"someDude37" wrote in message
oups.com...
I just moved into a house. The deck appears to be in good shape,
except that the latest coat of oil based stain is peeling quite a
bit. I'm guessing its from snow sitting on it in the winter, as I am
located in the Chicago area. At this point, its too cold for me to
strip and re-stain.

I'd like to protect the wood this winter. Would putting a tarp over
it be reasonable? I read that this may not be a good idea, as it
would cause rot from lack of ventilation. So what's worse - bare wood
with snow sitting on it, or bare wood with a tarp covering the top of
it? Obviously air would still be able to travel to some extent thru
the bottom of the deck.

I guess a third option would be to just be vigilant about scooping
snow from it, but I'm not sure how practical that would be.

The tarp would be just about the worst thing you could do. Snow on the wood in
cold weather is not going to soak into the wood much. I'd just wait till next
year to worry about it.

Bob