How to Refinish Decking

Last year I finished a majority of the renovations on my lake house, inside as well as all of the exterior. The one thing that I did not finish is the deck. It is in very rough shape, so I am going to teach you all how to refinish decking to give it a new life!

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Table of Contents

• Getting Rid of the Railing
• Refinishing Existing Lumber
• Sanding Down the Deck
• Getting Rid of Rotted Wood
• Replacing Rotted Wood
• Creating a Step for the Front of the Deck
• Making Repairs and Sanding
• Staining and Sealing
• Finishing the Deck

Getting Rid of the Railing

I am starting this project by removing the railing from the deck. I do not like how it obstructs the view of the lake, so I think this deck would be better with just a long step across the front instead. Some of the railings had carriage bolts through them, so I had to remove the decking to access the back of the bolt. This did not work as I hoped, so I am cutting off the top of the railing and chiseling off the remaining. Luckily I only had to do this process on 4 of the posts, the rest of the railing is so rotted that it just falls apart.

How to Refinish Decking: Refinishing the Existing Lumber

When it comes to refinishing the lumber already installed on this deck, I am going to sand it first to see what I am working with. When I tried to sink screws into the existing boards to prevent them from hitting my sander, they kept breaking. This made me realize that a majority of the screws in this decking were extremely rusted. If I am able to back them out all of the way, I am replacing the existing screws with exterior treated decking screws.

Sanding Down the Deck

I went to my hardware rental store and the guy there convinced me to get a heavy duty floor sander. It has a pad that sits on it and then you put your sanding sheet down. I am running this across the old decking to get the existing finish off. This heavy-duty sander works well for what I need it for, it handles the differences in heights between the boards better than any other sander would.

Getting Rid of the Rotted Wood

I have realized that a good portion of the decking is too rotted to salvage. I am pulling these pieces up and replacing them with 2×6 green treated lumber. The worst rot is in the places where this deck sees the most foot traffic, I do not think this is a coincidence. Because so many of the screws have broken off in this area, I am sheering them off with my angle grinder once the boards are up. For the boards I am salvaging, I have to deal with a little bit of rot at the ends. I am cutting off the rotted portion and adding a decorative edge piece.

A majority of my framing pieces are in good shape, but a few pieces have some rot. Most of this rot is where the posts for the railings were. I am replacing the rotted framing pieces with new 2×10 green treated lumber. Once all of the framing is solid, I am going to put joist tape along the tops of everything to protect from rot.

How to Refinish Decking: Replacing the Rotted Wood

Now, it is time to replace all of the rotted lumber. I am replacing it with 2×6 green treated lumber. I am cutting these individually so I can use the lumber as efficiently as possible. Whenever I cut one, I am using the remainder for the next row. Along the edge I am placing trim pieces, these compensate for the rotted edge that I had to cut off. These square off the deck so well!

Creating a Step for the Front of the Deck

I am repurposing wood that I have to create framing for what will be a big step across the front of the porch. To build this step, I am building boxes that have joists 16 inches on center. This is going to create a step that is a little over 23 feet long. I am removing sod and dirt across the front of my porch where the step is going to go. This must be level, so I am placing rocks down. When I place my step framing, I am using a leveler to check. This step took a lot of adjusting! When it is level, I am predrilling the frame of the step through the frame of the deck. I am using 4-inch long leg screwes to connect these frames together. To go over the existing cement path that is off of the deck, I jigsawed out a portion of the wood so it will go right over the path. Next, I am covering my framing.

How to Refinish Decking: Making Repairs and Sanding

Once everything is in place, I am fixing any blemishes in the wood. I am going in with two-part Bondo, this will repair any rotted areas that I did not feel like needed replacing. It is also going to fix any blemishes across boards or knots in the wood. Once all of my Bondo is dry, I am going to sand it all smooth. After I am done sanding, I am blowing off the surface of the decking with a leaf blower to prepare to apply my finish.

Staining and Sealing

Before I can stain my deck, I need to test it with a moisture meter. It is important that this reads below 15%, you do not want to seal moisture into your wood. My moisture meter did read below 15%, so it is time to stain and seal! I am using Behr’s waterproofing stain and sealer in one. This is a solid stain that has a 10-year warranty on decks. The trick to this is applying two light coats, this is made possible by my airless sprayer. The first thing I am doing before staining is removing the edge piece and coating the endgrain of the wood with finish. This is going to seal it in and prevent it from rotting. Next, I am spraying the tops of the deck. Using my sprayer dramatically increased how quickly I could apply my stain, but it is still best practice to back brush so you can work the product into the wood.

Finishing the Deck

As a finishing touch, I am going to paint this aluminum angle flashing. This is going to go along the foundation of the house where the deck meets it. Once this is dry, I am just gluing it down. I also have to patch the holes where the old railing post came down into the concrete. To do this I am using a mortar concrete mixture that is fast setting and works in applications up to 6 inches deep.

Now the deck is finally done! I love how beautiful it looks. You get such a beautiful view sitting and relaxing on this deck!

I hope you loved following along as I learned how to refinish decking! If you want to check out more of my outdoor projects, my blog post Build a Retaining Wall in One Day is a great place to start!