Pool and Decks: Trim That Ties It All Together

June 6, 2022

Decks are a really nice feature of many homes in the bay area. Color matching is so important to the look of a home. It’s just as vital as how our kids leave the home each day. It’s a terrible thing to go out and realize that what you’re wearing clashes in some way. It’s worse to discover that a major part of your home clashes with itself.

Sometimes our projects for the back side of the house wind up disagreeing. For instance, let’s say that the deck is stained a cherry red, but the pool is ecru with a cool baby blue for the lining. These colors do little to complement each other. But a dark pool is dangerous, and a light deck is ugly. What can be done?

Getting back to the original ‘clashing outfit’ analogy, consider accessorizing! A bit of trim on both areas can tie them to each other in an attractive way. Consider a royal purple or burgundy as a space between the blue and the red, as a means of bridging the two color schemes.

This can be done on posts for stairs, on furniture on the deck, on grills or appliances… anywhere exposed that you would like to tie eternally to the pool can get a stripe of trim that connects these surfaces with a common element, allowing for continuity between two very different spaces.

Beyond the touch ups and trim, there’s always a complete recolor of the deck itself! When it comes to finishing or refinishing your deck, there are two main methods and materials.

Film Finish

The first method is a film-creating type of finish. It comes in both oil base and water base coatings. These products range from natural, translucent, transparent, semi transparent, semi-solid and solid appearance. Natural has no pigment; it’s basically a varnish. Translucent has very little pigment to it, and subsequently, the pigment opacity keeps increasing until you get to solid.

Now, this product will look just like paint, but it won’t require any primer to apply– and it won’t blister like paint will, in some cases. You can expect a film finish to last two years on average. The more pigment it contains, the longer you can expect your deck to last– in some cases lasting three to five years.

Another benefit of the semi-solid and solid products is that since it contains more pigment, you will get a more uniform appearance and better coverage. The downside is that when your finish deteriorates and your deck needs to be refinished, your deck must be stripped down to bare wood (this process is very labor intensive). The results are longer lasting but way harder to refinish.

Penetrating Oil Stain

The second option is a penetrating oil stain, this product is very user friendly. The deck wood must be bare– either new or sanded down to bare wood, as this product will penetrate the wood surface and protect it from within, repelling away water and dirt (as well as adding some UV protection).

It’s a one-coat process allowing for a quick turnaround, and can be applied in direct sunlight. There are approximately six color tone variations. A penetrating oil stain will leave your wood deck looking natural as if it didn’t have any coatings on it. You can expect this product to last one year, requiring yearly maintenance.

This is where the biggest advantage comes in: you don’t need to sand down or strip the wood or yearly maintenance, saving you lots of time and money on labor cost. To do a maintenance coat, all it takes is a quick wash to remove any dirt, let it dry completely, apply the oil penetrating stain, and then it’s done.

Want a quality painting company to tie together a mismatched deck for you? Please schedule an appointment with us today, and we’ll walk you through our complimentary consultation. We specialize in the jobs other painters turn down, the custom homes that call for incredible quality backed by a lifetime of industry knowledge and experience. Call today, and see why San Jose and beyond are raving about Basurto Painting’s “Elevated Standards.”