My Cedar deck restoration (Picks)!!

[scipper77]

Well here goes: I bought a house last year that was a short sale (like a foreclosure but homeowner still owns house). I am the third owner of the house. The first owner was a meticulous homeowner and kept everything in tip top shape. The second owner did absolutely nothing for the house in the 2 years he was there except let things deteriorate with the help of his dog (pee) and cat (scratched up the woodwork).

Well the deck was prepped to be refinished by the original owner and as you can guess the second owner left the unprotected deck at the mercy of the elements. Because it's a cedar deck the wood is still good, but it's greyed significantly.

Here is a before of the deck (I started to pressure wash)

The stairs look pretty good after the first round with the pressure washer

The deck is not coming out as well as the stairs. There is still some graying.

I would like to get the wood to where I can use a natural looking finish as opposed to an opaque stain that I will need if the wood is still gray. My plan right now is to pressure wash the best that I can, let the deck dry for at least 2 days and manually apply a waterproofer/stain.

I really don't know what I am doing here so any tips would be appreciated. I'm basically winging it. I've allready figured out that I need to go with the grain when I pressure wash.

 

[eaglejim]

Re: My Cedar deck restoration (Picks)!!

you are doing a great job ,there are some deck restore products on the market put my professional opinion is you are doing the job the best way,just use CWF I like the cedar tone color you can get it at the HD CWF is the best deck product out there

 

[WizeOne]

Re: My Cedar deck restoration (Picks)!!

you are doing a great job ,there are some deck restore products on the market put my professional opinion is you are doing the job the best way,just use CWF I like the cedar tone color you can get it at the HD CWF is the best deck product out there

I can attest to that. I use the CWF cedar tone on all my cedar fence boards. It's a bit orangy but year after year the boards that would turn grey and ugly still look good and fresh.

 

[jkust]

Re: My Cedar deck restoration (Picks)!!

I used to have a cedar deck on my last house. Besides the pressure washing which you have to be really careful with since cedar is so soft, I always used the tanin blead product from home depot in the green bottle. Can't recall the name now. You spray it on and scrub it in with a nylon brush then let it sit for a bit then rinse. It chemically restores the wood to like new. After it dries to below a certain percent water content like 8 or 12% or thereabout, you can apply your finish. I really like cedar since no matter how much it is neglected, you can always bring it back. If you have a piece in bad shape, try flipping it over and use the underside. Also a quick sand down doesn't hurt either where the wood grain is raised.
Good Luck

 

[Coral Reefer]

Re: My Cedar deck restoration (Picks)!!

You are preparing it correctly. I have been a carpenter and wood refinisher for more than 25 years. I currently have a business in which I make custom routered wooden signs, mostly from Western Red Cedar and personally prefer the Cabot brand Cedar tinted finish from Lowe's but if you don't want to spend $30 or more a gallon you can use another brand which is available at Walmart for about $16 a gallon. I may try this one myself when my Cabot runs out. Reading the labels, they have very similar ingredients.When you get ready to apply your finish, just make sure to use an ALKYD based finish and not a urethane based one as the alkyd based ones normally have a UV inhibitor which will keep it looking great for at least 5 years or more. The urethanes will allow it to gray again in 6 months to a year. These are normally available in transparent, tinted, and solid colors. I would avoid the solids as it will look "painted" rather than stained. To see actual pics of these different finishes please check out http://www.JRWOODSIGNS.COM. I have more info on finishes and actual sample pics on the "finishes" page. I hope this helps. JR.

 

[scipper77]

Re: My Cedar deck restoration (Picks)!!

I think I might try a quick pressure wash then try a wood restoring product to get the gray out and then pressure wash again. I just hope I can bring this deck back to it's former glory!!

The CWF product has an oil base is this the same as ALKYD based finish?

 

[salty87]

Re: My Cedar deck restoration (Picks)!!

i don't have 25 years experience but i have a couple of decks.

i wouldn't get too aggressive with the pressure washer. it's cleaning out the grooves and grain but it's also tearing up the face of the wood. some of that just blasts pieces loose but some of that is also opening up the grain and leaving shreds and hairs of wood attached.

in my (limited) experience, this allows the wood to age faster from that point.

any product is only going to last so long. most of them will at least slightly change the finished color once they dry.

i'd worry more about getting it done well and then repeating in a few years. you could sand it all down to fresh wood but you'll still be facing the same issues...color will change slightly and you'll need to repeat in a few years.

ripping the face of the wood up only shortens the decks life-span, imo.

 

[eaglejim]

Re: My Cedar deck restoration (Picks)!!

Yes oil/alkyd is the same ------but don't do that use the water base CWF all technology is gear to the latex and water solvable products (you can thank the tree huggers) CWF is the only product I use on decks and I have tried them all the worst being Thompson Water Seal remember if you use oil you have to redo with oil

 

[scipper77]

Re: My Cedar deck restoration (Picks)!!

I finished the main deck last night (pressure washing) and the results were not so good The wood os still pretty gray. I have two plans at this point.

First I am going to try a deck washing product and pressure wash again to see if that brings the color back.

If that doesn't work, will probably use a colored stain on the deck boards only, All of the railings and vertical surfaces and railings will get a natural or lightly tinted stain because that wood looks like new after pressure washing.

How does everyone think that will look based on the pictures in the first post????

I have more pictures that I will post after work today, Your opinions are appreciated!

 

[mike64]

Re: My Cedar deck restoration (Picks)!!

Seconding Coral Reefer's recommendation of Cabot deck sealer. I have a 1600 sq. ft. deck and I used Cabot Clear Solution with the cedar tint. It's held up well on our deck and looks real nice. The cedar color should cover the gray and make your deck look almost new.

 

[jkust]

Re: My Cedar deck restoration (Picks)!!

Scipper, with the right product, your cedar deck will look like new. It is not a question of if. You don't need colored stain if you want the look of natural cedar. Look for the product that effects tanin blead and you will be pleased. I used Cabbot opaque stain on my current non cedar deck. Spent a ton on the product and I am crazy for details and doing this correctly. Sanded every square inch of the deck and every spindle to boot. It was no better than the cheaper procucts I have used. It lasted about a season and a half here in Minnesota. One of the few times the toubted product let me down.

 

[scipper77]

Re: My Cedar deck restoration (Picks)!!

Well.. I said that the deck was still pretty gray. After it dried completely it barely looks gray at all (still some gray though). I am encouraged to hear that the stains will hide the gray. After I use a deck washing product I hope that the gray is gone completely!!!!

So now I am a little confused as to water based or oil based????

I'm leaning towards the oil based on eaglejim, and WizeOne's recommendation of CWF which seems to be oil based. Also Coral Reefer said to use an ALKYD based finish which I think is oil based.

I thank all who have replied for there input and I'll update the pictures for anyone who is interested in seeing what the finished product looks like.

As always more input is appreciated as I don't really know what I am doing, I'm just kind of learning as I go.

The deck looked much less gray after it dried.

Herre you can really see how well the wash brought back the wood

 

[eaglejim]

Re: My Cedar deck restoration (Picks)!!

No I said CWF Waterborne,that is what I use,I stay away from the oil base products What I used on the last job was CWF-UV5

 

[scipper77]

Re: My Cedar deck restoration (Picks)!!

I finished stripping the deck!! Vertical surfaces look like new wood. The decking looks worlds better but not like new.

I'm now thinking water based stain. It might be a week before I can get the stain and start painting. My wife works nights, I work days and there are 2 kids in diapers. It's tricky to find the time to paint. It doesn't seem like a good idea to stain for 15 minutes a day, I'll have to wait for our days off to align.