First, I asked for various quotations for a new deck (teak or synthetic teak) and for a possible renovation. Responses were unsatisfactory, some only providing a fixed prize without explaining the different work steps but all recommended to install a new deck. None offered the renovation as an option, although some stressed that the quality of new teak will be by far less than the teak which was available on the market some 30 years ago.
I finally decided to renovate the deck myself as I still have more than 6 mm of teak left, saving me a lot of money at the same time. Certainly it is quite some work but there is no hurry and I can do it step by step using long summer evenings and some week-ends. The plan is to be ready before the summer cruise.
Here, the work steps which I follow:
- unscrew screws which are not covered by teak plugs
- deepen carefully the hole by a couple of mm using a special driller (Forstner)
- inject epoxy raisin with a syringe as a water protection for the sandwich
- screw in new screws with flat heads
- clue in new teak plugs with epoxy
- cut and sand the plugs
This needs time as there are some 800 screws (feels like much more).
Further work include:
- cleaning off old caulk (the work I hate most - some parts are really sticky but have a rotten surface caused by UV)
- sanding the the cavities and cleaning with acetone
- applying new caulk (filling cavities with caulk using a tube gun and flatten it with a scraper)
- after the caulk has dried, sanding the surface twice (course and fine)
Voila - here some pics of first results.
Lot's of work indeed but pleasant and really rewarding! Maybe I should become a carpenter in my next life!
Once the whole deck is ready I will provide some more pics.
