How I Made My Old Deck and Garage Door Look Brand NEW With Stain

Berta Lily
by Berta Lily
2 Materials
$200
1 Week
Medium

The deck and garage door on our new home was in rough shape. I was thinking I would have to replace it all together since there were areas of rot. Luckily I was able to find an alternative for a faction of the cost.

The first thing was to power wash the deck. This photo is from AFTER power washing and it looks bad so it was even worse, if that's possible!

After I scrapped out the rotting wood, I realized it wasn't as bad as I had previously thought. I used this exterior filler to patch the holes that were left behind.

It's important to do this on a nice day when temperatures are over 60 degrees and you don't anticipate rain. I actually had to do this twice because the first time it was cold and rained shortly after I had applied the filler and it wasn't properly drying in thicker areas.

After 24 hours on a warmer day, I started to strain. I had never worked with stain before. I'm not sure what intimidated me about it, but I always assumed it would be the consistency of syrup and difficult to manage, but this stuff was just like paint!

I choose a sold stain because the wood underneath was ugly, for lack of a better word, and I didn't want it to come trough the clear stain. This is something else I had no idea about. I assumed stain only came in clear. I think what I was imagining was more an interior wood floor stain that you would apply using cloth.

When it comes to exterior wood, stain is absolutely the route to go if you ask me. I found it to be a little thicker then regular paint and looks absolutely perfect. It filled in the cracks in the wood but still has a natural wood feel that you would expect from a deck. I used a sold white stain and did the planks a medium beige color that matched the house (both Arborcoat by Benjamin Moore).

My deck also had a gazebo attached. When I first saw it I thought it was so weird! I've literally never seen anything like it before, it only fits about 2 people comfortably and literally sits on the corner of the deck. Just an odd layout over all. But I have to say its really grown on me!

I matched the gazebo to the railing. Now I am in love and find it absolutely adorable. My daughter pretends its a little tower and she's the princess icon

I plan to use it for all my plants and have them hang over the railing and from the top of the gazebo.

The next project was the garage door. The paint was chipping all over and it was looking pretty horrible but I didn't want to spend money on a garage door! That's not exactly a glamour purchase.

I used a 5-in-1 tool to scrap off the loose paint. {side note, I love my 5-in-1 tool, so useful for anyone that likes to paint various parts of their house}

I used the same filler from the deck to patch some of the deep cracks in the wood.

I then stained it using the same white Arborcoat and now it looks brand new!

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  • Lori Flood-Mclaughlin Lori Flood-Mclaughlin on May 02, 2020

    Will all your hard work stay that fresh ..not get weathered 😒 ugh..wouldn't we need a sealant of sorts ?

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  • William William on May 18, 2020

    Looks great. I hope yo did seal the deck as stated by the manufacturer. As a complete system for decks the Arborcoat® stain must be coated with Arborcoat® Waterborne Protective Clear Coat (636).

  • Donna Donna on Dec 04, 2021

    Looks amazing! Especially your deck.. 🤩 the garage door looks nice and clean in white, but personally I prefer the wood look.

    Plus I have 9 cats who would decorate aka paw up the white in a day or two. 😂

    🐾 🐾 🐾 🐾 🐾 🐾🐾🐾🐾

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