If I Water Seal My Deck Can I Paint It Later?

Wood Stripper

• Wood stripper provides one means of removing water seal from a deck. Wear a face mask and gloves as you apply wood stripper to the surface of the deck with a rag. Allow the wood stripper to sit on the surface of the deck for the time that the stripper manufacturer recommends and then wipe the deck off with rags that can be thrown away. Though power-washing is a faster means of removing wood stripper from a deck, this gets the stripper into soil, which can be detrimental to plant life and animals.

Sanding

• If you don’t want to use a wood stripper on your deck, you can also sand the water sealer from the surface of the wood. Sanding requires considerably more work, but it also proves less harmful to plants and pets in the area than chemical wood stripper. If you want to sand the seal from a deck, go over the surface first with coarse-grit sandpaper and then against with medium-grit sandpaper once the sealer s gone. Renting a power sander if you don’t have one makes the sanding process more efficient.

Painting the Deck

• Before sealing your deck, you should apply any coloring that you want to the deck’s surface. Decks can be primed and painted with any wood paint labeled for outdoor use. To prevent the dripping of paint, and get paint into the cracks between wood slates in the deck, painting a deck should be done with a paintbrush instead of a roller. You can also apply deck stain to the deck if you prefer to simply tint the wood. Many deck stains include sealer, which makes coloring and staining a one-step process.

Resealing

• If you do choose to paint a deck, or if you want to maintain the wood’s natural appearance and not add any coloring to the wood, you should seal the deck with deck sealer. Apply deck sealer in moderate temperatures above 50 degrees F and below 90 degrees F and use a roller that is roughly the same size as the slats in the deck. Lowes recommends two thin coats of sealer for a deck.