Home Improvement- Staining our Deck Day One

We couldn't put it off any longer- our deck needed to be re-stained. This is our third summer in our house and the deck was showing signs of age. Some boards had greenish mildew stains, the stain had worn off of some areas, and it was generally time for a facelift.

Before- note poor condition of floorboards

Before- Color was uneven on railing as well as floorboards

Before- Mildew and staining on parts of the deck

The first step was powerwashing (with a powerwasher borrowed from my in-laws) to remove as much dirt and mildew as possible. We then scrubbed the mildew stains with a brush using a special chemical and rinsed, then scrubbed the whole deck with a pre-treater to ensure the boards were ready to soak up the new stain.

Pressure washing

The floorboards after the chemical treatments.

So at the end of the day Friday we had a clean, prepared deck and we were ready to take on the actual stain application on Saturday... more to come!