Our price: $2.75 to $4.50 per square foot
We price deck refinishing by the square foot, and for a full pressure wash, stain, and seal, that's $2.75 to $4.50 per square foot in McHenry County. One number, priced on what the deck actually needs — not a lowball headline with a pile of surprise add-ons stapled on later.
You'll see aggregator sites throw out national averages that don't mean much for a specific deck in Crystal Lake or McHenry. Our range is what real refinishing costs here, and we confirm the exact figure on-site once we've seen the wood and its condition. No guessing, no bait number.
What drives where you land in the range
Two decks of the same size can price differently, and it comes down to a few honest factors:
- Deck condition. A lightly weathered deck that needs a wash and a coat sits at the low end. A deck with heavy, failed old finish that has to be stripped and sanded down sits at the high end. Condition is the single biggest swing.
- Stripping and sanding. If there's peeling old stain to strip or raised, splintered grain to sand smooth, that's real labor before any color goes down. Heavy stripping and sanding add to the per-foot number.
- Stain opacity. Transparent, semi-transparent, and solid finishes carry different product and labor costs, and they change how often you'll recoat (more on that below).
- Railings and stairs. A flat deck floor is fast. Railings, balusters, and stair treads are slow, detailed hand-work — every spindle gets coated by hand. Lots of railing raises the number. As an industry range, railing work typically runs about $4 to $14 per linear foot depending on the baluster style, and we fold that into your per-foot quote rather than surprising you with it.
- Wood vs. composite. Real wood gets the full stain-and-seal treatment. Composite doesn't get stained at all — it gets cleaned and brightened, which is a different (and usually lighter) scope, quoted on-site by deck size.
Why prep is 70% of the price — and the whole point
Here's the part most homeowners don't expect: on a stain job, the prep is about 70% of the work, and it's where most of your money goes. That's not padding. A stain job lives or dies on what happens before the stain — pressure washing down to clean, sound wood, sanding out the rough and splintered spots, stripping failed old finish, and masking off your siding and plantings.
Skip that prep and the finish peels inside a year. That's exactly why a $1-a-square-foot "deal" costs more in the end — it's a color coat sprayed over a dirty deck that fails by the next summer, and then you pay again to do it right. When we quote $2.75 to $4.50, most of that number is the prep that makes the finish actually last three-plus seasons. You're paying for the part you can't see, because that's the part that holds.
Example decks: what different sizes run
To make the per-foot number concrete, here's roughly what common McHenry County deck sizes look like at our range. These are planning estimates — we confirm the real number on the free on-site assessment, because condition moves it more than size does.
| Deck size | Square feet | Estimated range | Typical fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small (10×12) | ~120 sq ft | $330–$540 | Light weathering, minimal railing |
| Medium (12×16) | ~192 sq ft | $530–$865 | The common suburban back deck |
| Large (16×20) | ~320 sq ft | $880–$1,440 | Railings and stairs push toward the top |
| Extra-large (20×24) | ~480 sq ft | $1,320–$2,160 | Multi-level or heavy stripping at the high end |
A deck with lots of railing and stairs, or one that needs heavy stripping, lands at the upper end of its range. A lightly weathered deck with a simple floor lands at the lower end.
Opacity changes the long-run cost, not just the look
The stain you choose affects both the quote and how often you'll repaint the check:
- Transparent / clear — shows the most wood grain and the least UV protection, so it fades fastest and needs recoating most often (often yearly to every two years). Lower cost per coat, more coats over time.
- Semi-transparent — the popular middle. Real pigment does the UV work while the grain still shows. It's what most wood decks in our area use, and it balances cost against recoat interval.
- Solid — maximum protection and the longest stretch between recoats. It hides the grain and reads closer to paint, which is ideal for evening out an older, weathered deck. Fewer recoats over the deck's life.
If you want the full breakdown of which opacity fits your wood and sun exposure, it's on the deck staining page.
Composite isn't stained — it's cleaned and brightened
If your deck is Trex, TimberTech, Fiberon, or AZEK, you don't pay to stain it — you can't stain composite, and anyone who offers to doesn't know the material. What composite needs is periodic cleaning and brightening to lift the gray film and mildew and bring the factory color back. That's a different scope, quoted on-site by deck size, and it's generally lighter than a full wood refinish. Not sure which you have? We'll tell you on the assessment.
Restain-cadence savings: a schedule beats a rescue
The cheapest way to own a deck isn't the lowest single quote — it's staying on a schedule. Real wood does best on a recoat every 2 to 3 years (about every 2 years for the humid Fox River towns — timing details here). Get on that cadence and your deck never hits the "too far gone" point where it needs a full strip-and-refinish. The maintenance coats are faster and cheaper than that rescue job, because the expensive part — the heavy prep — never has to happen again.
Let a deck go five or six years and you're back to full stripping and sanding at the top of the range. Keep it on a 2–3 year recoat and you stay near the bottom. Over the life of the deck, the schedule is the real savings.
Plain-spoken pricing, confirmed on-site
We don't do vague "we'll see when we get into it" numbers, and we don't do lowball-then-upsell. You get an honest per-square-foot range up front, a clear itemized quote after we've seen the deck, and the exact figure confirmed before any work starts. If your deck needs repair before it's worth finishing, we'll tell you that too — staining over bad wood wastes your money, and we won't take it. Ready for a real number on your deck? Start with our free on-site deck assessment, or see what's specific to your town on our Crystal Lake and Huntley staining pages.