Deck stripping, sanding and re-staining in North Beach

What tends to get noticed

• Composite decking with black spotting that a hose will not shift
• Green slick on the north side of the deck that is genuinely slippery when wet
• A stain that is peeling in sheets on the sunny half and still sound on the shaded half

Why this comes up in North Beach

Here is what makes North Beach particular: the island is thin here and most lots front either the ocean or the bay directly, so exposure is unusually direct in both directions. There is little in front of an oceanfront house to break the spray, and little behind a bayfront one to break the damp.

Predominantly larger single-family homes, many rebuilt or substantially raised in the last two decades. Cedar and painted fibre cement, deep decks facing the water, and very little of the small cottage stock that survives further south.

Getting the work done in North Beach

Few side streets and long driveways off the Boulevard. Staging is generally straightforward, but the working faces of these houses are the water elevations, which are the hardest to reach on any of them.

Any permit for this runs through Long Beach Township. State registration has to be current before one is issued.

How it is normally done

On a wood deck the honest sequence is strip, neutralise, sand and re-coat, and skipping the sanding is why so many re-stains fail in one season. On composite the job is different: the black spotting is usually mould growing in the surface texture, and it wants a low-pressure treatment, not a pressure washer, which will permanently stripe the boards. Ask which one you have before anyone quotes it — plenty of island decks are a wood frame with composite boards and a wood rail.