I'm looking to refresh my very old wooden deck, but I'm not ready to invest in a complete replacement just yet. I know ideally I should sand, stain, and varnish it, but given its current condition, is it really that bad to just paint over it without all that prep work?
1 Answer
It's actually pretty common to skip sanding on older decks, especially if they're not in terrible shape. Just give it a good power wash to clean off the grime and then paint or use a solid color stain. Sanding can be overkill if you're just trying to make it look decent without a full restoration. Just make sure you’re not varnishing—go for spar urethane if you want a finish.
Thanks for the reassurance! I really appreciate your advice. I was worried about the condition being too far gone. Sounds like I just need to clean and paint.