If you just spent days on your hands and knees, breaking your back and then it started to rain after sanding your deck…
Then this tell all article will show you exactly what you need to do now and save you from having to re-sand your deck…
Here’s what you need to know…
There’s a rumour going around that if you sand your deck and then it rains before you have a chance to seal it, you’ll have to do all that sanding again…
This is the last thing that anybody wants to do…
What if you sand your deck again and then it rains…
Again!!
You’ll be caught on some weird deck sanding Hamster Wheel…
Sand, rain, sand, rain…
This is not logical and it’s so unnecessary…
I’m here to tell you
If it starts to rain after sanding a deck, it doesn’t mean you need to sand it again…
Bugger that!!
In a lot of cases you shouldn’t sand your deck in the first place let alone, sand it again just because it rained…
What sort of rain do you have where you live…
Are we talking about some sort of acid rain??
Listen up…
There’s a specific process for sanding a deck…
It’s a step by step process…
And a little rain will not change the process…
I’m not about to go through the whole deck sanding process in this article…
I’ve already done that in a previous deck sanding guide…
But what I will do is show you the specific steps that you should take after you sand your deck…
And if it rains after you sand your deck, it’s the exact same step…
Nothing changes…
If it starts to rain after sanding your deck, the next step is to…
Scrub your deck with a deck brightener and pressure wash it…
Just make sure you clean your deck properly…
This is the exact same step that you should take if it doesn’t rain after sanding a deck…
Same step…
The rain changes nothing…
The brightener will remove any contaminants that come down with the rain and also open up the pores on the timber…
As long as you use a lower pressure and you don’t pressure wash your deck too aggressively, you won’t need to sand after you pressure wash it…
But if you do get a little aggressive, your deck can become fuzzy and you’ll need to sand the fuzzies off before you stain…
As long as you know how to pressure wash your deck properly, you’ll have no problems…
It’s not necessary to sand it again unless you mess it up and end up with lap marks and raised timber fibres…
If you follow the process you’ll be fine…
It’s not rocket science…
But I also know that this probably isn’t the end of your deck sanding problems is it?
Because sometimes it will rain after you brighten and pressure wash as well…
So let me address that little problem here as well…
What if it rains after you pressure wash your deck…
First up, why on Earth are you sanding and staining your deck in the middle of the wet season??
That’s your first mistake…
If it’s raining that often, how on Earth are you going to get 2 or 3 coats of deck stain down without the rain destroying your coatings??
And you may not know this, if your deck is even a little bit damp you can’t stain it…
I suggest you wait for the weather to move through the wet season before you continue with your deck restoration…
You‘ll probably only need to wait 4 to 8 weeks…
Your deck will be fine in that time period, even if you’ve already sanded it back…
All you’ll need to do in 8 weeks time is to give it a scrub with a deck brightener and then a wash…
Then give it a light sand with 80 grit sandpaper to smooth it off…
Relax, it’s not the full sand like you just did…
It’s just a quick once over with 80 grit to remove any raised fibres…
Look, it’s only a suggestion…
But if you really want to keep pushing on through this wet weather, here’s what you need to do…
You can just wait for it to dry and then apply 3 coats of deck stain…
But make sure your deck is dry before you stain it…
It would be better to wash it again after it rains but are you really going to do this dance?
I know you want your deck to be done properly…
I know you want it to look great for years to come…
But there’s something you need to know going into this whole deck restoration thing…
No matter what you do or how careful you are, eventually that deck stain is going to peel and fade…
It’s just how it is…
So don’t freak out so much about getting the right weather conditions or using the best deck stain available…
In the end, it’ll have to be sanded back and re-stained…
That doesn’t mean you can’t get your deck looking really awesome…
And I’m not saying that you shouldn’t care…
All I’m saying is, don’t freak out over something you can’t control…
So like I said above…
If it rains after you sand your deck, just give it a scrub and clean it with a brightener and then wait for it to dry before you stain it…
And if it continues to rain, maybe delay your deck sanding and staining until you make it through the wet season…
If it starts to rain after you sand a deck, it’s not the end of the world…
Just follow the next step and you’ll be fine…
No more sanding required…
Peace,
Jason…
Need some Expert Advice?
If you’ve been searching the internet trying to find an answer to a specific deck problem and you’ve found it impossible to get a straight answer…
Why not just reach out and ask me directly for an answer?
I’ve got 10 years of deck knowledge crammed into my noggin. I can pretty much guarantee I’ve got an answer to your problem just rattling around in there…
Come on, don’t be shy…
FAQ’s
If it rains after you finish sanding your deck you don’t have to sand it again. all you need to do is wait for it to stop raining and then clean your deck with a deck brightener…
It doesn’t matter if it rains on a freshly sanded deck. You’ll need to wash and scrub it with a deck brightener anyway so it makes no difference…
You can definitely sand a deck before it rains. You just need to make sure you clean it properly after it rains and then wait for it to dry before you stain it…
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