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My patio floor needs refreshing. While at it, I'd like to avoid the boring gray and use a hint of color, either gray-blue or gray-green.

patio floor

Here are the steps that I have planned:

  1. Lower the nails (by turning a little) to avoid that they rip the sanding paper.
  2. Sand the surface with grit 80-100 using a floor sander.
  3. Insert either the tip or the edge of a belt sander to sand the rounded edges, however far I can reach, with grit 120.
  4. Sand the top surface with grit 200-220 using a floor sander. Don't bother fine-sanding the rounded parts since even someone walking barefoot will not notice the difference.
  5. Apply one coat of "Low-Lustre Enamel Porch & Patio Floor Paint".

Do I have these steps right? Is there any surprise waiting for me?

One additional worry is that I will not even touch the (inaccessible) back side. Is there any chance that the planks would buckle from the different treatment after I'm done?

Calaf
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Tightening the screws is really important you might want to replace some with slightly longer as the holes over time will not hold well (if they hold you are golden). sanding with a coarse grit to get the paint off is a good idea to help reduce the high spots also the heavy weathering After sanding you will wand to clean the deck to remove the dust from the grain and screw heads. I have used a product that home depot sells called Restore. this looks nice but I think it comes in brown and Tan. Restore will help hide the heavy weathering and you really don't need to finish sand only rough sand or pressure wash to get rid of the loose paint. I have refinished horribly weathered decks with Restore that came out looking really nice. The first one was 6-8 years ago and it still looks close to the way it did when I put it down. No matter what you use the boards are "dry" other than minor water penetration and you should have no problems with cupping or warping. Exposed boards really warp and or cup much faster than sealed boards.

Ed Beal
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  • If I understand correctly from a sample video on Home Depot's web site, Restore will make a wooden deck look like it's a concrete deck. It will in any case hide all the grains. I'd actually like to go in the opposite direction. If the wood grain can be salvaged, I'd like to highlight it rather than conceal it. – Calaf Mar 29 '16 at 03:28
  • With some of the wether checking I see you will need to replace at least 1 plank in the deck I did not think it looked like cement because the 2x6 planks were there on the first and 3rd decks I did. Even the second that was a white wood Doug fur/ hemlock with no spaces turned out well and the owner was thrilled and has asked me to do more jobs. If you want wood grain you will have more work than sanding and sanding. Weathered and or very rough wood is hard to restore , it usually requires the rough/ rotten wood to be removed . With an old deck in rough shape this is not possible – Ed Beal Mar 29 '16 at 04:47