Deck refresh round 2 actually! I just realized I've never shared the before so here is what it looked like when we moved in...
We lived with it like this the first Summer. Summer 2 we added a second set of stairs and scraped and painted all of the spindles and pergola. We also rented a big sander and sanded down as much of the floor as we could. There were at least 3 layers of different kinds of paints and there was no way we were getting down to the wood. The wood isn't in great shape and the weird angles make it hard to style so we were more concerned with prolonging the life it has left and hoping to rebuild in the near future. After we sanded we used Sherwin Williams SuperDeck Deck Wash followed by 2 coats of SuperDeck IR Reflective Exterior Waterborne Semi-Solid Color Stain in the gray color off the shelf.
The stain itself was pretty thick and I was immediately concerned about it's longevity. Fast forward two years and our deck looked like this, peeling and bubbling up all over. The dark color was also annoying because it always looked dirty!
To be fair you have to take our weather into consideration. Wisconsin has had some killer Winters these last few years which may have contributed to the durability of the SuperDeck product. All I know is that it needed to be redone AGAIN and I was going to try something new.
This time around I went to Benjamin Moore and had a long chat with the Manager who recommended a brand called Storm System. He's been there for a long time and said this is hands down the best product on the market. You will have to check your local Benjamin Moore store to see if they carry it because I don't see it available on their website. Or you can check here to find a your local supplier. The primer retailed for $55 and the stain was $45 per gallon. (Product list below) This product is not sponsored and I have no idea how it will hold up but I will come back to this post with an update next Spring!
Let's get down to business.
First we power washed the deck which pulled up a ton of loose paint and left some raw wood and different layers of paint visible. After it dried out we (Jake) scraped and sanded by hand anything that was still loose. Because of the raw wood, different exposed layers, and extreme weather conditions Benjamin Moore recommended I use the Storm System Oil Based Quick Dry Primer first. I used a gallon of that which sealed everything up nicely and gave us a good base for the stain. I believe the Solid Stain has a primer built in so it may not be necessary to take this extra step if you don't have extreme weather conditions (we needed all the help we could get). Here is what it looked like primed...
We let the primer dry for 24 hours and then I cut it in with a brush and rolled on the Solid Stain in Category 4 . Here is the new color going on. I had Benjamin Moore color match it in their Galveston Gray paint color.
This product has a great consistency. It's a little thinner than paint and really easy to work with. I ended up putting on two coats and it's perfect. I'm going to let it cure for 4 days because that is what was recommended to me and I want it set up to kick off Summer break this weekend. If you can give it a week that would be even better. I think the cure time is really important to the life of the product. You should also check your forecast and make sure you have a solid stretch with no rain.
We love the Galveston gray color. If you are looking for a gray with no blue undertones I highly recommend it! Its a nice deep cement color which looks great with our Tricorn Black (Sherwin Williams) house. Remember when you are choosing any exterior color to go a shade or two darker than your first choice. Everything looks much brighter outside.
Here she is with her fresh new look...
Hopefully refresh #2 does the trick!
The whole project came in a little over $150. Here is our list for this project-
-power washer
-sandpaper & scraper
-Storm System Oil Based Quick-Dry Primer
-garbage brush for the oil based primer
-Storm System Solid Stain Category 4
-paint tray
-(2) paint tray liners
-(2) 1/2" nap roller covers
-roller & extender (a broom handle works great if you don't have one)
Cheers to outdoor project season!
XO, Meg
Comments