You purchased your home for numerous reasons, one of which included the beautiful deck at the back of the home, where you could envision sitting with your morning coffee, reading the newspaper, and watching your kids play. After three years, you step outside of your home onto your beautiful deck and realize it is not so beautiful anymore. The paint is peeling and chipping, and in some areas turning black from algae. You know Minnesota winters can be brutal and your deck has surely paid the price. To truly restore your deck to its original beauty, it is best to hire a professional who will not only remove the paint from your horizontal surfaces of your deck, but will treat and care for the wood to allow its natural beauty to shine through.
The Cause
What most people, unless they are in the business, do not understand, is that paint and solid color stains are not meant to be applied to horizontal surfaces. The nature of wood makes it virtually impossible for paint to adhere to horizontal wood for any real period of time. A deck floor that has been painted will start peeling within months, meaning that over a relatively short period of time your wood deck will need to be restored. This happens because the side exposed to the sun and elements is typically 50 degrees warmer than the underbelly of the deck, causing the warmer surface to contract while the cooler surface swells. The wood is, as a result, constantly twisting, turning, and essentially restructuring itself, causing the paint to peel easily.
The Answer
Now that the cause and problem has been established, it is time to consider the solutions. For the horizontal part of the deck, it is recommended to clean and stain the surface every two to three years with an oil based, penetrating stain. Oil will soak into the wood meaning it will never crack and peel. The vertical areas of the deck will need to be painted. The horizontal painted surfaces of the deck floor, steps and top of handrails will need to be sanded. Decks that have been painted with a water based stain can not be power washed and stripped. The surface must be sanded with a number of different types of sanders. Vertical areas of the deck are extremely difficult or impossible to sand in a cost effective way. Those areas of the deck must be repainted. Since those areas are vertical, they will not peel like a horizontal surface. Finally, to get the most beautiful finish possible, an oil based stain will be applied to the sanded, horizontal surfaces. Oil stains never needed to be sanded are easily maintained into the future.
The experts at Roof to Deck have perfected the method of restoring painted decks to bring them back to their natural beauty and splendor. To learn more about how they can help your deck regain its beauty, contact them at 651-699-3504.