I really needed to redo my back deck - it is two story and lovely, but was in bad shape. I initially decided to pressure wash the deck lightly. That made some paint chips, but not bad, I did not damage the wood. I decided to use a cleaner to clean the deck.
It was a spray on, leave on for 15 minutes and spray off with a hose.
I then used Behr Deckover on the deck in Barn Red. It is about $36 a gallon at Home Depot. I used around 6 gallons, but I will say this paint is like pudding. I thought I was going to roll it out. It was so thick that it was easier to hand brush, but I admit that took a long, long time. I love the way it finished but it takes awhile to apply. I would make sure you have a long weekend to do with no rain.
Deckover has many different colors to choose from. I already was using a red, so decided to keep a red. Barn Red was my choice. You can see the difference below.