A seemingly futile attempt to paint the deck

I have been trying to paint my deck for a couple of months now and it has been nothing less than a major frustration.  So I ask, fellow residents of beautiful scenic Prince Rupert, for your expertise.  My plight is, as I am sure you can already guess, the plethora of rainfall that is hindering my painting task.  I check the weather report and try to paint when it’s at least ‘sorta’ sunny and warm - and I know that I can’t treat the weather report as though it’s gospel - but it’s been a futile enterprise.  Paint is running and streaking and I’m getting sick of painting for hours and having it look like crap when it rains.  Now - I have an idea that I think might work - but wanted to ask those who have lived in Rupert for long than myself for their opinion.

My idea was to put up some tarps so that I could at least get a fairly even coat of paint on it.  I would include some form of ‘walls’ with the tarps because I am aware that at times if can rain sideways here.  But my question about that idea is this:

Will it even work?  Since it is quite humid here, would it even matter if I had tarps up to stop the rain from touching the wood?  Is it simply so humid that the wood wouldn’t dry anyways? 

Some extra info: 

  • I cleaned the deck with TSP and rinsed it well before starting to paint it
  • the paint is Rona brand acrylic latex, exterior, flat finish

I think that’s it - any ideas/suggestions are appreciated!

Being that I used to sell paint for a living, I might be of help.

First of all, it sounds like you’re using the wrong paint for the job.

You should be using a “Porch and Floor” or something similar.  Not just a regular exterior.

If you shelter your area, you should be fine.  Your idea of tarps should work just fine.  Just allow more time for drying between coats.  My neighbours across the street have been doing their porch, and had to wait almost a month between coats, 'cause they waited for dry weather.  It looks good though.

Good luck!

Oh yeah?  The guy at Rona (I forget his name, older guy though) tested the paint that was on the deck with paint stripper, and based on the result of that test he said to use that kind of paint.  As it stands now - there is enough of the ‘runny’ paint on the deck that I’m not too enthused about starting all over with a new kind of paint heh.  I do remember him saying that it had to be a certain kind of paint to put on top of the old paint or it wouldn’t stick…

ETA:  I’m not trying to argue here - I have no clue if he was right or wrong - just saying that’s what I did heh

As far as paint product goes you want something that says its specifically for horizontal surfaces and meant to be walked on.  IE as previously mentioned a porch & floor or deck paint.  A regular exterior paint will work as well but won’t have the durability.  Unfortunately Rupert weather is brutal on paint and more so on decks and other flat surfaces.  Ideally its better to go with a roll-on type decking if possible.  I would suggest going and asking at General Paint, they tend to have a wider selection than Rona.

If the paint doesn’t say something to the effect of “Porch, Deck or Floor” on it, then it’s the wrong paint.  You’ll need to get different paint.

Get Duradek covering, and Durarails with glass.  No painting needed.  Just a scrub or 2 a year and you are good to go!

Duradeck isn’t super easy to apply, but if you follow the instructions COMPLETELY, then you’ll end up with a nice finish.  But your deck can’t have any movement at all, or the duradeck will crack, then peel.  (so, you’d have to put extra nails in any boards that move, and possibly reinforce other points.)

I’ve also heard that Duradeck is incredibly expensive - I think this year all we can hope to accomplish is the paint - I hope! hehe

Well yeah… Duradek isn’t cheap… that’s why it’s pretty.

I’d opt for something like thompsons water seal. That’s what is on the deck at my parents house, it’s 10+ years old and only just starting to rot.

I’m sure if they had done some upkeep on it it would have lasted longer than that.

Water seal would have looked pretty awful if that’s all we did - because the paint on it was peeling and bubbling and coming off, so to put seal over that would have been icky.  If we would have had the cash to rip it down and start again, then we could have either gone the duradeck route or new wood to just stain instead of painting it.  Basically we just wanted to get a couple of coats of paint on it before winter hit.  I’ll do the tarp idea and hopefully get enough paint on it so it doesn’t look retarded, then we can look at upgrades later.

But man - this sure has taught me to ask you guys first before taking action! Hahaha!

Bring your deck down here to the Island…we’re in the middle of at least a ten day stretch of picture perfect weather.

:imp: