Weekend Project

One issue brought up in our home inspection report was that our deck needed to be stained to protect it from the elements. I wanted to do this early on when we moved in but it was still spring-time and raining every weekend so I decided to wait until it warmed up. Now that summer is here and we are starting to have a few guests over I decided it was time to get started on this project.

On Friday, after work, I went to Home Depot and rented a gas powered pressure washer. That night I spent 4 hours spraying the deck from top to bottom to strip it of dirt and the old stain. The next morning I went back to Home Depot and returned the pressure washer and picked up some deck stain from Sherwin Williams. Once I got back to the house I decided to mow the lawn to give the deck another hour or so to dry. By 12:00 it was well into the 90’s and the deck was bone dry. So I popped opened a gallon of stain and went to work on the deck with a paint brush. After an hour I realized that the deck was going to take a lot longer than I thought to stain. Since I didn’t want to work on Sunday, I decided to stick with it until I was done. I only stopped to get a drink 3 times and it still took me until 7:30 to finish. I worked a solid 7 ½ hours work in 90 degree weather but when I finished I was happy to have the deck done; although  I was feeling a little sick and my neck and arms were sore from sun burn.

 I think I actually had a bit of heat exhaustion but after a cool shower and some food and water I started to feel better. I don’t think I will be doing any more staining projects in the summer again, next time I’ll just wait unti fall.