I have a question about my deck and I'm getting lots of different conflicting information from old posts.
My deck is atleast 20 years old (but probably not much more than that). I just powerwashed it yesterday. (I recently bought the house
- don't know when it was cleaned / treated last) It did a nice job with the wood. I now intend to sand it down to get it smooth.
After I sand, what should I do? I've seen "deck treatments". What is special about this? Can I just use something like Thomson's waterseal to keep the water out of the wood? What do the deck treatments have, if anything, that waterseal doesn't?
The deck has a nice color (I dont know what type of wood but it looks pressure treated) and I wouldn't mind just using a clear sealer. But I've read (here and in Consumer Reports) that the opaque sealers last longer.
Also, with the opaque sealers, what's the procedure when the process has to be redone? Do I need to powerwash again? Can I just apply a new coat over the old one if it hasn't peeled off? Would this be any different for a clear sealer?
Thanks. I've never had a deck before and am no familiar with all the different products for it.