Landscape & Urban Design Issue 30 2018 | Page 60

Resurfacing With Composite: 8 Steps to a Better Deck The season of backyard BBQs and outdoor entertaining is upon us – but for the thousands of homeowners with worn-out wooden decks, the return of warmer weather means one thing: deck repair and maintenance. Consider this – for the same amount of time and energy required to strip, sand and stain a wood deck, you could replace those old boards with new ones made of high-performance, low-maintenance composite material. Wood-alternative decking, like Trex, is resistant to fading, staining, scratching and mold and, unlike wood, requires no sanding, staining or painting. Just an occasional soap-and-water cleaning are all that is needed to retain a “like-new” appearance and durability for decades. And where designing and building a new deck from scratch can take months, resurfacing an existing deck is a doable DIY project that can be completed over the course of a weekend. So, if your current deck is more trouble than its worth, recruit a few buddies and follow these eight steps to a new deck that you can spend less time maintaining and more time enjoying! 60