Before Fiona's second birthday back in September I reeeeeally wanted to have the gazebo cleaned up for her party.
Party ready it was not.
Just in case you didn't notice some of the flaws
So over the course of three weekends and 4 weekdays with help from family and friends we cleaned this bad boy up.
Somehow I didn't take photos of the inbetween so I'll bullet the progress
- Old Shingles were removed
The shingles that were on the roof were cedar and moss covered. It was charming... except that a quarter of them were missing or falling off. So we replaced them with new shingles and tar paper. Uncovering the roof unveiled rot/water damage, so about half the roof needed new plywood.
- Paint was sanded off and repainted
This was not. fun. at. all. My brother-in-law and myself worked on the sanding portion while my husband, his friend, and my other brother-in-law did the roof. Sanding the poles was so very tedious. So many curves and odd nooks to get the chipping paint off. Once it was sanded it was hosed down and painted the next day (and following week). We painted
5 coats. Seriously. I was an idiot and bought paint without primer. My thought process was "it's already white! This paint will just glide on." Nope. Turns out the gazebo was actually a dove gray and did not want to hold onto my bright white. So that took about a gallon and a half of paint.
It's not very noticeable in the photos, but the gazebo has some awkward cracks where the boards meet up and caulking it made it a whole lot cleaner looking. I caulked around paint coat 3 and 4. It took me three caulk cans (cans? are they called cans?) and I only bought one at a time. The guy in the little hardware store in town totally thought I was weird.
Long story short- buy deck cleaner and a scrub brush. Do not waste your time scrubbing with an entire jar of comet and sponges. The deck cleaner was amazing. Especially the next day. Our deck was never sealed or stained in any way so it was really gross covered in slippery mildew. The deck cleaner sat on it for 30 minutes before we cleaned it and it basically bleached the wood. It looked even cleaner once it sat overnight.
Turns out I do have one photo haha. I was so excited about the cleanliness of the deck that I sent a photo to my husband at work. Just in case you couldn't see the grossness before, I zoomed in on the photo from above for you
Before deck wash
After deck wash!
It was the very last thing I did all by myself while Fiona napped. I bought semi-transparent deck stain from Walmart in Cedar . I didn't think it was going to be so opaque but overall I am happy with the results. Happy enough not to sand down and re-stain it. Here are the wonderful afters :)
We also bought some happy patio furniture
Here she is getting ready for Fiona's party!
Full of treats and pom poms!
One final comparison
The whole project cost us somewhere between 200 and 300 dollars - but that did include tools we will be able to use again like the sander and caulking gun. Overall it was totally worth it. The gazebo is an even nicer feature now, I can't wait to get lots of use out of it :)
