In between the hour long episodes, we got some things crossed off our ever growing shit list. It was a unanimous decision to get gutters on our house... I know, we are those people who don't have gutters. We have some more price checking to do, but figured out that our back gutters won't cost us more than $200.00 Benjamins. More to come on that.
In the meantime, we started picking away at our deck... literally. We have actually had to pick away the wood that has somehow managed to grow over the screws on our deck. About 1 out of every 5 screws are stripped. It has been a NIGHTMARE. The goal was to get at least one deck board up. We did two. 50% more than our original goal! Sa-weet! There is always a silver-lining. After flipping the two boards we noticed they were green treated. After a good power wash, the wood was practically new again.
We went to check out deck stain at Home Depot. We currently have this pretty awful red stain that looks more like a muddy red paint--
Bleh. We are fans of the "wet wood" look, and were searching for a stain that made our deck resemble just that. In our search we came across this Rustoleum product- Restore. Apparently, the goal in mind with this product is to give your deck the look and feel of composite decking. There are three types of products; Restore 10X, Restore 4X, and Restore Stain.
Restore Stain is a lot thinner, so the texture of the wood will show through. This product can be used on wood and concrete finishes. This product is great for--
- Balusters
- Railings
- Fences
- Walls
We are completely removing the railing of our deck, therefore, we won't be needing the Restore Stain. I think the new texture of the deck floor will really accent our love for industrial-modern, and our (future) deck railing.
With these Edison bulb string lights? Happy, happy!
Restore 10X is perfect for concrete and wood surfaces. It is also 10 times thicker than what would be considered "normal" paint. Restore 4X is about four times the thickness of paint. The extra thickness of 10X makes the deck more durable, as well as better coverage of cracks, knots and surface flaws. However, the thickness also means a lot less coverage, and more dollar bills being spent. If your deck is in decent shape, going the Restore 4X route may be the way to go.
In our case we are taking the Restore 4X avenue. We aren't flipping these damn boards for nothing. We also like the smoother look a lot more than the rugged, hardcore appearance that the Restore 10X gives off. With future babies looming, we want them to be able to crawl around without getting divots and dimples in their knees. Sadly, we won't be getting the "wet look" we were hoping for, but I think this product will be a great alternative.
Something to keep in mind is the color choice. Yes, going with a dark color on your deck may be the best looking, but deck coatings absorb a lot of heat and retain it longer than plain wood. If the sun is shining on your deck most of the day, you may want to stick with a lighter color so you can actually walk on it without your flesh melting off. That would be the worst. All that work for a deck you can't even relax on. Oh the humanity. On the flip-side, if your deck is more shaded, I'd say go with the dark color.
Our deck is not shaded... queue the violin. Although there were some great color candidates, we were able to narrow the color down to Beach. We liked the Cape Cod, a light gray color, but I think the final product would look too much like cement.
Happy the Whiting household was able to agree on a product! However, we are a house divided on the actual application. Since I will more than likely be the one doing the painting, I wanted to paint the boards first BEFORE screwing them into our deck. Shane wants to paint directly onto the deck after the boards are secured. I can assume his reasoning is it would be easier... which is a very true story, but mine is this-- Ah-hem. We have had one hell of a time getting these stupid deck boards up as it is. It took us nearly two hours to get two boards up. Profanities. Lot's of them. I would like the future owners of our home to be able to replace the deck if they choose, and don't want to leave them with a deck that they can't take apart without a sledge hammer and a guaranteed trip to the hospital. I want to throat punch whoever built our deck, and certainly wouldn't want future owners to feel this way about us. Because this deck is misery. If you do feel like leaving a comment, what would your suggestion be? Would you be an asshole and paint over the screws? Or would you be an overly ambitious angel, suffer initially with the heaping load of extra work, but leave a good lasting impression with the next owners? Help.
We are hoping to give you an update on the deck once July hits. Come to think of it, we are hoping to give you lots of updates. This girl has the week off, and I will be damned if I don't get some shit done.
Tootles.
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