04-16-2018, 01:35 AM
Kraniac wrote:
had a chance to look..Top deck ..sand it for sure...it's taken quite a bit of weathering and is silvering out..not good to blast it with cleaning products and pressure.
If you're doing this soon, I'd do the railings first..dry out the deck well..then sand it and get finish on ASAP..if it gets a good rain on it after sanding? you'll be sanding it again if you care about the job..which you do.
You're looking for about a 12 x 16 orbital sander..flat plate that vibrates/oscillates..On most decks i take it to 80 grit and put finish down..Usually a couple of passes with 80 are what it takes..You will have some detailing to do around posts and corners etc..no biggy..
Like said before, if you're going for one more round of the 'wood' look upstairs..get the darkest one for max protection..
If the weather gets dodgy after sanding put down plastic and tarp the deck by tenting it best you can..watch the weather tho.
As for the lower deck..doesn't look it takes much real weather..sun is being diffused by screen which actually does quite a bit..
But..if you're gonna refinish it..sand it..Looks that finish is on pretty good as it gets closer to the house.. i mean..it doesn't look all that bad in the pics..
The lower deck needs a better cleaning. There is some mold in the furthest corner and some areas where the dirt didn't come up. Even with a deck brush. I may try the water/oxiclean in that corner first. Upper deck, I may go for an opaque. It takes a brutal beating. The horizontal portions of the railing too. I have to stick with semi transparent elsewhere otherwise the two-tone look will look silly. And give unnecessary fodder to the HOA.