It's the time of year to refinish or repair your wood deck, whether it be patching, power washing, sanding or applying a fresh coat of preservative and-or stain.

Since we are acutely aware that you want to use your deck not spend the entire warm season repairing and refinishing it we will share a repair technique with you that will save you time and money.

Ordinarily when a damaged deck board needs to be repaired, you either have to replace the whole board, which is an expensive process, or make a patch by cutting the deck board in two places and fitting in a new piece. In the latter case, watch out for nails.

Full size or patch, getting a board to match the old one may take a little of your time, although a small piece of wood for a patch will cost almost nothing. Used-lumber yards and salvage yards are also a good bet when you're looking for a matched piece.

It is important that a patch extend over at least three joist. If the patch is too small, that's exactly what it will look like a patch. If the existing boards in your deck run in an unbroken fashion from end to end (no joints), don't patch. Replace the whole board. A patch will be too obvious and might make the deck look even worse.

Use a pencil and a square to draw a straight line at each end of the section of the board to be patched. The line should be at the inside edges of the joist that is adjacent to each end of the patch, not the center of the joist. Once the board has been marked, you can use a saber saw to make the cut. A saber saw cannot be used if the cut has to be made directly over the joist. Cutting to the side of a joist also eliminates having to deal with cutting near nails. The patch has to travel over at least three joist, including the end joist. So, at a minimum, nails will have to be removed from the deck board at least one joist.

Use a piece of scrap wood between the hammer or nail puller and the deck to make sure that the deck isn't damaged as nails are removed.

Once the old board is out, it can be used as a pattern to cut the ends of the new piece. Cut the new piece about 1/16th of an inch longer at each end (1/8th of an inch longer than the piece removed). This will make up for wood length lost due to the width of the saber saw blade.

Next, nail a block onto the side of each end joist. Any old scrap wood can be used. However, pressure treated fir or pine, cedar or redwood are best because of their lasting quality.

Using the blocks makes it possible for you to cut to the side of the joist, thereby missing nails and getting to make your cut with the easy-to-use help of a saber saw instead of a circular saw and a chisel. The latter are the tools you would have to use to make the cut directly over a joist.

If the new deck board is too thin, use shims (wood shavings) between the deck joist or joist blocks and the deck board to raise the new board to deck height.

If the patch is apparent because of a color mismatch, use a bit of stain to blend it in.

Although this might sound complicated and time consuming, it isn't. The repair can be done in less than an hour.