Steps to Restoring Your Dock
Josh Richards • Nov 18, 2022
Steps to Restoring Your dock
So you have a bad boat dock. It’s fading, rotting, and breaking. It has some rotten and broken planks. The rest of the dock might turn the same in a few months. So what should you do: replace the whole dock or restore it?
Dock restoration or dock repair is challenging, especially if you’re a rookie and making it a DIIY project. The biggest challenge in my early days was falling into the water while restoring the dock. Thank god that never happened.
While we believe anyone can do anything, we suggest hiring a professional boat dock restoration company. They know the ins and outs of the job and would complete the project more efficiently.
Whether you plan to make it a DIY project or hire professionals, we suggest reading this content. It will help you get the best outcome.
The Pre Boat Dock Restoration Process
Inspection
It won’t be a random job that you do any day. You must have seen weak or broken plants and then decided to restore the dock. After that casual inspection, plan to inspect the site in detail. Take your toolbox along with a pen and paper.
Check each plank thoroughly. Some planks may have loose screws or nails. Fix those right away. The broken ones may need to be replaced or repaired. Note those items and prepare a list of required items to complete the job.
Planning
Once you have inspected the dock, it’s time to create a plan to complete the job. This stage will create sub-tasks, including what you need to replace or repair, what you need to do the job, how you would do that, and what you would do afterward.
The Restoration Process
After inspection and creating your plan, it’s time to start the actual job. Here are the steps to restore the boat dock.:
Tear the Wood and Replace/repair it
Remove the rotten wood and replace it with new planks. Firmly fix the new planks. While working with the rotten wood pieces, you will find some weak support. Replace the bad ones with new pieces.
Fix the Weak Planks
You may witness some weak planks during the restoration process. You can either replace the entire plank or support it with new pieces.
You may also find planks with no loose nails/screws. Fix every plank and restore the entire dock to its original state.
Re-inspect the Dock
Once you have completed the job, re-inspect the dock for any loose or weak planks. If everything is in accordance, move on to the next phase: staining and sealing.
The Post Boat Dock Restoration Process
This process involves staining the dock for extended life and enhancing its beauty.
Prepare the Dock
This step includes cleaning the board and stripping the old stain/seal/paint. Prepare the wood first by removing any content from the dock, then move to clean any debris and dust.
Strip Paint or Stain from the Dock
Use the right tools to strip the old paint/stain from the board. That’s a lengthy process and requires you to wait until the wood is dried.
You may also want to wash the dock before moving to the next step. Sometimes it uses to powerwash the dock, while others may call for a soft wash technique.
Choose the Best Stain and Sealer
There are various staining and sealing products with different opacity levels in the market. Choose the one that matches your preferences and is suitable for the wood.
For reference, read this post and get the best staining and sealing product.
Seal the Dock
Some dock stains have sealants as well. A wood stain is different from a sealer. If your product doesn’t have the duo, get a good sealer for the dock and apply it over the wood. It would further protect the wood from harmful elements.
Once applied the sealant, let the wood dry for a few hours.
Your Boat Dock is Now Restored
You have successfully restored the boat dock. So what’s next? Let the wood dry for a few hours, better yet, for a day before start walking on it.
The entire process is pretty time-consuming and effortful. If you don’t think it would be a DIY task, hire an expert team for that.
We at Precision Staining have spent years staining and sealing docks, fences, and docks. We are confident we to complete the staining job in no time with the best results. Call us at 407-222-4058 or send us your query for more details.