On Deck

Inquiring minds would like to know what has happened with our deck refinishing project since we last discussed the topic in this post, circa May 23rd. Well, on and off, some progress has been made. That much is true.

We decided to focus our efforts on each of the three porches, one at a time...and first up was the screened porch. This was the priority because we like to hang out there and without the screen, the mosquitoes will eat you alive. The cat would also like for us to finish this porch so she can go out there and lay in the sun.

After the initial pressure-washing, shown in the former post, we realized that removing the current finish on the porch would be a task. The finish was a thick layer of paint and since we were not willing to kill all our plants, animals, and selves with the paint removers we found, we decided on sanding the thing....with the only power sander I own.


The process was long and tedious, but the result looked good. At one point, a plastic piece within my sander exploded out the sides of the machine. Dewalt promptly sent me the pieces to fix it (at no cost) and we were back rollin'. At some point we decided the time commitment was too much, so we bought 'The Dragster'.

Sanding continued, but the quality of the sanding decreased, so we switched off and on between the 1/4 sheet and the belt sander to achieve our sanding goal.


The project got so involved, in fact, that we had to hire a security guard. It appears he/she had recently been startled.


After much blood, sweat, and tears, the sanding was finished. It almost looked too good to stain.



The sanding was finished in early August and Jessie spared no time moving on to the staining.


We scoured the deck stain samples from both Lowes and Home Depot and decided on Behr premium semi-transparent stain. We decided on 'Bayberry'. The actual 'bayberry' is a plant native to the South. Here's what bayberry actually looks like and here's what Behr thinks bayberry looks like...


Over the course of last weekend, Jessie finished the staining on the screened porch and it looks great!


There is still much to do on the screened porch, such as to screen it, but we're moving forward on Phase II: The front porch. This will be a little trickier in that it looks like we'll have to replace the boards that make up the stairs. It's a never-ending ball of fun down here, y'all ought to come lend a hand!