I am a regular guy with no special skills, experience, or knowledge. I feel the most amazing sense of accomplishment when I do so much as change a light fixture.

I figure there are many of you out there like me who aren't scared to do a TON of research and then do a project you've never done, especially if it saves you money. So then, I thought I'd share my experiences and lessons learned staining our deck, which we just finished yesterday.

CLEANING
The biggest thing I learned here is that all power washers are not created equal. We borrowed our neighbor's power washer, and it did just ok because it wasn't strong enough. If I had it to do over I'd have sought out a pro-level power washer, even if it meant paying to rent it. I think it would've been must faster and would've done a way better job. There are spots on the deck that got cleaner than others, and yeah, I could've gone back and redone it all and made it perfect but it would've taken days, and I just had to move on. LESSON: Get a powerful power washer to do your cleaning.

CAULKING/PAINTING
Our railings and pickets are painted so I went over them and caulked the gaps before painting. But the big thing I learned was that if you're going to caulk, make sure you paint pretty soon after so you seal up the whole job. It'll last longer and you won't have to do it over like I did. LESSON: Caulk, prime, paint within a short amount of time (no more than a few days).

STAINING
We went back and forth a million times about how to actually do the staining. Do we use a garden sprayer? A brush? Roller? We decided on one person using the garden sprayer and then the other person going back over and smoothing out puddles and generally brushing in what got sprayed on. For tight spots we sprayed stain on the brush and brushed it on. It worked great and was honestly pretty darn fast. One thing that was super helpful was that I took the time before starting staining to tape up painter paper over parts of the house and painted railings that I didn't want to spray with stain. This saved a ton of cleaning and heartache. If I had it to do again, I'd use plastic instead of the paper. LESSON: Use a garden sprayer to spray a few boards at a time and then go back over quickly with a brush to smooth it out; and be sure to tape up plastic drop sheets to protect areas you don't want stained.

CONCLUSIONS
Lots of good lessons learned, and even though the job was not perfect I still feel great about having it done. The bottom line for me on all jobs I've never done before is research research research, plan plan plan, then knock it out. I hope this was helpful. I know how much I appreciate how much you all share of your own experiences and knowledge. Have a great one!