Deck Restored with New Boards & Oil Stain in Oakville

The deck: peeling on top, soft underneath

This Oakville backyard deck had the usual problems and one more. The old stain had peeled and greyed across the whole floor, with algae in the shaded corner by the house. But when we walked it, a run of boards in the middle had gone soft: rot had set in where water sat, and no amount of sanding fixes a board that is rotten through. The railings were sound but faded and flaking. The owners wanted a deck they could put furniture on and stop thinking about.

Replacing the rotten boards first

Before any sanding we cut out every board that was soft or split and replaced it with new pressure-treated lumber, fastened into the existing frame, which was in good shape. The during photo shows the stripe of new boards across the middle of the deck next to the old weathered ones. Replacing boards rather than the deck is the economical version of deck restoration: you fix only what failed and keep the structure. The trick is making the new boards disappear, and that is what the next step does.

Sanding old and new to one surface

We sanded the entire floor — old boards and new — back to clean bare wood, which removes the peeling stain, takes off the grey and brings the new lumber and the old to the same level and the same surface. In the sanded photo you can barely tell which boards were replaced. That is the point: once stained, a deck that was patched should look like a deck that was never damaged.

Oil-based stain on the floor, refreshed black railings

The floor got an oil-based penetrating stain in a warm brown. The oil soaks into the wood rather than sitting on top as a film, so it will not peel the way the previous finish did, and the grain shows through — old boards and new boards took the colour evenly because they had been sanded together. The railings, posts and caps did not need stripping: we sanded off the flaking finish, feathered the edges and refreshed them in black, which frames the warm floor and matches the metal furniture.

The result

A solid deck with no soft spots, an even oil-finished floor, crisp black railings, and the furniture back on it the same week. Same frame, a few new boards, and a finish that takes a maintenance coat instead of a strip.

Deck repair and staining in Oakville, Burlington and Mississauga

UCO Construction Group repairs, restores and stains decks, fences and porches across Oakville, Burlington, Mississauga, Milton and the rest of the GTA. If your deck has soft boards or a peeling finish, we will tell you which boards need replacing and what the rest needs — see our deck staining and restoration service, or deck construction if it is past saving. Get in touch for a free on-site estimate.