Staining deck: lessons learned


I cleaned and stained my deck all by myself this summer. The sanding was done last summer, how is that for procrastination! I think I did all right, however there are still a lot of areas for improvements. Hence this note.

  • I used Rymar Xtreme Weather Wood Sealer, 7630 Sienna. My deck needs 4 gallons. My wife ordered 2 gallons initially. I ordered the third one, then had to order one more. It would have been better to have all 4 gallons available. At the time of this writing, if you order more than 1 gallon, shipping is free;
  • I used a deck cleaner. I sprayed it using a small hand-held squirt type sprayer. That wasn’t efficient. I should have used the larger sprayer with a hand pump;
  • To protect plants around deck from deck cleaner, I used plastics I saved from packaging material. It worked fine;
  • For the floor, use a nap roller made out of microfiber, not foamy/spongy stuff. The foamy/spongy roller works better indoors on a smooth surface;
  • To protect the stucco wall, I taped around it. I used two type of 3M tapes: the coarser one seems to work better outdoors. Somebody suggested that FrogTape works better. I think I’ll try it next time. Also, where there is enough space between the deck and the wall, it might be easier and quicker to insert a card board instead of using masking tape;
  • Use drop cloth when I stain poles supporting the tandem room. I didn’t this time and ended up with a few drops on my pavement;
  • I used brush for sticks/pickets/balusters. Next time I may try a small roller, which can make things quicker;
  • Not directly related to staining, but I should have used the right hose for connection to my electric power washer. My hand was greasy and I had trouble taking the head off the good hose, so I used another one. I should have taken the time to get a wrench to get the head off of the good hose and use it instead. The less than optimal hose leaked. I didn’t do as good a job as I could have with the right hose.
  • Don’t paint myself into a corner. It didn’t happen to me, but it’s always to keep this in mind.
  • Wear protective gloves. I didn’t for a short stretch, and got splinter in my middle finger. That wasn’t fun!

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