Painting the Deck

The freshly-painted deck, ready to enjoy

So, finally, after two and a half months off work, two and a half months of procrastinating, I got around to re-painting my back deck.

It's not a large deck, being twelve feet by twelve, and I didn't really need to re-paint all those spindles, so it wasn't such a big job.

Last year was the first year I painted the deck, and it took about two days - waiting for the paint to dry before adding another coat, and all the detailed, tedious work of painting the spindles. And, of course, painting the deck all over, right side and wrong side!

The wood really soaked up the paint, and I think I only did two coats. If I did three, then I should have done four, because over the winter, the surface of the deck - the parts most exposed to the elements - wore off, leaving the deck looking kinda awful.

So, on Monday, I got around to re-painting.

One coat partly done. You can see the unpainted part under the table.

I used the same paint as last year. A cheaper brand called Rez, purchased for 27.99 at Canadian Tire. I used a semi-transparent wood/ deck paint in the shade called Cedar. I actually had one can left over after last year, and I was counting on that for this year's re-touching. However, when I opened up that unopened can, I saw water/ liquid floating on top and, upon mixing, the paint was lumpy and gross. I had to go to Canadian Tire and get an whole new can. I asked about the lumpy paint - apparently, once that happens, there is nothing to be done, and it was likely caused by storing the paint in my unheated garage.  Sigh.

Anyway, new, fresh paint in hand, I spent Monday beautifying the deck. I did it by brush as it was more relaxing and definitely provided more thorough coverage. And I am very happy with the result - I applied three solid coats to the floor and railing tops, and now the rain water beads like magic and the deck gleams like new!

Three coats