Our twenty-year-old deck had been painted three times and was due for another fresh coat but rather than go with something similar to what had been used previously, which was deck paint, I bought an expensive acrylic resin coating. Information on the product is at http://encorecoatings.com/product/encore-wood.
(A video produced by Encore and further information on restoring decks can be seen by clicking on “Deck Restoration” in the menu on the right.)
. . . and I installed cable rails. Off-the-shelf cable rails are very expensive so I designed and built my own. Except for the terminal fittings, all the components are readily available so the material cost was half of what I would have spent otherwise. Unlike the other systems the fittings I made are in the post and therefor hidden after assembly
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The joints between the deck planks were sealed before the coating was applied so that the deck will function as a roof, making the space below usable, outdoor storage.