Tips on Resealing a Deck

Your deck provides a dry and comfy location for entertaining and enjoying the outdoors. With proper maintenance, a wood deck will endure for decades without cracking or deteriorating. Sealant plays a large part in shielding the deck from sunlight, moisture and mildew damage. Resealing your deck correctly will ensure that it looks its very best.

Stripping and Cleaning

To reseal a deck coated with a sealant product, you must get rid of any leftover sealant and thoroughly clean out the wood before applying a new coat. Chemical strippers and cleaners work much better than mechanical processes like sanding or usage of steel wool for eliminating both old sealant and grime because they won’t gouge the wood or leave metal residue that cause rust stripes. Should you use a pressure sprayer to remove tough dirt or leaf stains, then keep the water moving, and use a cleaner in precisely the exact same time to reduce damage to the wood.

Weather Conditions

The sealant will not dry correctly if temperatures are too low. Any temperate weeks when temperatures remain above 50 degrees Fahrenheit work well for sealing your deck. Implementing a sealant in chilly weather slows down the drying process, allowing any debris or dust which falls on the deck to stick in the sealant. Rain and snow also ruin the sealing process and will require you to start over from scratch. Early fall is an excellent time for resealing in most areas, but you ought to hang a tarp to keep falling leaves off until the deck dries.

Reseal Early

When you see fractures or lightening on the surface of your deck, damage has already been done, and resealing will only stop additional harm. Reseal your deck onto a yearly basis unless you decide on a product using a multiple-year warranty. The highest-quality deck sealants do not last over a year in ponds with near constant rain. Test the deck by massaging it with water. If the water beads up and does not soak into the wood within a couple of minutes, your deck is still correctly sealed.

Pick the Right Product

Most deck sealing products use oils for a base because the wood of your deck absorbs oil easily. However, these oils also encourage mold and mildew growth by feeding them. Oil-based sealants do not protect the wood from UV (ultraviolet) harm which turns most forests gray after a couple of years. Clear sheeting deck sealers cost more and require you to clean out the deck well prior to application, but the extra benefits they offer outweigh those issues for homeowners who want to keep the pure colour of their deck.

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