I love it but it's a lot to maintain. The painter paced it out to about 60'x9' not including the stairs.
I painted my 4 sample colors on my house. Two of them were nixed immediately. The last two I'm torn. One is the original blue I picked out that I love but I thought might be too much. The second is a sage green that is actually already on a different section of the house and I think it complements the brickwork nicely. I get my husband outside to look at them. Of course he likes the two I nixed immediately. And he prefers the blue over the green, which he thinks is incredibly ugly. Why did I ask the color blind guy his opinions?!
You asked because you are a thoughtful an considerate person! Having said that, he already knows (and is perfectly ok with) that you are going to paint it however you wish, because that is just married life, yeah?