Summer, winter, spring or fall, Americans continue to enjoy the great outdoors from their Deck repair saint louis\deck builder st louis, patios, pool areas, or gazebos. And some of those areas of pleasure have definitely seen better days. Are you thinking about restoring the surfaces inside or outside your home to their former glory? Will pressure cleaning and deck staining alone do the trick on your deck that’s seen better days? Is there a right way or a wrong way to restore a deck for beauty and endurance?
Doing it yourself home improvement may sound like the way to go, but in spite of long-standing home improvement do-it-yourself trends, there are extremely compelling reasons to hire a professional surface reconstruction/ maintenance firm to achieve the results you want with less of your own sweat and tears and at less cost to you.
As you know, bringing the surfaces of your home or commercial space back to beauty involves an accepted process that involves time, money and the expenditure of a lot of energy. You must clean, restore, beautify and finally protect porous and non-porous surfaces in order to assure successful restoration and to guarantee enduring results.
Here are 5 reasons to consider hiring a professional surface restoration company – using your Deck as an example:
Cleaning Your Deck Takes Time, Money, and Energy
Obviously, you have to clean your wood deck thoroughly before anything else can be done to restore it to its’ former beauty. Sounds easy! But, on second look, if your outdoor deck has been relatively unattended for a number of years, you’ll see embedded dirt, mildew stains, and weathering you may never have noticed before. You knew things were bad – but this bad? Will pressure washing alone do the trick? Perhaps not, so to begin, go to your local home improvement center and purchase a deck cleaner that will restore your wood to its natural beauty without yellowing or bleaching. Which deck cleaner will you choose? Maybe the sales help can give you a clue, but maybe not. How much work is involved in cleaning your deck, even with the help of a power washer and the deck cleaner you have just purchased?
Stripping Your Deck Takes Time, Money and Energy
Stripping an old deck to prepare it for beautification is the second necessary step in the restoration process. You see, you have to strip any deteriorating wood or unwanted finish from the surface to make way for the application of more products. So, now, head back to the home improvement center to buy another product – a deck stripping product with stain and finish remover. Be sure and corral the sales person again for help in deciding which one will most effectively remove old oil and latex stains from your deck. Does he really know what he’s talking about? It’s a must to prepare the wood for any new finish or stain. How much work is involved in stripping your deck, even with the help of the deck stripping product you have just purchased?
Protecting and Beautifying Your Deck Takes Time, Money and Energy
O.K. – Your deck is finally cleaned and stripped. You have prepared the wood for a new finish or a stain that will not only make it look beautiful and new, but will protect it from the elements. Has your finish seen better days? Do you want a different look this time around? You’ll need to go to the home improvement center again and look for a semitransparent stain – or a rich transparent oil finish – to enhance the beauty of your deck.
Don’t want to stain? It’s still important to saturate your newly cleaned wood surface with a clear water repellent. This will help protect it from rain that can cause swelling, shrinking, warping and cracking. Look for a water repellent with a mildewcide to slow the growth of mildew during warmer months. Do you have the right one? How much work is involved in that application?