I stained my back deck last August with a big box store brand semi-transparent stain. By June this year it was peeling off in sheets, looked terrible. What happened was I didn't wait long enough after pressure washing, the wood was still damp underneath. Had to sand the whole thing down with a rented floor sander, cost me 60 bucks and a full weekend. Anyone else had a stain fail that fast and have tips for a better prep routine?
I was about to re-stain my back deck last weekend and happened to glance at the can I bought from Home Depot back in 2021. Turns out that stuff was three years expired and the color had totally separated no matter how much I stirred it. I ended up tossing the whole gallon and picking up a fresh can of Behr transparent stain from the Ace Hardware on Maple Street instead. Has anyone else had a bad batch of old stain ruin a weekend project?
My neighbor Jim walked over one Saturday morning while I was building a 12x16 deck in my backyard in Toledo and pointed out I was using coated deck screws instead of structural screws for the ledger board, something about shear strength and code that I'd never heard of before, so I pulled out 30 screws and replaced them with Simpson Strong-Tie screws, has anyone else had a neighbor give you a build tip that saved you from a big mistake?
Tbh I spent like 4 hours last Saturday setting posts for a new privacy fence in my backyard. Was so proud of myself till my neighbor came over and pointed out I was using a line level instead of a string level. Said I was off by almost 2 inches over 20 feet. Felt pretty dumb but glad he said something before I poured concrete. Has anyone else had a moment where a simple tool swap saved your project?
I see folks on here celebrating hitting 500 or 1,000 fence posts installed like it's a big milestone. But after my last project on my property in Ohio, I only set 47 posts total and they look better than any row of 500 I've seen. Number of posts doesn't matter if half of them are crooked or rotting in 5 years. Why do so many people here think bigger numbers mean better work?