It was the summer of the best of decks; it was the summer of the worst of decks.

This summer was supposed to be simple: refurbish our redwood decks; maybe sanding one. First one was easy.

I built this about 10 years ago, using under-deck fastening; so there are no holes in the horizontal surface. No splitting, no corrosion and easy sanding when that becomes necessary. First few times, I used Penofin, but it darkened unacceptably even with careful preparation and application. A local recommended Armstrong-Clark. It was a good call. First the color is amazing! But also the application process is much easier; my 83 year old knees weren’t looking forward to traversing the deck again: apply to an area and then to immediately wipe it down to help with the discoloration that I knew was coming. But with Armstrong Clark I used a pole-brush, followed by a rag-on-a-pole wiping, and it was done..

The first picture it is mid-staining –a combination of before and after:

It’s now four months later and the deck still looks great.

Now to the “worst of decks.” We also have an upstairs deck; over a bedroom, and thus have a “membrane-and-stringers” system to carry off water. It was built in 1992 and needed attention this year. During the power washing I noticed that some boards were very loose and discovered that corrosion had set in around some screws. Further inspection let to dismay: the contractor had used sheet rock screws, not deck screws. They had corroded, turning into wicks that drew water though the membrane and into the stringers. So this became a deck rebuild.

I looked for scheme that would give me a fastener-free surface like the other deck. But there I could crawl under the deck, installing the planks from below while teaching the neighbors’ children some new words. The former was not possible with this deck; as it developed, there were plenty of opportunities for the latter.

The idea of a “floating deck’” made of “tiles” was attractive; commercially available tiles were not: too small, too expensive. So I designed my own tile-system of planks held together with dowels (like leaves in a table) with the single 1500 pound tabletop, fastened to the sidewalls with a “crown moulding” that would also leave fewer hiding places for … well … for leaves.

“The best laid plans…” effect soon came into play: first the roofers cut stringers whose heights were too variable and shimming was needed. But a second problem arose: some of the redwood planks were bowed. Lashing a couple together (and shimming) solved that problem … for a while. Soon it became necessary to slash triples, so simple 50 pound tiles became 150 pound boat-anchors. But the system did work.

Next picture is a “before” picture with the exposed 28 year-old select-heart redwood railing system now free of what the house painter called Cabot’s “bark mulch stain” and what I called (among other things) “brown paint” and the newly installed but unstained redwood “table top” and moulding.

Then another pre-stain picture with other (finished) deck peaking through the shrubbery below

And finally the completed project:

Again it was A-C transparent redwood that made this result shine. The same application process as before: long-handled brush followed by a pass with a rag-covered deck broom. Eezy-peezy. This did take longer than expected. I knew it was to be a one-man job but I didn’t count on the smoke and ash from the Santa Cruz fire just over the hill.

Lessons? Fastening planks from below is a winner. No nails or screws to corrode or to impede a sander when sanding is needed. And (beside my knees) the big winner was the A-C stain: trouble-free application and a beautiful result.

Now what to do with an unopened gallon of Penofin? Well, Halloween is coming; perhaps I’ll surprise some parents? 😉