Power washing the deck and patio

This is what the back of our home looked like when we bought it in 2009. We really fell in love with this deck covering the patio. It's huge. 35' by 14'.

Here you can see the walls and windows to our dining room on the left and the living room on the right. You can see that there is no window to the living room. Yet.

And the window is not lining up with the patio slider. Interesting...




Fast forward to yesterday. In the meantime we now have some more window going on. I those big windows. 

And on the deck railing you see my attempt at painting from the deck. Missed a couple of spots. I painted it a slightly darker gray than the siding on the house, just to give some interest.



The previous owners put in this deck and then gave it a once over with spray paint. Therefore, every time it rains, it snows on our patio. Tiny little paint flecks. It's driving me nuts. It should not snow in SoCal, right?

We also want the deck to be a solid cover for the patio. Maybe I would sit outside even if it rained or at least the furniture would be more protected. Most of all I can't wait until it stops snowing on my patio. 

First part of the plan was to power wash everything to get rid of any loose paint. That happened yesterday, and it was a royal mess. It was awesome!



As I mentioned earlier, we decided to get some help with this from a friend of ours. He is doing a really great job. And B got to have a go at the power washer too. Fun.



The deck, the underside of the deck and the patio, as well as the railing and the posts all got a good hosing down.



Quite a difference, right?



Here is the deck upstairs. It is off the master. The window on the right is to the master bathroom. I love my view from the deck.



The patio door leads into the master bedroom.



And this is the patio off the living and dining room. I love sitting out here. When we first moved in we would sit here and ask ourselves why we bought that big house behind us, when that patio was really all we needed.



The power wash was a much needed beginning. We have much more planned though.

Here is our plan:

1. Power wash the deck and patio done
2. Plane and cut new Cedar wood hand rail for the top of the guard rail on the deck.
3. Stain the new Cedar wood hand rail and install it.
4. Paint guard rail and columns.
5. Replace the trim around the feet of columns.
6. Add flashing to the deck.
7. Add exterior plywood to the top of deck.
8. Cover plywood with rubber membrane.
9. Hang lights on ceiling of patio.
10. Decorate.

This is the biggest remodeling project we are going to tackle this year and I am so excited that we started this project already.

Makes me want to start planning a patio warming party already....

Are you tackling any major renos this year? Did you ever have fake snow in your back yard? Have you ever tried power washing anything?

Next: Our Patio progress: paint, sprinklers, flower bed, and new concrete - the work