The deck in your house is the place that has to stand the roughest situations as it situates right outside of your house. It has to withstand the high traffic of people. Besides, from scorching heat to heavy rainfall, a painted deck has to endure the fluctuating weather, and thus with time the paint starts to peel.
Therefore, to make the outside deck of the house look beautiful, many people want to know how to paint a deck with peeling paint.
As it takes a lot to maintain the deck, painting it can be a load of work. Besides, it’s a high-maintenance part of your house. If you do not take proper care of it, then it will expose to dirt and debris and you’ll have to adopt the process of repainting a deck with peeling paint. Therefore, it’s easier if you just follow the right procedure and do your best to maintain the peeling paint on your deck.
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Reasons Deck Paint Starts to Peel
Painting a deck might not seem a hard task but if you do not pay extra attention then there’ll be fickleness in your job. While painting a deck, you need to be patient and follow certain rules. If you don’t do this then you’ll have to face the peeling of the paint off your deck. Besides, there are some other solid and rational reasons that the paint starts to peel. Let’s check them out.
1. Low-Quality Paint
The main reason for peeling is when you adopt low-quality paint for your deck. As a deck has to expose itself to sun, rain and heavy wind sometimes, using a best qualified paint is worthy. Low-quality paint cannot stick to the surface due to its low adhesive ability. Besides, they don’t last long and cannot withstand rough weather too often.
2. Following Unprofessionalism
Unprofessionalism also causes terrible consequences after painting a deck. If you don’t take your work seriously and paint your deck without abiding by any rules, then the paint will not gain the strength to tackle hard situations. Patience is the ultimate rule. So, if you don’t provide time to make your paint dry fully and properly, then it will start to peel off.
3. Water and Dirt
Before painting the deck, you need to make sure if the surface is still wet or not. A wet surface cannot get along with the adhesion of quality paint. It’s one of the unexpected reasons that your paint starts to peel off. Another unexpected reason is when you don’t remove dust and debris from the surface and apply paint over them. Dust inhibits the adhesion of paint and the paint cannot seal itself to the surface properly.
How to Paint a Deck with Peeling Paint?
There are certain ways you need to follow to get the exact texture of the paint that you are going to apply on your deck. It’s not going to be hard to repaint a deck with peeling paint but it’s not going to be easy either.
Besides, hiring someone to paint a deck with peeling paint is costly enough. You can do it by yourself as long as you are acquainted with the process. From choosing the best paint for previously painted deck to apply it swiftly on the surface of the deck, you need to do some real jobs. So, let’s get started with the steps already.
Step 1: Wash the Deck with a Cleaner
The first thing that you need to do before applying paint on the deck is to clean the deck nicely. Use a deck cleaner to get an effective result. It will remove all the dirt, mold, and mildew from the deck also. For the proper use of the cleaner, mix it with water and then drown a broom or brush into the mixture.
Pull out the brush or broom and start rubbing the deck with a back and forth motion. After you are done with the rubbing session, now is the time for rinsing the surface. For rinsing it, you can use a pressure hose and clean the surface properly. Or, you can simply rinse the surface taking a bucket full of clear water.
Step 2: Scrape the Peeling Paint
When you are done with the dirt, mold, and mildew of the surfaces, you have to get over with the peeling paint of the deck now. Otherwise, repainting will not be effective enough. To remove the peeling paint from the deck, you need to go through some easy phases to hard phases. Begin with a wire brush, as it’s the lightest way to scrape peeling paint.
If the loose paint doesn’t come out with the wire brush, use a scraper up next. A scraper works way more effectively than a wire. However, a putty knife can also be used instead of a flat scraper. You need to be more careful while using these tools. Otherwise, the tools will cause scratches and crevices on the floor.
Step 3: Sand the Deck
Peeling paint is not an easy task to accomplish. Sometimes, the wire or putty knife is not enough. You’ll not get enough out of those tools. In a circumstance like this, sanding is the ultimate solution. It’s the toughest job to remove peeling paint from the surface of the deck.
Sanding will help the remaining paint to peel off properly. It also will help to even the surface. As the scraper leaves the surface uneven and unsmooth, you need to sand the surface to get smooth and seamless edges and surfaces. Adopt a sanding sponge to accomplish the job. It is better than ordinary sandpaper.
Step 4: Choose Quality Deck Paint and Apply It
Now your deck is all ready to be painted anew. But for this, you need to choose a quality deck paint that doesn’t peel. Search for a quality one from your nearest hardware store and buy it. You also need to buy a proper applicator to apply the paint over the deck. A paint roller is an easiest and wisest choice as it carries convenient features including an extension pole.
This is how you can repaint a deck without stripping as well. A paintbrush will also do. But a paint roller spreads the paint with the right consistency. Besides, it takes less time than other tools. However, you can also use stain pads. These pads are also convenient and take less time to apply paint all over the deck.
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Step 5: Let it Dry and Recoat the Deck
After you finish applying paint on the deck, give it some time to dry and penetrate perfectly. It’ll take some days to dry properly and to avoid harsh weather, hang a canopy over the deck. Make sure the canopy is waterproof. Then let the paint dry. A single coat of paint is not enough as it seems less vivid and the old paint might still get exposed.
Therefore, apply another coat of paint and wait till it dries properly. The second coat will cover all the old paint and leaves the deck looks totally new. Also, check out the deck and its underside as well. To keep the underside safe from water and dampness, block the edges and sides of the deck. This way you’ll get a fresh and new-looking deck easily. And this is how you get to refinish a painted deck.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. How to stop deck paint from peeling?
There are several reasons your deck paint starts to peel and we’ve already talked about it. To stop your deck paint to peel you need to take some major preparations.
Naturally, deck paints come with huge adhesion. Therefore, most of them don’t peel easily. If you choose the right deck paint, then it will not start to peel so easily.
Besides, good preparations always help to make the paint durable. Follow the right procedure and apply the paint nicely and it’ll give long-lasting service. Applying decking oil also helps tremendously in stopping deck paint from peeling.
Also, you can cover the deck from heavy rainfall or exposed heat. But this will cost you a little more.
2. How cold can it be to paint a deck with peeling paint?
A dry day should be the day to paint a deck with peeling paint. Besides, to dry properly you need more dry days. Therefore, the temperature while remains between 60 to 80 degree F, you are good to go. Naturally, in late spring, the weather remains perfect for painting a deck. The nights of that time are also cool.
Besides, a total of four dry days will help in embodying the adhesion of the deck paint. Therefore, choosing the perfect cold time is also an important part of proper preparation while painting a deck with peeling paint.
But remember that, too much cold temperature will ruin the consistency of paint and you’ll not be able to spread it seamlessly.
3. How to get paint to stick to a deck?
A primer works better when you want your paint to stick to a deck. And the best paint for the previously painted deck is the same type of paint. If it was water-based earlier, apply water-based paint again to get the proper adhesion. And if you used oil-based paint earlier, in that case, use oil-based paint only.
Many paints come with the advantage of priming the surface and provide a new stain at the same time. As priming a wooden surface is not always a good idea, you need to choose the best deck paint that comes with both priming benefit and staining benefits.
