The Deck is Stained

Here's a shot of the railing stained. We treated the deck with bleach and TSP first, then gave it a sanding with 80 grit. It removes the mill glaze, and makes it take the stain more evenly. We used the Sikkens SRD formula Stain, which is only one coat. I think we did 4 coats on the fence, with the Cetol 123, so it was a lot easier than that. Still, it took 11 hours to sand it all down, and for the 2 of us to stain it.



Here's a shot of the landing, the stairs are 4' wide, so they're a little wider than normal.



Here's a shot of the decking stained. Deb did it while I was at work today. It's still a little wet in the picture, so there's a little bit of glare on it. The railing is a colour called Natural, and the decking is Dark Oak. We also got rid of the wall, we like it a lot better. It's louder though, I guess it was blocking sound from the road too. We're going to add some 2x6's along the top, and hang some bamboo blinds, so we can have privacy, when we want it.



The railing cap still has to be donJe, as well as the post lights. We're going to varnish the fir beams below with marine varnish. We still have to find a good one to use for that. Hopefully it'll be all done by the end of this weekend. Then we have to finish the painting, and re-route some of the drainage at the bottom of the stairs.