Pressure-treated deck, original install 2022, never re-stained. Boards had gone full grey, soft spots in the south-facing corner where standing water had compromised the surface fibres.
What we did
Eight hours over Saturday, two-person crew:
- Cleaned with deck-specific cleaner (potassium hydroxide based, pulls grey wood without damaging the substrate)
- Pressure-washed at 1200 PSI fan-tip
- Sanded the worst corner with 80-grit on a random-orbit, feathered the transitions
- One coat of solid-colour deck stain (customer chose solid over semi-transparent because they wanted to hide the year-4 inconsistency in the boards)
- Second coat after 4-hour dry time
- Stained the deck rails and stair stringers separately to match
Why the timing matters
April 10 is early for deck staining in the GTA, temperatures still drop below 8°C overnight some weeks. We checked the 7-day forecast obsessively and went on a confirmed warm stretch. If the night before is below 8°C and the deck doesn't fully cure, the second coat doesn't bond properly and you end up re-doing it in June. We've turned down deck jobs in early April when the forecast wasn't there.
