The Deck is Stained

This year we HAD to stain the deck. We should have done it last year but with the new baby it was just impossible. But this year it wasn’t optional - the stain was completely gone in many places and looked terrible. It was time… as soon as we had a string of good weather days that coincided with a day where we’re home to do it.

Finally it happened - an open Saturday afternoon followed by a forecasted string of sunny days. We cleared it, cleaned and scrubbed it, lightly sanded it. I put on 2 new layers of stain (with 4 hours in between coats) and it looks SO much better.

Afterwards we let it cure for 2 days before walking on it. That was the hardest part - keeping the kids and dog off of it. Even with a barricade at the door and at the bottom of the deck stairs, they are still programmed to going in and out of the backyard that way.

I’m really happy to finally have this done. We still need to restain parts of pergola that need it, but we ran out of time that day. When the new driveway gate is done that will also need staining, plus our patio chairs are starting to flake and need freshening up.