Deck Staining in Mississauga: Peeling Two-Tone Octagon Deck With Built-In Bench Sanded to Bare Wood and Refinished in One Warm Cedar Stain

The deck: a peeling two-tone finish

This large backyard deck in Mississauga has a beautiful layout: an octagon-shaped section with picture-frame border boards, a curved built-in bench, stairs up to the house and wood railings with black balusters. It had been finished in two colours, an orange-brown on the main boards and a dark charcoal solid stain on the borders. Both coats were peeling badly, leaving white, bare patches all over the deck and the dark borders flaking away.

Sanding off the old coatings

Peeling film finishes cannot be fixed with another coat on top, so we sanded the entire deck down to bare wood: the main boards, the octagon and picture-frame borders, the bench, the stair treads and risers and the railings. The sanded photo shows every trace of both old colours gone and the whole deck back to clean, fresh wood, ready to take stain evenly.

One warm cedar stain

Instead of repeating the two-tone look that peeled, the homeowners chose a single warm cedar stain for the whole deck. A penetrating stain soaks into the wood rather than forming a film, so it will not peel the way the old coatings did, and the octagon and picture-frame board patterns still stand out through the grain and board direction. The bench, stairs, railings and post caps were all done in the same colour.

The result

A rich, even, warm deck that shows off its octagon design, with a finish that is easy to maintain with a wash and a refresh coat every few years.