Refinishing cedar deck

[Sea Nymph 1]

I have a 12 year old cedar deck that I'm thinking of refinishing. It was neglected for 8 years before I bought the house. The problem with it now is it has lots of splinters that end up in my kids feet. I've never put any kind of sealer on it. I want to take all the boards off, run them through a planer, sand them, stain and seal both sides then put them back on in a newly configured deck. The reason they would be taken off is these are coming off a lower deck and going to the upper deck as I'm eliminating the lower portion. Am I asking for trouble? Are the boards worth saving? Any thoughts? Bueller? Bueller?

[skolfoppa]

Based on your description that could work. I've actually flipped deck boards and refinished the undersides. The screw hole configuration can pose a problem, but often the undersides are in good shape. Either way it will be cheaper than new decking. Have you priced out cedar lately? Definitely seal both sides. On nearly all of the deck refinishing projects that I've done, the product failure/premature weathering is the result of the underside decking left unfinished. Doesn't work in MN. Good luck. Skol.