Staining the Deck

Sam's Mom, Sam, and I decided before father's day that we would re-stain their deck as a father's day gift. I'm not exactly sure who came up with that idea...but let me advise anybody out there thinking about doing the same thing: Don't.

Last week we started stripping the old stain off, which took forever, required scrubbing, and stunk in general. I believe it took three longer days last weekend just to finish stripping the old stain off. I called my Mom at one point (since she's in charge of deck care at home) and asked her how to strip the stain off, because the way I was doing it was long & difficult. She said that she never strips the deck, just cleans and reseals.

Once the stripping was finally done, the cleaning part was pretty easy. Spray on the cleaner, let it sit, spray it off with a garden hose.

We started applying the stain this Friday (June 23), and Sunday morning we finally finished. The deck has too many spindles on the railing, and way too much lattice work. If the deck had just been large flat surfaces all the way around, it would've been much easier to finish.

The upside is that the deck is now done, and it looks really good. Several people walking by have commented on how good the deck looks. Maybe I'll have to put a picture of it on here, just so everybody can share in the misery we went through. :)