Do It Yourself Deck Staining Atlanta GA

Having a wood deck is one of the nicest features for many homes. They are places where the family can gather to have a nice quiet evening and they make a wonderful place for family dinners and so on. Many people have been adding decks over the years to add value and some taste to their home. The size of the deck is all dependant upon the size of the home and the preference of the person that is adding it to the home. While they come in all shapes and sizes, there are certain things that a deck needs to have done to it for it to be a long lasting addition to the home.

Most of the decks today are still made out of wood. There are some of the newer products that are coming out that are plastic and look like wood and are guaranteed to never rot or fall apart. This is a very expensive and difficult to use alternative to the natural wood and it has never really caught in as far as popularity. This is due to the fact that you can not beat the beauty and durability of natural wood when it comes to a deck.

Decks are wonderful but they do require a fair amount of work to keep them looking nice and safe for people to be on them. The do it yourselfer will find this work to be rather simple in most cases but it will be very time consuming and could start to run up a rather large bill in the budget. However, most people who have a deck will not even give this another thought and you may very well be one those people.

Knowing how to take care of a deck is rather simple. As you know, weather has a rather adverse effect on wood. Over time the wetness that is all around will begin to seep into the wood and cause it too break down. Now most will say that they have bought treated wood for their deck so that should not be a problem. Well it is time to adjust your thinking. Do you know that nearly all treated lumber only has one coat of treatment on the surface? This means that the treatment solution can break down within a short span, usually about five years. When this happens the water will be soaking in and rotting the deck right out from under you.

To prevent such a tragedy you need to take the time to treat and stain the deck on a regular basis. For this you will need about five gallons of water sealant and some deck stain, about five gallons as well. You will also need a large sander and some extra sandpaper sheets.

When you are ready you need to sand down the entire deck until you have reached a point where you are seeing the natural wood color. This may take a bit of time because the buildup over the years could be massive and hard to get off.

Once you have done this then you need to apply the water sealant. Use a liberal amount and go over it as many times as you can with what you have available.

Let the water sealant dry completely then you will apply the stain in as many coats as you can. The stain will actually help to seal in the protection of the sealant and give you more protection over time. You should repeat this process at least every five years.