2019 Deck Project

Summer 2019 Home Project
Mike & Judy
Replace the blue top flat rails, fix and repaint the white rails, fix and paint the stairs,
restain the deck floor.

Painting and Repairing our Decks: 2019
It’s been 10 years since we painted them, which is really quite good, but we decided this
year that we’d have to repaint, starting with the front deck.
FRONT DECK:
Here’s what we decided to do:
1. Replace the top blue rails with composite (mixture of wood and plastic) as it would
not weather, wouldn’t need painting and will be a generally low-maintenance
solution.
2. Some of the wooden upright railings were rotting and would need repair (filling
with wood filler).
3. At the left corner where the rails joined the main post, they were rotting at the join
(and so was the post). The rails would have to be replaced and the post repaired
with wood filler.
4. The front deck plank is weathering badly in places, and cannot be removed
because the posts stand on it. Instead I will fill and repair the cracks with epoxy
filler that should preserve the wood for years to come.
5. The blue paint on the woodwork around the door and windows needs redoing.
6. The deck floor will have to be repainted. We will use stain instead of paint: it looks
the same, but stain adheres to the wood much better than paint.

Getting started:
The top (blue) rail has already
been removed. This is the corner
post where I had previously filled
and patched the hole caused by
wood rot with foam before
smoothing and painting over it.
Now it all has to come out so that
the hole can be filled with solid
wood filler.

View of the left side rail. The white supporting rail on top was badly rotted where it
joined the post, so I had to remove it and cut another piece to replace, first making sure
it was thoroughly painted.
Some of the rails are also rotting at the bottom as can be seen: these will be cleaned out
and filled with wood filler.

Here the top cross rails have been removed, and the pillar has been filled with wood
filler. There was a fairly big hole once the rotten wood was removed, which I filled with
odds and ends until I could apply the wood filler. This will then be sanded to make a
smooth, solid surface.

The top rails are badly weathered, and would require sanding down and repainting. The
wood is badly cracked, so water and frost would soon get in and lift the paint, and crack
the wood. Best option is to replace with composite as it is weather-proof (and the birds
would still be happy to rest on it).

Looking along the front deck, with the top rail now removed (but still place for the birds
to sit).
Several of the rails will need repairing at the bottom where they join the lower cross
piece. The deck, too, is going to be restained.

The handrails up the stairs
are in really bad shape.
Sanding and repairing them
will not work, as there are
too many deep cracks.
I’ll replace these with
composite rails, too.
The steps (and kickboards)
will need repainting.

This lower step is badly
rotted. If it weren’t a
big job, I’d replace the
whole left riser but that
would mean replacing
the whole step
assembly.
I’ll fix it by filling the
hole with paper mache
mixed with glue, and
then covered with
wood filler. It will make
for a hard, solid side.
This all started by just
one nail allowing
moisture in and then
the rot set in.
Fortunately, the stair
itself is solid and not
dependent on its
attachment to the riser.

The old handrails are
removed.
I’ll have to find long (5-
inch) screws at the
hardware store so that I
can attach the new
handrails through the
bottom of the 2x4
support.

I then fixed all the bad
pieces of wood where it
was rotting from
moisture getting in and
then sanded all the wood
filler areas.
The next few days were
spent painting all the
white rails and pillars.
This was quite tedious
because of their fancy
shapes and indents, but
we got it done. It looks a
lot better.
Next came the fun bit:
getting my table saw out
of the shed (to my
“outside workshop” as I
call it) so that I could cut
the composite rails to fit.

The new top rails are
in, securely fastened
from beneath so that
no screws are visible
along the top.
We still have to
repaint the blue (on
the walls) and the
deck itself.

This corner is looking a lot better: no sign of the rot that had taken hold where the rails
joined the post.

The rails look nice and bright now: the steps still have to be stained, as does the deck
itself but there’s no sign of the big hole on the left of the steps, as you’ll see on the next
photo:

Certainly looking a
lot better, and once
the step is painted it
should look quite
good.

One thing always leads
to another: Judy came
home the other day with
a new light for our front
deck. She thought we
could take the old one
(that I put up about two
years ago) and use it on
the back deck, where we
need a new one. At least
this one doesn’t look like
most of the lights our
neighbours have.
This is the old light …

… and this is the new.

More to follow …