The big project

With the cooler weather, we are finally getting to a big project we've been needing to do all year. First stop was Home Depot for supplies to refinish Mom Vae's deck/porch.

Not that it needs it or anything! This west end is especially rough, as it gets direct afternoon sun every day of the year.

First step is applying the paint stripper.

Then a couple hours later, Sam scrubbed the old stain off. This kind of work was easier when we were younger!

Then I washed off the stripper and the clumps of old stain and we let it dry overnight.

Sanding comes next. Sam borrowed a couple belt sanders, which are a great help. Thank you, Dennis and Jeff!

I fit under the deck, so I was nominated to remove the lattice. Fortunately, it's not as yucky under there as you might think.

I also reapplied more stripper on the spots that didn't come off the first time.

Mom has appointed herself supervisor, though she often says she wishes we weren't working so hard.

More sanding.

Sam also removed all 45 spindles, so we could paint them separately.

But first they have to be sanded. Surprise!

We're not nearly done with sanding.

Next, we apply a cleaner, wait 15 minutes, then scrub and rinse. After drying 24 hours, we did a little more hand sanding this morning, and were finally ready for deck coating. It's thick, goopy and has to be brushed and rolled on as fast as possible, especially in our dry southern Arizona climate. So I didn't take any photos!

We're thrilled that the first coat is done, with one more to go. Doesn't that look better? The posts, railings and spindles will be another color. Hopefully we'll get them done this weekend. At which point we'll be finished with the smaller half and ready to start the larger section!

To be continued...