On Thu, 6 Aug 2015 20:43:22 +0200, Scottmac
wrote:


Hi,

This is my first post of what I hope to be many... And am looking
forward to learning along the way! In fact I have a load of questions to
be fair but I'll keep it simple for now!

Myself and my partner have recently bought our first home together and
we love it! We have always lived in terraced housing but are now living
in a lovely house with a front and back garden, for which for the most
part don't know where to start with planting ect... Which is what brings
me onto the title of this post... Before I go any further into the
garden I want to get the decking which we have upto a good state... But
again I don't know where to start!!

The decking we have is a red colour which when it rains practically
comes of when u are walking on it... The rain dosent run of it and just
sits there for the most part what I think is just soaking into it! Some
of the boards are warping too ( I have sorted this ) but what I want to
do is strip the colour of it back to the natural wood colour and stain
it with a natural colour and protect it from the weather... Since I
don't know when this was last done and it seems in a pretty bad way I
want to get it done before it goes through another winter!

Can someone please help point me in the right direction??

If your decking lumber is natural wood you probably have it fastened
upside down... each board should be placed with the the exterior of
the tree rings facing up. Many people place decking lumber with the
interior of the tree facing up, that face will cup and collect water
rather than shed water. When done incorrectly the decking will rot
and only last half as long as it would when laid down correctly.