Deck Painting & staining in Auburn, MA.

A deck floor is flat, so it collects what siding sheds: rain, snowmelt, leaves and pollen. It is also walked on, dragged across with furniture and baked by summer sun. That is why a stain on deck boards wears through much sooner than the same product would on a wall, and why maintaining a deck is a cycle of cleaning and recoating rather than a single job.

In Auburn, 73.3% of housing units are single-family detached houses and another 300 are single-family attached, according to Census estimates. For those households the deck, its stairs and its railings are the owner's to keep up, on the owner's schedule.

Woods, water and shade

The master plan's 1999 land-use figures had forest covering 40% of the town, and the 2017 housing plan counts close to 600 acres of wetlands, including marshes, ponds, bogs and swamps, plus about 1,200 acres inside 100-year flood zones. A deck on a lot near trees or wet ground stays damp longer after each rain, collects leaf litter in the gaps between boards and can turn green or black with mildew.

On those decks, the cleaning step matters as much as the stain. Organic growth has to be killed, not just rinsed, and the stain should carry a mildewcide. Clearing debris from between the boards lets them dry. Where branches overhang, pruning back even a few feet improves how long the finish lasts.

Decks in open, sunny yards have the reverse problem: ultraviolet light breaks down clear and lightly tinted finishes quickly, and boards gray and check. A semi-transparent or solid stain with more pigment gives the wood more protection.

Identify the wood and the old finish

The finish already on the deck decides what can go on next. A penetrating stain cannot soak into wood sealed under a solid stain or paint, and a film finish over old peeling stain will lift along with it. Peeling coatings have to be stripped, and stripped wood gets a brightener to restore its color and pH before it is stained.

• Pressure-treated pine: a common framing and decking lumber; let new boards dry until water soaks in instead of beading
• Cedar: resists rot naturally but grays in the sun; an oil-based penetrating stain suits it
• Composite or PVC: generally cleaned rather than stained, unless the manufacturer approves a coating
• Painted porch floors: a film finish that should stay painted with a porch-and-floor enamel

Newer decks and older porches

Census estimates count 620 units, 8.8% of the housing stock, built in 2000 or later. Decks on houses from those years may still be on an early coat, and catching them before the finish wears through to bare wood saves a stripping job. At the older end, 20.1% of units date from 1939 or earlier. Covered porches on houses of that age may have painted floors and railings, and old porch paint can contain lead; see our lead-safe painting page before anyone scrapes it. For the siding and trim around the porch, go to our Auburn exterior painting page.