Decks made with real wood can add some beautiful rustic charm to any house, but they must be well cared for in order to preserve the look for as long as possible. There are a couple of popular options for finishing a wooden deck, including painting or staining. Outdoor paint can be more protective and easier to clean, it does limit you to painting it forever and hides the natural beauty of the wood. Stain is less slippery when wet and lets the natural beauty shine, but has a shorter life span and doesn’t fill cracks.
Key Takeaways:
- One of the most important maintenance choices you can make for your deck is whether to apply a finish coat of some sort
- Skipping the finish coat will usually lead to the wood cracking, splitting, warping, and even rotting before it should, requiring lots of time and money to make repairs.
- Painting allows you to use any color you want.
“One of the most important maintenance choices you can make for your deck is whether to apply a finish coat of some sort and if so, what to use.”