Rebuilding the deck after F-3.

[Gary]

I'm finally getting to the deck/gazebo, the last major project following the tornado almost 4 years ago now.
I've had the decking on site for almost 4 years, so it's dry. At least it's dry until I install it. We've been having just about non-stop rain days the last few weeks. Farmers can't even get crops in.
I've replaced the deck boards on the lower level and just finished the gazebo roof today. I had corrugated translucent fiberglass panels on the flat cupola as sort of a poor man's skylight. It worked well for a long time, but after 32 years it had some leaks. So, I closed it in with siding left over from the house, put a pitched roof on it and shingle the whole thing with shingles also left over from the house.
Next I plan to replace the deck boards on the rest of the deck and then pull all the damaged fence and railing lumber.
The place has been neglected, especially the last 4 years, as there were more pressing projects to take care of. It looks like an old abandoned building from a ghost town at this point, but it's still solid as the day I built it and still level and plumb. I added gutters this time also. I planned to the first time around buy never got "Around-To-it" . That wasn't too good for the deck.
Since the deck will be new I plan to stain it mahogany to match the shingle color. The rest will be an opaque stain the same color as the house siding. I decided to go with Behr Solid color Waterproofing stain & Sealer for the vertical surfaces. There are so many reviews out there, but they're all over the place. One person says ZXY stain is best, the next person trashes the very same ZXY brand.
As I mentioned the deck boards are new, so I'm planning a mahogany (or similar Translucent Stain for the deck). I haven't purchased that yet, so I thought I's ask if anyone has had good luck with any particular brand?
I'm thinking proper prep work and application are as important as brand, at least judging by on-line reviews? I've looked at Behr, Sherwin Williams, Rock Solid, Olympic, Valspar, PPG, Cabot.
I'm kind of leaning toward Cabot. But like I said, you can pick any of these and find positive and negative reviews. Any first hand experience with a particular brand would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[oldognewtrick]

Go to the Sherman-Williams or Porter PPG stores. Different quality of material than what you get at the apron stores.

 

[bud16415]

The deck looks great as does the rest of the project.


I have been using the Behr products and they seem to be pretty long term on vertical surfaces and I get 2-3 years on walking surfaces. Winter and snow removal and foot traffic is the big factor here.


It is tough to catch the right day to apply the stuff. I think it works best if you have a good hot dry week or two before you do it. We never have that here hardly.

 

[Gary]

Thanks Oldog. I stopped by the Sherwin Williams store last night. I think that's the way I'll go. I plan to go with the semi solid stain. Still lets' a little grin show through, but has a fair amount of pigment to slow down UV damage. That and the stain should wear off rather than peal off. hopefully.


Thanks Bud. I'm going with the Behr solid color on the vertical surfaces. I plan to reuse the vertical lumber so I'll need something that will fill the weathered wood a little. I have extra fence slats, saved from when we took down the pool, so no new lumber there. Still a stain, so I hope it holds up well. Can label says 25 years on vertical surfaces, If I can get half that, we may be down sizing by then?
We haven't had much dry weather here either. hopefully by the time I have the deck fixed, we'll get some dryer weather.

Pretty good bet, however it turns out, it'll look better than it does now.

 

[Wesley Charles]

Going to be beautiful when you get it finished!

 

[Gary]

Thanks Wesley.
Some days I get a few hours in, some days not so much. Getting closer to having the deck boards swapped out. We're taking off to my Wife's folks this weekend, of course, to paint a deck. We did an addition on it last year, now the kids and grandkids are all going out for a visit. This will be the Grandkids first experience with a paint brush other than on paper. Should prove to be interesting. They are excited. is

 

[bud16415]

@Gary’

The wood you are replacing looks about like the used wood I built my deck out of.

I ended up flipping all the decking over I salvaged from the swim deck I took down for a guy. Other than misplaced rows of screw holes the bottom looked pretty good.


Little by little you will get it done.

 

[Gary]

Thanks Bud. I did flip what I could, ran the belt sander over them a little. But, since I didn't get around to installing gutters a lot of it was too soft on the ends. The rest is new wood, or wood that's been on the shelf for about 4 years. I've had this habit of robbing from the inventory over the years though, so I came up a little short. I bought a few more lengths of decking and stacked it in the garage with spacers, hoping to drop the moisture. Staining is a little ways off yet, and I sorted though and found some fairly dry lumber, so we'll see what % it is by the time I'm to that point.

I'm getting closer to having it demoed about as far as I plan to. Still have a bit of deck to replace, lattice to remove, steps and a few other odds n ends. A little pressure washing and then head back the other direction.

 

[Gary]

I finished replacing the last of the deck boards. If the rain holds off long enough tomorrow, I hope to get it pressure washed.
The deck is 2 different heights and there's a fence w/gate, because we first built it with a 15'x30' pool where the shed is now. Kids got old and the pool was neglected, so the pool space became storage space. There's a lot less maintenance with the storage space.

 

[Gary]

Pressure washed today. Ready for stain if we can string a few dry days together.

 

[Gary]

Got a start on the staining today. 30+ yr old wood soaks up the stain like a sponge.

 

[Gary]

Another day closer. Rain in the forecast again, so the project might slow down a little.

 

[Gary]

Another day closer.

View attachment 22145

 

[Gary]

Inching closer to completion.

 

[Gary]

Got the staining done, just before dark:30. 2-3 days of punch list stuff and it'll be done.

 

[FatGans]

Beautiful!

 

[bud16415]

Looks like a million bucks!

 

[Fireguy5674]

Now that you are very near the end of your project, I am sure you need another. My wife says I don't get near enough done around here. Want to come over and start again????????



It looks great!

 

[Gary]

Thank FatGans & Bud. Thermometer says about 100°f out there on the deck, so I'm taking a break. I did get the lattice finished around the bottom this morning. Still have to rebuild the gazebo doors. They're sagging a little after 32 years and the screens are torn up.

Sorry Fireguy. Unfortunately I still have a Honey-do list of my own. lol

 

[Gary]

Got the lattice done and brought the fountain back to life. Back in the day I had it set up on a motion sensor so the pump would run for a minute or so whenever someone walked by. Every year I'd winterize it and put the top half in the shed and cover the bottom/little heavy to be moving around. The last several years it just stayed in the shed year round. This time I put rock in the fountain so there's no maintenance. It's a concrete fountain I painted with lacquer 32 years ago, same time the deck was built. Had to glue the head back on one of the kids as it was vandalized, maybe 20 years ago now. Takes a lickin' and keeps on drippin'. Well, not so much the drip part anymore.

All that's left now is to replace the light switch in the gazebo and fix the 3 gazebo doors. It's been in the 90's the last few days, so I'm not getting done any too soon. Doors will have to wait until the heat subsides a little