DIY Deck Repair or Rebuild

[Esox]

Well the boards were in worse shape than expected so we went Trex and the project is nearly finished! I did the demo myself over a few days and the wife and I installed the Trex over two days. All that’s left is fascia and stairs.
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Looks good!

Still get yourself a power washer though, you'll need one to keep it looking clean and new.

For those reading this thread who might have a similar job to do and will end up painting it after, look into Sherwin Williams Conflex and/or Loxon XP. Both are elastomeric coatings and work just as well on wood as they do concrete.

I repaired some rotting concrete this summer and gave it two coats of Loxon XP. It dries like a rubber and is a non slip surface, even when wet. Its good stuff and I think my concrete issues are solved.

This year...

I've been dealing with decaying concrete the last few 20 years on the walkway between the garage and the back door. By the time I finished pressure washing all the loose bits away I was using whole cement bricks as fill in two places. That slab is 10"s thick.

First I filled the worst spots. Then I brushed concrete adhesive on the obvious low spots and parged them to build them up and let it cure. Then I did it all again, and again, and again. Four coats in total with the last over the entire top surface. I would have used Ardex K-301 self leveling compound as a final top coat but I was running out of good weather so I just skim coated it as best I could and used a sponge trowel to finish. I had to rebuild the bottom step too, and I did it without forming it.

Theres two gallons of concrete adhesive, 1 1/2 bags (~120lbs) of Type N Portland and six five gallon pails of sand in that repair. Since I dont have a mixer and was working alone I had to mix all the cement in a 2 gallon pail with a trowel. That was more work than the job itself.

Then I laid on two coats of Loxon XP and that was that. The Loxon XP should last 10 years before needing a recoat. Even if I need to recoat every 5 years, I'm okay with that.

While I was doing the coating I figured I might as well pull the walk through door, repair it as best I could and coat it on all faces with the Loxon and the frame while I was at it. I'll make a new door...sometime lol.

Then, since I was on a roll, I also filled, parged and sponged a section of broken concrete top coat a 1/2" thick on the garage floor. If this Loxon XP is as good as they say it is, and it must be pretty good if they use it on the exterior of new commercial construction, I'll do the back patio next summer and the garage floor.