Re-painting the Deck with Deckover
Remember when I thought it was a good idea to paint the deck totally white? And then we dug up the entire yard to build the pool? Well, it wasn't a good idea. I was wrong. And this is my confession. :)
Honestly, I loved the look of the white deck but functionally it really wasn't working for us. The amount of dirt and mud that we were constantly tracking on the deck wasn't pretty. While we could kind of control the kids, we can't control the wild animals that like to browse around at night and leave footprints everywhere. But also, when the sun hit the deck directly, it was nearly blinding. You live and you learn... and as DIYers, you do it all again!
I started planning out our patio furniture needs while the winter was wearing off and found myself trying to buy rugs to cover nearly the whole dang thing up. Even bought one I thought was going to work under our new dining set, but it wasn't big enough.
I realized for about the same price as another massive outdoor rug, I could just re-paint the whole dang thing and solve our white deck problems. With that, I went on the hunt for a new deck paint.
Re-finishing the Deck with Behr Deckover Paint
In a quick browsing session at Home Depot, I started reading up on some of their outdoor deck paint and stain products. This deck floor is old with plenty of cracks and bangs, so I thought Deckover might be a good solution. It's more of a resurface coating than it is a paint. It also comes in a textured option so I thought that may be a good idea to add a little grip to control slips and falls with wet kids coming in and out of the pool. I made a quick color decision on the fly - Wood Chip - and bought a couple gallons to get started.
This is the moment I need to tell you to read the instructions for properly preparing your surface on the can and follow the directions. Don't try to hurry it up and rush like I did. I was eyeing a couple of nice days in-between some rainy spring weather so just prepped the deck by blasting it with the power sprayer on the hose and sanding down a few areas that chipped. I should have properly cleaned and dried the thing, but really wanted to get this done and out of the way so we could start layering in our new patio furniture. I'm seeing some places I'm going to have to re-do because of that already, but overall, I'm happy with it.
I used exterior painters tape to tape off the house and areas I didn't want to paint then got to work. We worked from one side to the other, trying to work the coating into the cracks as much as we could. That stuff was THICK like painting on brownie batter and a major challenge getting into the cracks to cover up the WHITE. I tried to use a big long handled roller, and all that did was splatter the stuff EVERYWHERE so we brushed on the entire first coat. My body hurt for days! Really need to start working out again...
Zach even helped me get the first coat done. The application requires two full coats and I thought I'd be able to get a coat out of a single can, but the first coat took two full gallons.
As the product dried on the first coat, I wasn't loving the color. Wrong AGAIN. It was a lot darker than I thought it'd be.
Since I had to buy two more gallons for coat two, I figured I might as well try to put a different color on top. I went with Tugboat for coat two which was a few shades lighter but still a wood-tone brown.
Coat two went on SO MUCH EASIER than coat one. I could even roll it on with a small roller to get the coating on more even and go a lot faster. It also only took a little over a can for the full second coat.
The new color and coat two was a lot closer to what I was hoping for. We let this dry out before tackling the touch-ups on the white.
Touching up the White Deck Railing and Verticals
While I planned to just touch up white where I splattered the brown coating, I realized we really hadn't touched the deck since the pool build. It was pretty dingy, had concrete splatters, construction bangs and just needed a fresh coat on most major surfaces.
The Finished Deck with Deckover
With the white verticals and railings freshly touched up, this deck is looking good as new!
While it was a lot of work to get this stuff painted on, it totally covered up and sealed so many cracks, splinters and even nail holes.
We don't have to add a rug anymore to help control dirt and glare, so if we do get a rug out here, it can be more decorative than functional. Since I gave up on trying so hard to get the coating down into all the cracks perfectly, at certain angles you can tell it's still white down there so a rug could help me hide the imperfections. Unless I decide to try a 3rd coat at some point.
I mentioned that I didn't follow the instructions for properly prepping since I was too antsy to wait, so I can tell there are a few areas that are bubbling up a bit. I'm going to keep an eye on them and may end up sanding them out and patching it up here and there, but overall it seems really durable. And doesn't show any of the dirt we have been tracking through!
We're looking forward to sitting out here with many friends and family for summer days and nights to come!
Need a deck fix? Here's what we used:
Behr Textured Deckover in Tugboat Home Depot
Behr Solid Color Waterproofing Exterior Stain and Sealer in Pinto White Home Depot
Exterior Painters Tape affiliate
Nylon/Polyester Paint Brush affiliate
Handy Paint Cup affiliate
Paint Roller and Tray Kit affiliate
Patio Furniture:
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