Deck Refinishing and Maintenance

When it comes to prepping a deck in Central Oregon, you need only call the Deck Team of Webfoot Painting.  Our Deck Team has made refinishing and maintaining decks their sole mission and business here in Bend.  From our state-of-the-art dust-free sanding and refinishing equipment, to our tried and tested application methods and stain products, we’ll have your deck back to looking beautiful in no time!  Once we have it looking like new, we can maintain that appearance at a fraction of the refinishing cost.  With our free annual inspection and maintenance plan, we can keep your deck looking beautiful for many years to come.  Check out our Deck Refinishing and Deck Maintenance pages for more information on decks and deck maintenance.

Refinishing a deck is the process of taking an old weathered deck and bringing it back to a like-new condition.  Whether you call it deck restoration, refurbishing, sanding, rejuvenating, or refinishing- it all seeks the same end goal, a pretty deck!  There are two generally accepted methods of refinishing a deck: chemical strippers and brighteners, and sanding.  One option may leave you poisoned, and the other may leave your knees and back broken. 

Deck Brighteners and Strippers: A lot of companies out there use this method.  Not only are these processes hard on a deck, but they are also pretty hard on the environment, not to mention all the water that gets wasted through numerous stages of washing (typically 4-6 rounds of power washing).  When pressure washers are used for removing gray, discolored areas of decks, the soft wood particles between the wood grain washes away and what's left is a ribbed, splintered deck.  Watch out for slivers...  You usually end up needing some sanding to remove burrs in the wood, and the result is typically far from great.

Deck Sanding: This method is far superior when needing to start over with a deck.  It will remove a small layer of the old, gray wood and when done correctly you will have a very nice even appearance.  Typically it doesn’t have the same “reach” as the chemical method, meaning edges up against siding, stairs, and rails are often skipped because they are difficult to sand.  The sanding dust does create a large mess and can be fairly toxic considering it is a fine dust of old oil-based stain products.  When left uncollected these particles can be harmful to pets, children, and gardens!  Often times when this process is done incorrectly the finished product doesn’t last very long (6-12 months).  Feel free to ask us why during our deck consultation.

The third option we propose, is calling the Deck Team.  Our process of refinishing uses a combination of sanding and light washing with non-toxic neutralizers.  First we check that all your deck screws are properly secured.  Then through specially procured equipment, tuned specifically for refinishing decks, we’re able to completely sand a deck, including around all edges and nooks, dust-free.  We then use a proprietary blend of non-toxic wood cleaners to remove any remaining dust from the surface, restore proper pH levels, and to open the wood cells up to receive stain once the deck has dried. This process of refinishing has been tweaked and tested over 8 years and countless decks.  In our opinion, there is nothing more that can be done to better prepare a deck surface. 

Got questions?  Check out our FAQ page or give the Deck Team a call!