3 yr old raw deck-seal/stain questions

[RennieMom]

My husband and I are hoping to clean and seal/stain our deck this weekend. It is almost 3 years old, raw wood. (We know it should've been done before now...) Neither of us has any experience with this and have a few questions:

1. We live in KS. We're using Penofin stain and it says to apply in a window where there will be no rain for 24-48 hours. If we apply it this weekend will the heavy morning dew be a problem? Do we need to wait til Spring? (I hate to do that since it's already been too long.)

2. The deck is on the 2nd story with a patio underneath. What's the best way to protect the patio, house walls, etc under the deck from overspray? (We're planning to use a sprayer and then back brush.) And should we stain the underside of the deck also?

3. We plan to simply powerspray it the day before to clean it. Is that sufficient or do we need to use a cleaner product?

Thanks for your help! We appreciate it.

[HayZee518]

The exposed surface that has gone THAT long without a finish is probably sun bleached by now and is turning gray. Ok for the rustic look but doesn't help in making a surface structurally sound. You could try pressure washing but I don't think you'll clear up the weathered wood. For underneath, use large sheets of plastic to route the water so it'll run off and not drip on your patio. they had a episode on the home & gardening thing on tv where they put plastic sheathing underneath a deck to catch the rainwater that made it through the slat openings and routed it out to the ground.

[MichiganPowerWashing.com]

POWER WASHING IS PERFECT FOR REMOVING WEATHERED WOOD .
If you do exactly what penofin website is saying you will have a very nice deck. They are explaining everything there .
The worst thing can happend is that you will spray it all over the place - walls , windows , grass, trees - damaging everything .
Sometimes it's better if you hire someone ...at least for the first time.
Good luck.