Help please for our topsy turvy old deck - advice on cleaning and sealing

[eccythump]

Hi All
This is my first post in this forum but I have been reading widely and love all the expert tips and advice...and I am now in need of some of your help!
My partner and I bought an old partly renovated house (oh dear!!!) which included an old DIY deck which is in dire need of some TLC. I have tried to include a photo of the deck so you can see its general condition. We have discovered that the deck timber has been laid upside-down, i.e. with the ridged side facing up, but it isn't feasible for us to simply turn it up the correct way because the deck is angled and from what we can work it it just wont fit. And we aren't in a position to replace the whole thing at this stage, its quite large, and we are looking for an inexpensive option to restore it at this stage.

So what do we do? I'm not sure what the deck is painted or sealed with, but it is scratched and nasty grey looking and has no life left in it. I'm hoping someone might recognise a likely product from the photo. I am assuming that sanding isn't an option for us because the ridges are facing up.

Would the Nappysan option work to clean and strip the product thats is currently on the deck? We also have a nifty super high pressure water sprayer so I'm thinking that might come in handy as well.

The deck is completely exposed to the elements and has nothing above, however we are thinking about erecting a simple shade sail.

My preferred course of action is simply to clean the deck with a suitable product then to seal or paint...but what do I use?

What do you suggest?

Thanks so much, I look forward to your suggestions!

Cheers
eccydee

[worn]

Hi eccythump,
I think i have seen a similar product used on external tables and benches and the same thing happened. I'm guessing it is some type of estapol or lacquer. My advice is to eventually replace the decking when the time is right. Pulling the boards up and flipping them over won't work, they would be really well secured by the nails and would take a lot of energy in removing. You would split the decking boards, and the underside would be compromised i.e. splintered and stained from the estapol drips.

The only bit of advice i can give is to apply a sample of decking oil to a small area of the boards (same tone/colour as the estapol/lacquer or what ever the finish is) in an attempt to try to do a patch job. If this looks o.k. clean the deck by sweeping and spraying with water/ broom scrub, then allow to dry and then oil. good luck


Hi All
This is my first post in this forum but I have been reading widely and love all the expert tips and advice...and I am now in need of some of your help!
My partner and I bought an old partly renovated house (oh dear!!!) which included an old DIY deck which is in dire need of some TLC. I have tried to include a photo of the deck so you can see its general condition. We have discovered that the deck timber has been laid upside-down, i.e. with the ridged side facing up, but it isn't feasible for us to simply turn it up the correct way because the deck is angled and from what we can work it it just wont fit. And we aren't in a position to replace the whole thing at this stage, its quite large, and we are looking for an inexpensive option to restore it at this stage.

So what do we do? I'm not sure what the deck is painted or sealed with, but it is scratched and nasty grey looking and has no life left in it. I'm hoping someone might recognise a likely product from the photo. I am assuming that sanding isn't an option for us because the ridges are facing up.

Would the Nappysan option work to clean and strip the product thats is currently on the deck? We also have a nifty super high pressure water sprayer so I'm thinking that might come in handy as well.

The deck is completely exposed to the elements and has nothing above, however we are thinking about erecting a simple shade sail.

My preferred course of action is simply to clean the deck with a suitable product then to seal or paint...but what do I use?

What do you suggest?

Thanks so much, I look forward to your suggestions!

Cheers
eccydee

[stevoh741]

Personally I'd just hit it with gurni then paint it. I wouldn't bother with trying to get an oil finish.

[kopper]

Unfortunately you dont have many options here. As you realised, sanding would be the way to go if it was flat, it would bring the timber back to new. To get a good finish you really need to get all of the timber to the same 'colour/tone' if that makes sense - ie remove all of the previous stain that is on there. Neither the high pressure sprayer or the nappysan will do that, but will probably just flake bits off.

You need to have a clean surface to stain anyway, so I would do the high pressure spray, followed by the nappysan just to get rid of the loose stain that is on there.

Stain or paint? Well thats your call. If its a fairly smooth finish, painting might give you a result your happier with. With stain, you are going to see the previous stain through it, so it might look a bit 'blotchy'. Saying that though, dont let me put you off staining - its still going to look better than it will now. If going with a stain, I like the sikkens deck product, but if you are planning on ripping the timber up in a year or two its probably a better idea to go with something cheaper and save some $.

You also have the option of doing the stain and deciding then if youre happy with it or not. If not you can then paint over it. Cost is a little more, but nothing major.

[stevoh741]

Unfortunately you dont have many options here. As you realised, sanding would be the way to go if it was flat, it would bring the timber back to new. To get a good finish you really need to get all of the timber to the same 'colour/tone' if that makes sense - ie remove all of the previous stain that is on there. Neither the high pressure sprayer or the nappysan will do that, but will probably just flake bits off.

You need to have a clean surface to stain anyway, so I would do the high pressure spray, followed by the nappysan just to get rid of the loose stain that is on there.

Stain or paint? Well thats your call. If its a fairly smooth finish, painting might give you a result your happier with. With stain, you are going to see the previous stain through it, so it might look a bit 'blotchy'. Saying that though, dont let me put you off staining - its still going to look better than it will now. If going with a stain, I like the sikkens deck product, but if you are planning on ripping the timber up in a year or two its probably a better idea to go with something cheaper and save some $.

You also have the option of doing the stain and deciding then if youre happy with it or not. If not you can then paint over it. Cost is a little more, but nothing major.

If you use an oil based product then paint it won't hold. The deck looks rooted and if ur only trying to get a few more yrs out of it then paint by far easiest and cheapest option.

[jimj]

Have to totally agree with Stevoh741 on this approach to the topic. Your photos give us a very good idea and the timber looks fairly worn. I once sanded an 18 month old 60m2 yellow balau deck that had domeheaded nails shot in and all of the ribs facing up. I wasn't sure if it was even possible to sand all of the ribs off to achieve a smooth finish. Well its achievable, but what should have been generated from sanding (about 6 large black bags of dust from my big sander) came to 21 and I used 14 200mm belts instead of 4-6. What was even harder was the wear and tear on me from handsanding the parts that needed to be done by hand and sanding off the grooves. It came up very good but I will NEVER do it again!

From the look of it if you try to flip the boards the holes left may prove problematic and the black marks on the bottom from where the decking boards sit on the joists will be stained black. These stains are virtually impossible to remove by sanding unless you sand 25% or so off the surface. This will give the deck quite a scalloped result an not a good result.
If you are going to clean make sure you remove all of the gunk out of the grooves.
At least you have plenty of paint colours out there to choose from.
No doubt others who strike this same problem will want to learn and hear what finally happened.

good luck

jimj restore-a-deck

[Master Splinter]

Well, it looks a lot like treated pine, so no matter what you do, it's still going to look yuk.

However, treated pine is cheap to buy, so my suggestion would be to flip it over, discard the shortest one/two/three boards, shuffle the rest down and recut, and put one/two/three new boards right at the end of the shuffling process.

[strangerep]

[...] old partly renovated house (oh dear!!!) which included an old DIY deck which is in dire need of some TLC. [...] deck timber has been laid upside-down [...] we aren't in a position to replace the whole thing at this stage, its quite large, and we are looking for an inexpensive option to restore it at this stage.

I agree with the various "yuk" posts above. But I'll go one step further...

Stand back and think about your big picture. If you weren't spending time trying to restore a piece of crap (which doesn't deserve restoration -- only demolition), what other longer-lasting DIY tasks could you be progressing on other parts of the house? You said it was "old partly renovated", so I'm guessing there's plenty of interior non-temporary improvements you could be doing? Those tasks would at least add value.

The ridges in the deck boards are meant to help the supporting joists to dry out after rain. Since yours have been laid upside down, this isn't happening. So if you lift the boards, you're likely to find that the joists are in very bad condition and the whole thing will need demolition and reconstruction.

If you can get a few more years out of the deck in its current state with zero or minimal extra investment, then do so and get on with other more-long-lasting home improvements, until you can replace the deck completely. Don't throw good money and time after bad. If you absolutely can't stand the look of the existing deck, then yeah, just paint it with an earthen colour (but you'll need a thick roller to get into the ridges, so the painting might not be quite as quick and easy as you might think).


We also have a nifty super high pressure water sprayer so I'm thinking that might come in handy as well.
High pressure will rip the timber fibres -- especially a soft timber like pine. So either dial down the pressure, or don't hold the nozzle too close. In any case, carefully cleaning a large deck like that consumes time. So maybe just a napisan clean and rinse, then roll on 2-3 coats of paint and move on to more productive things. Remember that any time you spend on this piece of crap is not really adding anything to your long-term wealth...



The deck is completely exposed to the elements and has nothing above, however we are thinking about erecting a simple shade sail.
It's a waste of time and money trying to protect a piece of crap.

When you eventually reach a position of being able to re-do the deck completely, think hard about whether a non-timber solution is possible (e.g., CFC sheet and tiles, or concrete+tiles, etc). Exterior timber is something to avoid, not embrace.

[stevoh741]

Exterior timber is something to avoid, not embrace.

As opposed to a tiled deck which IMO looks crap, is slippery when wet or if using non slip (haha) forever cleaning dirt off them.
Timber is not only good for the environment (carbon sink, renewable etc) it looks 1000 times better, won't chip or crack, and will last up to 50 yrs if maintained correctly. Also it keeps real trades employed...(just stirring on the last one :-))

[ringtail]

I wouldn't waste my time on that deck. Save up and rebuild using quality timber. You cant polish a terd. ( yes I know its a spelling error but the spelling nazis are harsh)

[strangerep]

Ha! I knew my last remark would cause a bit of a stir. :D


As opposed to a tiled deck which IMO looks crap, is slippery when wet
[...timber...] looks 1000 times better

I have a terracotta tile deck, installed ~30yrs ago when the house was built. I've never found tile slipperiness any more of a problem than on my timber deck. The tiles still look reasonable (though of course it needs mould-cleaner every couple of years or so). I agree that a quality timber deck looks 1000 times better than tile when first installed and oiled (my timber deck looked great too, once upon a time). But after a mere year or two, the 30yr old tiled deck looked better than the timber.



Timber is not only good for the environment (carbon sink, renewable etc)

I reckon timber is only "good for the environment" if it's left as part of living trees. When I step out of my front door in winter and smell all the wood fired stoves down in the valley, it really stinks.


, won't chip or crack
Timber will certainly split at the ends over time, and along some or all of the boards.



and will last up to 50 yrs if maintained correctly.

Ah, but do you have documented proof of this? I.e., proof that any timber deck (a) lasted 50 yrs and (b) still looked 1000 times better than a terracotta tile equivalent at the end of those 50yrs?

The previous owner of my house did a deck extension (in timber) and it only lasted about 10 yrs. One could of course point out that they knew nothing about timber durability classes, and employed a builder who was not a deck specialist, but that's part of the problem. Constructing a deck that can last 50 years requires someone who really knows what they're doing, and clients who at least know enough to be willing to pay for high durability materials. Quite rare, I'd say.


Also it keeps real trades employed...(just stirring on the last one :-))
Oh, I'm sure you and ringtail have a highly versatile skillset.

[stevoh741]

Too right we do

[ringtail]

I left the door open for ya steve