Deck Rejuvination

While I was visiting my friend, Hulin, I was appalled at the condition of his deck.  His children gave it to him many years ago and it has never had any UV or water protection and was terribly split and had rot starting in it. I decided to refurbish it as well as two sets of stairs with landings.

The job involved a lot of sanding, with a electric sander, then cleaning with a deck cleaner that would kill molds and bleach it back out. That also involved a lot of scrubbing. Finally I rolled and painted on the semi-transparent preservative.

But it was a great excuse to spend time in Hulin's wonderful yard. The growth is so dense that birds are very hard to see but there are lots of them to hear and occasionally see. Eastern Towhees screech, red-headed woodpeckers drum, red-bellied and pileated  woodpeckers call and drum, pine warblers give their one-note warble, Carolina wrens sing and call, chickadees talk while hunting bugs, and the brown thrasher sings his sweet songs. I even heard a barred owl call in the middle of the day. The mockingbirds were quieter as were the cardinals but I got a few glimpses of them. And some butterflies were always ready to provide a distraction.

Both of us are happy with the results and the preservative is supposed to be good for 5 years.  And I sanded down the split places so we can walk barefoot on it without fear of splinters in our feet.

The deck before refinishing

Before Referbishing

Closeup of the boards

Sanding and washing certified by the lubber

The gulf fritillary  was a distraction

As was the spicebush swallowtail

Several clumps of cypress vine also attracted butterflies and the last of the ruby-throat hummers

Finished kitchen stairs

Finished Deck

Closup of deck - still a little rough but lots better

Back to being a great place for an evening glass of wine or a Martini

The finished steps to storage room