Deck Painting & staining throughout Saugus, MA.

Single-family detached homes make up 65.6% of the housing units in Saugus, by Census estimate, and another 510 units are single-family attached. That is the housing stock where a back deck or front porch is the owner's own decision and maintenance job. In two-family buildings and condominiums, check who owns the deck before planning work; the condo painting page covers that question.

Lot size shapes the job too. The Massachusetts Historical Commission's 1985 survey notes that the subdivisions opened between 1915 and 1940, including Lynnhurst, Pleasant Hills, the Baker Hill section of Cliftondale and the area between Walnut and Central Streets in East Saugus, were laid out with small lots. On a tight lot a deck can sit a few steps from a fence line or a neighbor's car, so cleaning runoff, overspray and stain drips need extra control.

Shade, leaves and standing water

Breakheart Reservation covers 652 acres across Saugus and Wakefield, including a hardwood forest, and the Saugus River crosses the whole town from northwest to southeast, with about two miles of marsh in the south. A deck under hardwood canopy or close to wet ground faces a different set of problems from one in full sun: wet leaves that leave tannin stains, boards that dry slowly after rain, and mildew in the gaps between planks.

For those decks, the cleaning step matters more than the stain brand. Gaps get cleared so water drains through, mildew is killed with a deck cleaner, and the boards are left to dry until a few drops of water soak in rather than bead. A stain with mildewcide added makes sense in heavy shade, and so does a lighter color that shows dirt but runs cooler in the sun.

What the deck is built from

EPA notes that manufacturers stopped making CCA-treated lumber for homeowner uses in December 2003 and that it does not require removal of existing CCA structures. It does say a regularly applied penetrating coating, oil- or water-based, may reduce how much of the treatment chemicals leach from the wood.

• Pressure-treated southern pine: new boards need weeks to dry before they take stain
• CCA-treated wood from before 2004: EPA does not require removing it, but advises goggles and a dust mask when sawing it and washing hands afterward
• Cedar: soft, aromatic and receptive to oil-based penetrating stains that keep the grain visible
• Tropical hardwoods such as ipe: so dense that standard stains sit on top; they need products made for hardwood
• Composite or PVC: cleaned, not stained, unless the manufacturer approves a coating

Picking a finish you can live with

Transparent and semi-transparent stains wear by fading, which makes them easy to renew: clean, brighten and apply another coat. Solid-color stains and porch paints hide weathered boards but wear by peeling, and once that starts the next refinish means scraping. A deck that was painted years ago generally has to stay with an opaque product unless it is stripped. Our paint vs. stain guide for decks compares the two in detail, and deck stain through a New England winter explains what freezing and thawing does to each.

Porch floors on older houses

The MHC survey lists porches among the Queen Anne details added to local gable-front houses between 1870 and 1915. On a house from the 29.4% of local housing built in 1939 or earlier, a painted porch floor and its steps can hold lead in their lower coats. Scraping a porch floor and stairs can cross EPA's 20-square-foot exterior threshold for lead-safe work on pre-1978 homes; our lead-safe painting page explains what is required.

Tongue-and-groove porch flooring takes a porch and floor enamel rather than a deck stain. Ends and edges that have rotted should be cut out and replaced before painting, since a new coat seals moisture in a soft board instead of stopping the decay.

Timing the work

Stain needs dry wood, a dry forecast and mild temperatures, which in eastern Massachusetts generally points to late spring through early fall. After a cleaning and brightening, boards need a dry day or two before the coating goes on. If the house siding is also due, the exterior painting page explains that work, and painting the house before the deck keeps ladder marks and drips off fresh stain.