Of course it's not! Sure, some lucky people in the world find a place to hang out for three days, but for so many people I know, it's a time to do that one thing that's been put off, or to start a new project that's been on the back burner for months, years, decades...or however long they've been procrastinating. For us, it was staining the deck.
The deck was one of the most exciting things about this house when we bought it. I grew up in a house that had a solid wood deck off the back. I love decks. They're perfect places for putting grills, chairs, and other typical hanging-out things. We both love hanging out. The space was awesome. The only problem was that weather had been terrible to this deck, and it wasn't protected. Furthermore, it was an ugly color. Picture old wood with some green-ish tints in random places. Not pretty.
"Ooooh, I love how none of it is the same color!" said no one.
Our other issue was with the stairs. They were old, a bit wobbly, unpredictable, and unreliable. I broke one walking down them one day. Since I'm not really that obese, it was definitely cause for concern.
It's an adventure every time you walk up or down.
Maybe they'll keep you up...
Or maybe they'll send you toppling face-first onto the concrete!
So, the first thing we did was get rid of all the stairs. Two hammers, a drill, and two pry bars later...
Goodbye, danger steps!
We only had one problem. In our excitement to get rid of the death stairs, we had forgotten to clean off the stuff from the deck. This included two grills, four chairs, two end tables, and a large umbrella.
Whoops. Luckily, he's an engineer so we figured something out:
Grills on wheels!
Most of the other stuff could just be handed over the deck railing. Still, we felt pretty silly for not thinking of that before we demolished the only stairs.
After everything was pressure washed, we let it sit overnight. That way, we could be sure that the deck would be dry for staining.
We bought some heavy-duty gloves so that splinters would not be too much of an issue, and we were ready to go!
Safety first
Of course, we picked the hottest day of the year to do this. Despite that all of August felt like fall weather, September shows up and decides to be July. It was so hot that my hands were sweating before I even looked at those gloves. I'm sure there's some expert deck-stainers out there that would tell us not to stain in this kind of weather - and we even read some of their advice after a google search - but we were determined. And mostly stubborn. We did it anyway.
We had discussed many times how we would apply the stain. Spraying would obviously be the quickest, but we worried about over-spray while doing the sides. The stain was expensive, and we didn't want to have to go buy another 5 gallon bucket of the stuff. So, we decided on brushing it.
It was slow-going. To say the absolute least.
Seriously, that one little section took an hour.
To hell with it! We decided. We're going to spray this thing, and it's going to be fine!
Not only did spraying go so much faster, we were able to develop a solid system. Cody would spray, and I would follow with a brush or roller to catch runs and missed spots. It was going smoothly, and then things got even easier.
Cody's family was able to come and help. His mom and his brother showed up just in time to help stain the rest of the railings (sorry guys. We didn't do that on purpose), while Cody worked on replacing the stairs. With everyone working, the process went much more smoothly. Thanks, guys!
Okay new stairs, please don't break on me or my self-esteem is going into a deep spiral of crazy.
The new stairs looked great, but we chose to leave those stain-free for the night. It was getting dark, and we had steaks to grill. Hey, everyone has to have some sort of relax time during Labor Day weekend, right?
Cody's mom, Terri, gave me the best idea for the paint brushes. Because we'd be using them pretty soon the very next day, we didn't want to waste all that time cleaning the brushes. Plus, we were low on paint thinner. Terri suggested putting them in a freezer bag, and letting them chill in the freezer overnight. The next day, let them thaw for a few minutes and they're ready to use again. They don't dry out, and they don't get frostbite.
Paint Popsicles! (Not recommended for actual consumption)
The idea totally worked, and I'd suggest it for anyone in a multi-day painting project. Terri's advice: keep brushes with the colors of your walls in the freezer all the time for touch-up painting. Totally worth it.
The next day we finished up the entire deck, and admired the new look.
While we were pretty proud of the job, it was actually time to clean up. Not all of this could fit in the freezer:
Yikes. I'm glad some of it got on the deck.
Happy Labor Day, folks!
No comments:
Post a Comment