This is a photo of a ten year old deck in Scotts Valley California.  Obviously the boards on the left have been stained and the boards on the right are waiting patiently for their turn.  The stain is dry, which gives you a real accurate feel as to what ten year old boards could look like after they have been washed, stained, and have had time to dry.  I wish I had a picture of what this deck looked like before we began work on it.  It wasn’t pretty!

All of our outdoor finish work is performed by hand.  Believe it or not, these are very old redwood planks(3×6) in Los Gatos, CA.  This deck gets heavy abuse, and as you can tell by the finished boards, these wood planks are under wraps.  We’ve been maintaining this deck for about five years now.  Da Bomb!

Using Both Hands With Equal Ease

Quality Patio and Deck Furniture Restoration. East Side Santa Cruz.

Scotts Valley, California

These are pretty unique pictures I thought. Just different angles with different sun producing different colors and consequently different looks. Aaahhh..the beauty of transparents. The darker portions of the deck have already been stained and that stain has fully cured. The rails looked fine from last year and didn’t need new stain.(except the top piece of course!!) This is 100% redwood tone on approx. ten year old boards. This is about the fifth time I’ve stained this particular deck. Better than new……

Before the pressure washing occurs on any wood deck, it’s crucial to clear out the spaces between the boards.  Here’s a look at a 15 year old wood deck in the Scotts Valley area.  After the spaces have been cleaned, the pressure washing can begin.

I can’t stress enough how important this part of the deck maintenance process is.  Don’t expect this type of AAA service from just any pressure washing firm you happen to dial out of the yellow pages or the like.  It just doesn’t work like that.  This my friends is how the Pros do it!

A chair or two I can knock out n/c as part of the overall job. I’ll add value to just about every job I do. However, a whole fleet of quality outdoor furniture is another story. Truth is..furniture like this takes quite a bit of effort to clean, but the end result is stunning.

Results are key you know!!!

This Cumaru deck located in Monterey Ca is about four years old.  The owner mentioned that Penofin Oil was used at some point maybe a few years back.  Gads!  Another Penofin Plunder.  My opinion says Penofin is a very nasty, old fashioned sort of product and shouldn’t be used on beautiful hardwood like Cumaru or Ipe’ or the like.  It’s time to get with the times!  There was virtually no product left on this particular deck when I was asked to take it over. .

7:30 pm.  No sunlight.  Complete.  Biowash Natural Deck Oil.(Special Cumaru Blend)

Not Sticky, Not Stinky

organic

Cumaru Deck
Monterey, CA

The drying time of any wood deck that has been freshly stained depends on a number of factors.  These factors, combined with the method by which the stain is applied, will ultimately determine when the boards are dry.  We typically tell our clients to stay off the deck for 24 hours, yet if the deck gets a strong shot of direct sun…it’s pretty good to go within a few hours.  Here’s a freshly stained deck on the Pasatiempo Golf Course.  Notice the decks’benches in the foreground waiting their turn at some LOVE.

This is par for any course, and the remedy is simple:

Put the umbrella holder right back in its home!

If you have a wood deck in Santa Cruz County, it is highly recommended  to have your deck maintained annually.  If there was one question that was asked more than other question as it pertains to maintenance, it is whether or not the rails need to be maintained annually.  I usually answer that by saying NO, however the top 2×6 that caps the railing should definitely be maintained as often as the deck itself.  Basically, if the board sits horizontally, it weathers much, much quicker than any vertical board.  This picture of a railing in Pasatiempo best exemplifies that.  We came back to this deck after two years, and all the vertical posts were still handling stain quite well, yet the top piece was obviously in need of a cleaning and some more Biowash Natural Deck Oil.

Many Santa Cruz County residents have turned to Ipe’ outdoor wood decking. Biowash Natural Deck Oil works fabulous on it too. The days of thinking Penofin or some other nasty mixture would work best on this very dense hardwood, are long gone. I maintain my share of Ipe’ decks throughout Santa Cruz, especially Aptos and Scotts Valley, and and I will tell you that although Ipe’ is supposed to last like 50 years untreated or something crazy like that, I wouldn’t take that route because its beauty and simplicity make this Brazilian Hardwood like no other. I highly suggest taking pretty good care of it. Because it’s so hard, you can easily get away with maintaining it every 3 or 4 years or so..but just like everything else in life, it all depends on how bad-ass you want your Ipe’ deck to be.

To beat the sun, I had to begin staining this five year old deck very early in the a.m. I didn’t stain the rails this year as they didn’t need it and typically don’t. This year I just stained the top piece of the rail and all the flooring. This deck was still drying when I had to leave, but you get the idea. I really think Ipe’ is a super wood to be used for outdoor decking, and highly recommend it. Ipe’ deck project in Corralitos, California.

This deck is just eight months old. It was built in November 2007. In a decks life, it’s as good as new. To ensure this deck remained better than new,(that’s right..I said better than new) I insisted this guy wait (a full winter and half a summer) for the wood to open up a bit before staining in early August 2008. Every newly constructed deck will present a little different situation with possibly a different maintenance approach, but this is good stuff right here amigo!

East Side Santa Cruz

These stained boards up against the house are dry. As always, Biowash Natural Deck Oil. The color is a private blend of X % Redwood, Y % Natural, Z % Cedar.

These boards were stained the day prior to this picture. This particular back deck is about six years old and is located in Aptos California off Clubhouse Dr. I think it’s about 10am with flat light. Gorgeous right??

This was a gutter AND a deck project in the Seascape area of Santa Cruz. These are before and after the cleaning only. I like these pictures because they showcase a situation that I see quite frequently which is damage that occurs to wood boards when pots or wood piles or small trees, or the like are left directly on the deck over time. It turns into sow bug and termite central.  Not good!

The moral to the story is to keep things UP off the deck, AND also move things around from time to time…especially big potted plants that get watered often. As you can see from the square marks on each side of the foot of this bench, this was a potential disaster waiting to happen to this beautiful deck. Luckily it was caught in time. I suggested putting their boxed lemon trees on sturdy rollers, and for a year or so..moving them to a different place on the deck.

some are big some are little

some form on the end some form in the middle

As it stands now, I have stained this deck just 2x, the first time being April 2007. I believe the deck was built in the fall of 2006. I advised the client to wait until spring to wash and stain for the first time. I don’t have pictures from that day, but here is how it looks in April 2008 after a quick stain job. My next bit of advice for this sweet lady in Aptos was to call me again in October and I will throw another coat of Biowash Natural Oil on it for $50. The key to brand new decks is to let them age a bit before showering them with love. It’s all about the love!!