How to Sand a Deck the Right Way

Hello, my friend, hello again; today we come together to talk about How to Sand a Deck the Right Way and hope the blog can help you.

A professional deck builder shares the basic steps (and a few secrets) for sanding a wood deck to renew its surface.

Sanding a wood deck is an essential part of home maintenance, and it sounds simple enough. Rent a sander, take a few laps around the deck surface, tune up the guard rail’s top cap, and voila: a just-like-new deck! Right?

Not quite. Before sanding a deck, it’s imperative to fully understand all of the steps involved. Beyond the amount of time it takes to painstakingly walk back and forth with a vibrating deck sander, there’s also the effort it takes to set all of the fasteners so they don’t damage the sander.

Whether you want to know how to sand a deck to ready it for paint or stain or if you are just hoping to expose new wood fiber, follow the steps outlined below to achieve that freshly sanded wood deck you want.  

Note: For this article, the focus is on the horizontal surfaces. While sanding 2×2 wood balusters (“spindles”) is possible, it is an incredible amount of labor. I often recommend replacing the balusters when updating an older wood deck