Our poor deck has been neglected for six years. And it had been pretty neglected before we moved in. Dave sanded and stained the deck the first year we moved in, and we haven't touched it since. This might work for some decks, but not ours, mainly due to the fact that our back yard is sand and every time some one walks in the back yard and then on the deck, it's like sanding it. Needless to say our deck was in pretty bad shape, so bad, in fact, I was convinced that it would last one more winter. So I took matters into my own hands and decided that I would just do it my self. (no offense hon, but it's been on the 'Honey do list' for four years.) So I bought the stain, bought a sander and got to work. I thought I had killed the sanded after the first day of sanding. The belt of sand paper wouldn't stay on, and a screw mysteriously fell out. But Dave was able to fix it no problem when he got home. After three days of sanding, and some very sore muscles, I was ready to stain. But before I started, Dave had this great idea, one of the boards was rotten, so "lets replace in and you can sand it real quick before you stain." Yeah, well one little problem, the new board sticks up more than a quarter inch above the other boards! I'm not sanding that, we need a new plan. And a question, how did the boards in the deck get so short? Do they sell thinner wood for decks? Is it possible that it has really been sanded THAT much??
We can't let little details like missing boards stop the project, must stain anyway! I spent an entire day staining the deck, and I didn't even finish. I still have the outside of the railing and a second coat on the deck. Fortunately, I barely had enough stain for one coat. Alas, one more unfinished project.
