Order of work
- Safety and permits first. Many towns don’t need a permit to replace deck boards on the same frame, but some do; ask your building department. Wear gloves, eye protection and a dust mask when tearing off or sanding treated wood, and check for wasps under the boards.
- Tear off the old boards (for new decking) and inspect the frame: push a screwdriver into each joist, the ledger at the house and the posts. Soft wood, rusted hangers or a loose ledger are a job for a deck builder before any new boards go on.
- Prepare the joists. Pull or drive down old nails, plane or sister any joists that stand high, put joist tape on top of each joist, and add blocking where butt joints will land.
- Lay the boards from the house out: rip the first row if the planner says so, keep the gaps even with spacers, stagger the butt joints, and fix each board with two screws (or a hidden clip) at every joist. Rip the last row to width and do the stair treads last.
- Clean the wood. Spray on the cleaner or brightener, scrub, and rinse well. On an old deck, sand away raised fibers once it’s dry. New pressure-treated boards must dry out first: if a few drops of water soak in within 10 minutes, the wood is ready for stain.
- Stain on a dry, mild day with no rain forecast for 24 hours. Do the railing first, then the boards a few at a time along their full length so laps don’t show, and keep off it for the time the label gives.
Tools you’ll need
- Cordless drill and impact driver, with the bit that fits your screws
- Circular saw and a chalk line for ripping and trimming the board ends
- Pry bar, cat’s paw or deck wrecking bar for the old boards
- Deck board spacers and a board straightener for bowed boards
- Garden hose with a spray nozzle, or a rented pressure washer on a low setting
- Gloves, safety glasses, dust mask and knee pads
About this planner
A tired deck usually has a sound frame under worn, cracked or splintering boards. Replacing just the boards, or cleaning and re-staining the ones you have, brings it back for a fraction of the cost of a new deck. The shopping list is longer than it looks, though: boards for the deck and the stair treads, the right screws or hidden clips, joist tape while the frame is open, cleaner, stain for the railing as well as the floor, and the tools to put it all on.
This planner covers the walking surface only. Enter the deck’s size, the stairs and railing, and choose between new boards and a re-stain. It counts the boards, fasteners, tape, cleaner and gallons of stain, prices them with your local numbers, and works out the width of the first and last rows so you don’t end with a sliver at the edge. The drawing shows every row of boards over the joists, plus a close-up of the boards and fasteners.
How to use it
- Measure the deck’s length along the house (the way the boards run) and its width out from the house.
- Choose the project: new boards on the existing frame, or cleaning and re-staining the boards you have. Then pick wood or composite boards and the board length you’ll buy.
- Check the joist spacing under the deck and count the stair steps. Say whether the deck has a railing on its open sides.
- Enter the coats and coverage from your stain’s label, open Your local prices, and print the project sheet to shop from.
How the quantities are worked out
Rows = deck width ÷ (5½ in board + 3⁄16 in gap), rounded up
Boards = rows × deck length × 1.10 ÷ board length, rounded up
Joists = deck length ÷ joist spacing + 1
Wood screws = rows × joists × 2 (+ 2 per tread board per stringer)
Hidden clips = (rows − 1) × joists, in boxes of 90
Joist tape = joists × deck width, in 50 ft rolls
Stain area = deck + steps × width × (11³⁄₁₆ in tread + 7½ in riser) + railing × height × 2
Stain = stain area × coats ÷ coverage per gallon, rounded up to whole gallons
Cleaner = cleaned area ÷ 750 sq ft per gallon of concentrate
Wood 5/4 × 6 and most composite boards are 5½ in wide. Hidden clips sit in the gap between two boards at every joist; Trex rates its 90-clip box for 50 sq ft at 16 in spacing, which matches that count. If a full first row would leave a last row under half a board wide, the planner rips the first and last rows to the same width instead. Railings are counted as both faces of a solid panel; counting each baluster and rail of a 36 in railing gives about the same area. The cleaner figure is Wolman’s concentrate mixed 1 : 4.
Worked example
These are the planner’s starting values and the results they produce:
| Deck length (along the house) | 16 ft |
|---|---|
| Deck width (out from the house) | 12 ft |
| Project | New deck boards on the existing frame |
| Deck boards | Wood: pressure-treated or cedar 5/4 × 6, face-screwed |
| New board length | 16 ft |
| Joist spacing | 16 in on center |
| Joist tape | Tape the tops of the joists |
| Stair steps (treads) | 3 |
| Stair width | 4 ft |
| Railing | Railing on the three open sides |
| Railing height | 36 in |
| Coats of stain | 1 |
| Stain coverage per gallon | 250 sq ft |
| Wood deck boards, per linear foot | $1.25 |
| Composite deck boards, per linear foot | $3.00 |
| Deck screws, 5 lb box | $35.00 |
| Hidden clips, box of 90 | $40.00 |
| Joist tape, 50 ft roll | $25.00 |
| Deck cleaner concentrate, per gallon | $25.00 |
| Deck stain, per gallon | $45.00 |
| Pump sprayer and deck scrub brush | $35.00 |
| Pole sander and sanding screens | $30.00 |
| Stain pad, brush and tray | $25.00 |
| Bought | Item | Buy | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5/4 × 6 deck boards, 16 ft26 rows × 16 ft = 416 ft + 10% | 29 boards | $580.00 | |
| Stair tread boards, 16 ft6 pieces 4 ft long (2 per step), 4 from each board | 2 boards | $40.00 | |
| Deck screws, #9 × 2½ in, 5 lb box724 screws: 2 per board at each of 13 joists and 4 stair stringers; about 350 per box | 3 boxes | $105.00 | |
| Butyl joist tape, 50 ft rolls13 joists × 12 ft = 156 ft; use the wide tape on doubled joists at butt joints | 4 rolls | $100.00 | |
| Deck cleaner / brightener concentrateFor 427 sq ft; 1 gallon mixed 1 : 4 covers about 750 sq ft (check your label). On new wood it removes mill glaze | 1 gallon | $25.00 | |
| Pump sprayer and deck scrub brushTo put on the cleaner and work it in before rinsing | 1 each | $35.00 | |
| Deck stain1.71 gal for 427 sq ft (deck 192 sq ft, stairs 19 sq ft, railing 216 sq ft) × 1 coat; a 5 gallon pail is often cheaper from 4 gallons up | 2 gallons | $90.00 | |
| Stain pad on a pole, brush and trayPad for the boards, brush for the railing, stair edges and gaps | 1 set | $25.00 | |
| Estimated materials total | $1,000.00 | ||
Tips before you buy
- Check what your boards need before you buy: many composite boards need joists 12 in apart when laid on a diagonal, and some need special screws or a starter clip.
- Joist tape is cheap insurance while the frame is open: it keeps water from sitting on top of the joists under each board and stretches the frame’s life.
- Wet pressure-treated boards shrink as they dry. Many builders lay them tight together and let the gap open up; kiln-dried (KDAT) boards get the full gap.
- Pick a stain by how much wood you want to see: clear and toner finishes need redoing every year, semi-transparent every 2–3 years, solid stain lasts longest but can peel.
- Always test the stain on a spare board or a hidden corner. The color on the can’s label is on new wood; old or weathered wood comes out darker.
Frequently asked questions
How many deck boards do I need to resurface a 12 × 16 deck?
With 5½ in boards and 3⁄16 in gaps running the 16 ft length, you need 26 rows: 29 boards 16 ft long with 10% extra. Three 4 ft stair steps add two more 16 ft boards for the treads. The last row would be under 2 in wide, so rip the first and last rows to about 3⅝ in each.
How much does it cost to resurface a deck yourself?
For a 12 × 16 ft deck with three steps and a railing, new pressure-treated boards, three 5 lb boxes of screws, joist tape, cleaner, two gallons of stain and the supplies come to about $1,000 at typical prices. Composite boards with hidden clips (which aren’t stained) come to about $1,783, mostly from the boards. Re-staining the same deck without new boards is about $205.
How much stain do I need for my deck?
Add the deck floor, the stairs and both faces of the railing. A 12 × 16 ft deck with three 4 ft steps and a 36 in railing on its three open sides comes to about 427 sq ft, so one coat at 250 sq ft per gallon takes about 1.7 gallons: buy 2. The railing alone is half of that.
How many hidden clips do I need for a deck?
One clip at every joist in every gap between rows. A 12 × 16 ft deck has 26 rows and 13 joists at 16 in on center, so 25 gaps × 13 = 325 clips, or four boxes of 90.