DIY Floating Deck Phase 3
A DIY Floating Deck with a Moroccan feel right in the backyard!
The last and final phase before the big reveal. Man this project has been one to tackle by myself but I haven’t given up! In this post, I’m going to be covering both how I painted the deck and how I laid down the decking boards. Enjoy!
This post is sponsored by the Home Depot.
If you missed Phase 1 or Phase 2 of this project be sure to check it out!
and just for fun here's a quick look of what my backyard looked like before building the deck.
Painting the Deck
Materials Used
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This was one of the more enjoyable parts of the projects. Mainly because I got to try out the Graco Magnum X5 sprayer that Graco sent over; this baby is a beast.
I used Solid Color Behr Waterproofing Stain and Sealer - Slate in the color Slate to paint. I went back and forth on what color to use. I knew I wanted black but I was nervous of how it would turn out but I’m glad I went with my gut because I absolutely love it!
I painted two light coats over the deck with my sprayer and then used a brush to spread it evenly. I used two gallons of the stain and sealer; it provided excellent coverage and using the paint sprayer cut my paint time in half.
I would recommend this sprayer for any big paint projects. I usually don’t like using sprayers because of the cleanup but I was able to get this thing cleaned up in 5 minutes and it didn’t take too much effort so A+ from me.
The only issues I had with the sprayer was keeping prime, which I realized was happening because I didn’t have enough paint in the bucket. So word of advice; make sure you have a good amount of paint to where the hose is fully immersed in the paint and you should have no problems.
Check out the video below to see how I used the Graco X5 to paint my deck!
Laying Down the Decking Boards
Materials Used
- UltraShield Naturale Voyager Series Roman Antique Hollow Compositie Decking
- NewTechWood UltraShield Plastic T Clip Hidden Fastener
Tools Used
Originally I had planned on using Douglas fir for the top decking boards but after talking to a buddy he convinced me to go with composite decking and I’m soooooooo glad I listened. I ended up going with the UltraShield Composite Decking in Roman Antique.
I knew it would look nice but when I actually saw the boards in person I knew I had made the right choice. It did take a while for them to come in so I would suggest ordering them way ahead of time if you plan on tackling a project like this but the boards were WELL worth the wait!
The process of putting the boards down were really simple. I used the T Clips to install the boards. They come with screws and each box covers about 50 sq. ft. My deck is 16' x 21' and I used a little more than 6 boxes.
You place one board down and screw down the T clips halfway down into each joist and then slide the next board under the T clip and screw the T clip all the way down. That’s it! Easy enough!
My only advice would be to make sure you screw the T clips in slowly to make sure you don’t strip up the screw. Other than that, it's really simple, literally anyone can do it!
I finished it up in about 6 hours…this included carrying the boards to the back; with two people it would have gone way faster!
Once the boards were installed, the deck was finished! and I'm so excited to share the reveal with you guys! But for now here's the little sneak peak!
Check out the final reveal here!
