Now Begins Official Mission Viejo Deck-Ponder Season

Checking the calendar, spring won’t officially kick off until March 20 when the celestial

equinox happens. That same Monday will also officially signal the start of Mission Viejo’s annual

real estate “hot” selling season. And although Major League Baseball’s first pitch won’t be hurled

until two more weeks have passed, March 20 will also coincide with what starts today—which I

designate as the kickoff to Mission Viejo’s Deck-Ponder Season (DPS).

Deck-Ponder Season is that period during which Mission Viejo’s homeowners (and even

some extremely conscientious renters) take a look outside and begin weighing alternative

strategies for dealing with the backyard deck. This is a period every year that is universally

observed by Mission Viejo homeowners with only two exceptions—

Exception One (by my lights, a perfectly valid excuse) covers those who skip the whole

DPS because they don’t have a deck to ponder at all.

Exception Two is less defensible: these are the party-poopers who have nothing to think

about because they have installed maintenance-free decks. For them, this year’s DPS is almost a

non-event. They don’t give their decks a second thought other than what new planters they might

decide to place on them, or whether they should hose off that grungy spot underneath the barbecue

that nobody sees anyway.

Except for those two special circumstances, this year’s Deck-Ponder Season looks to be as

full of excitement as ever. Punxsutawney Phil’s erroneous call for an early spring notwithstanding,

the weather makes this an appropriate time for Mission Viejo’s deck owners to start planning for

how to bring their decks back to being the flawless expanses they used to be in their youths.

As Better Homes and Garden puts it, “wooden decks receive constant abuse from the

elements” which was why Home Depot told you at the very start, “Wood usually changes color

quickly unless you apply a finish.” That’s about color, but even more importantly, nobody wants to

allow the elements to speed their deck’s disintegration. That’s why DPS should be observed

annually, starting right about now. It’s vital to get a head start on pondering (before anyone has to

actually do anything).

Once any Mission Viejo deck owner has reluctantly given up on the idea that this spring it

won’t need much work (“didn’t we just do that last year?”), the deep ponder can begin. What the

fine print on the deck wash container could have made clearer is that no matter what you do, yearly

cleaning is the name of the game. And in the even finer print, refinishing every 3-7 years. That’s

after that year’s annual cleaning. There’s a lot to ponder...

But for most, one of the high points of the annual DPS is its conclusion: the moment that

marks its official climax— that is, when the “Ponder” part ends and trips to the hardware store

begin. But that’s off in the future sometime—after a lot of hard pondering; certainly, after the

weather has cleared up; probably well after the Final Four have played off. In the meantime, for

any Mission Viejo homeowner who is planning on listing this spring, the deck industry wants to

remind them that decks typically increase the value of a home by 110% of their actual cost. If

you’re in that category, before, during, or after your own DPS is the right time to give me a call!