Restore the look of your old porch or deck using Cabot Deck Correct paint

I used Cabot Deck Correct to paint my old wooden porch floor and the results are amazing! Here, I give my honest review of the product.

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Although I list my disclaimer on every post, I want to say that I am not affiliated with Cabot or any of their products. This is my honest review of their Deck Correct paint.

A porch in need

It has been over a decade since I painted my wood porch floor. Approximately 8 years ago, I painted the perimeter of the porch and laid grass carpet down. It looked great and was nice on the feet for many years, but that changed this year.

While getting my porch ready for the spring, I noticed my carpeting was literally falling apart. My poor pups would roll around on it only to get flakes of green all through their fur. Although unexpected, I found myself realizing that I needed to do a porch floor makeover this year.

Luckily, I secured the carpet to the floor with a stapler and not glue as that would have been a total disaster to get rid of. But when I lifted the carpet, I found the floor to be in dire need of a refresh.

There was a part of me thinking I could just re-carpet it, but I would know what was underneath and that would bug me. Plus, I decided a good painting would give me a clean palate in which to create a new look to the porch.

Preparing the porch

After removing the carpet, I gave the floor a good scrubbing. I found that most of the old paint was gone but there were still areas that needed fixed. So, with a scraper in hand, I removed any paint that was loose.

I also had installed rubber stair tread covers many years ago, and while there were great at preserving the steps from wear and tear, they too had seen better days. Using a prybar, I removed the tread covers to find the steps also needed a good scrubbing and scraping.

The paint color

I had picked up some paint samples at the local Lowes store because I want to paint my shed…. hopefully this fall. The color I chose for that task is Sherwin-Williams Olive Grove, so I decided to use this same color on the porch. I was going to get an exterior latex paint to do the job because I cannot stand working with oil-based paint; it’s just too messy and cleanup is a disaster. But then I saw a paint made specifically for old porch boards.

Cabot Deck Correct

I saw a brochure on the Cabot Deck Correct paint. It claimed to make your wood look like new again and claimed long lasting durability. The price point was around $33 per gallon. So, I bought two gallons and had them tinted in my Olive Grove color.

The paint is thick and about the consistency of thin pancake batter. It looks to have fine sand in the mixture. I applied two coats to the perimeter of the porch floor. While the first coat went on a little heavy, it filled cracks in the boards rather nicely. The second coat seemed to smooth out the cracks more evenly.

Cabot Deck Correct paint is not for rolling

After the trimming was done, I tried applying the paint with a roller as I could get the 12×16 floor done so much faster. What I found was that I used twice as much paint and the paint didn’t get into the cracks as well as applying with a brush. I used a 3/8″ nap as suggested in the Cabot brochure, but I was not pleased with how it looked. Plus, I used quite a lot of paint in the small section that I had done.

I tried a second coat on the area, but it still didn’t look as good as the areas that I brushed on. So, with paint brush in hand, I set out to paint the whole thing by hand. It really didn’t take that much longer, and the results looked so much better.

Final thoughts

I found the Cabot Deck Correct did a nice job at making my old, cracked wood porch look refreshed and like new. It filled in cracks beautifully and left a nice smooth finish. The sandy texture of the paint is great at providing a non-skid surface to the floor also.

Two gallons of paint coated the entire 12×16 porch, stairs, and bottom posts. I think the more layers of paint you apply, the smoother and crack-free the surface will become. That being said, I do plan to give the floor another coat of this paint in the fall.

Living in central Pennsylvania, we experience all four seasons, including sometimes harsh winters. I will update this post next spring after the porch has endured a full year of changing seasons on the durability of this paint. For now, I highly recommend trying Cabot Deck Correct paint on your porch or deck if the wood needs a refresh.

Cabot Deck Correct paint UPDATE

It has been a year since I painted the porch, and the paint has seen all four seasons here in Central Pennsylvania. It has held up beautifully! There are no chips or peeling of the paint and the surface looks as great as it did one year ago.

These are pictures of my most heavily trafficked area of the porch, and I only cleaned it with water and a brush. I plan to give the porch another full coat this fall as I think it will only make these old boards look even better!

If you have used this paint, please comment below your thoughts and how well it has stood up for you. As always, thanks for stopping by!