Painting the Cedar Deck
Painting our deck had become a matter of life and death judging by the heavy sighs David and I would voice every time we would pull into the driveway lately. People told us they loved the rough cedar, but we have never felt like it jived with the mid-century themes of the home. Like everything else, we knew it was a simple do-it-yourself job, but we also never had the time for it, especially not with a baby and new business. So, we finally caved and hired a crew to come out and powerwash and paint the posts as well as stain and seal the Cumaroo deck beams.
BEFORE
DURING
AFTER
What a HUGE difference it made! I suppose it had to wait. We were told by a few contractors that you have to let cedar age a little or it won’t take the paint (and its natural resin might even bleed through). It looks so good now, I don’t know what to do with myself.
I have great plans for landscaping, but first we have a project that requires some planning. As you can probably see, our deck doesn’t actually provide any cover for the area underneath… including our front door. Heavy rains drip directly through the deck beams and form a lake right in front of the picture window. We are going to have to build some kind of under-cover, provide a gutter to redirect the runoff, and then grade the soil so that the water won’t collect in one spot. Only then can we finish the concrete screen fence under the deck and landscape that area.
I’ve been saying that Erwin House was completed in August of 2006, but I suppose a house is never really done, eh? 
Huge difference guys, it looks great!
Fantastic. :0)
OMG! It looks so wonderful. Everyone always says, “Don’t paint wood!” But, in my opinion, if it can be easily reproduced, go ahead and paint it if you want. For example, a friend of mine has a house that was built in ‘79 and she hates the wood wall on the back of the living room, so I told her to paint it. She said, “I’m getting mixed reviews.” I said, “If you don’t like it, paint it. Seriously, that wall could be reproduced fairly inexpensively. If it were a craftsman house with arches and cabinets, you can’t afford to have that work down today!”
WOW! that is a surprising difference. looks great.
you want a scrap of polygal to install under the deck/over the front door? I’ve got quite a bit.
Here’s a link to something called an “under deck dry system.” Don’t know anything about it, but it looks like it might address your drippy deck issue.
http://openenclosures.com/gpage.html5.html