Hello All
My wife and I recently bought a house in Brisbane and have been doing a bunch of projects inside and in the garden.
Next up on the list is tidying up the decks. The house has two covered rear decks, both roughly 5×10 m off top and bottom stories and a smaller, uncovered deck out front.
The prior owner renovated the house and built the decks probably 15 years ago, but in recent years didn't really look after them so they are in need of some love.
First photo below is of the front deck and steps. For this one it is in really poor condition and clearly needs a clean, sand back to bare wood and oil, which won't be too hard as it's only 10 or so m2. Question I have here is what type of wood is this deck and steps (I'm a kiwi so not familiar with Aussie timber) and what sort of oil should I be using for deck and stair treads? My guess was its all merbau as that seems most common and I should sand then use intergrain merbau oil??
Next photos are of the rear decks. Again what sort of wood does this look like and what would be best oil? And what is the current coating most likely, I can't tell if oil or stain or varnish?
Second question for the rear decks is, the current state of them is quite variable, in some areas they are ok, in other high traffic areas or weather exposed areas they are quite worn, in some places to the point where the prior coating is gone. Do they really need to be sanded back or could I get away with just cleaning and oiling them, or maybe just sanding the really worn areas? And if they do need to be sanded what would be best approach, would a floor sander be best, as sanding a 100m2 with my belt sander is a bit of a daunting prospect?
Photo of a portion of the deck which is in best condition
High wear, weather exposed area
Bottom deck
Top deck general condition
Thanks in advance for any deck revival tips!
Cheers
Pete
