I had a deck put in back in early fall and I'm ready to treat it. I want a semi transparent stain. I know there is no such thing as a "lifelong" type of chemical. I just want to get the best protection and get 2-3 years out of it. What have some of you used and would recommend?
Deck Treatment Opinions Wanted
- Thread starter pworlledge
- Start date
I use TWP stain. Never had any flaking, peeling, nothing. It's a penetrating stain that seeps into the wood rather than sitting on top. To be fair, I've never tried any other brand. Found out about this stain by visiting some deck building forums.
We just finished staining our deck. We used Behr semi-transparent deck stain from Home Depot. The top deck was actually stained last year. We just stained the bottom about two weeks ago. We had built the lower portion of the deck last year & waited for the appropriate amount of time to let the mill glaze and whatnot wear off.
My father swears by CWF. His house and deck were built in 1997 and the deck gets direct sunlight most of the day. Its looking a little tires but still has life left.
My deck was installed around 2003, and I used a different product. His looks to be in better shape. I'm having an additional section added this summer and I'll be switching to CWF.
My deck was installed around 2003, and I used a different product. His looks to be in better shape. I'm having an additional section added this summer and I'll be switching to CWF.
I second this. I use TWP stain and it really does well compared to others I've seen in person.
With TWP I did it on unstained decking. I put on one coat after the wood has had at least 4 months of no treatment. Then a year after that a 2nd coat (the first coat will fade some by then). The 2nd coat then should be good for 2 to 3 year intervals after that.
It sucks staining and staining, but once it gets to be 2 to 3 years between stains then it won't seem too bad. If you want I can take a picture of my deck. I have a portion that was stained 2 years ago and then a new portion I just stained last week. The colors don't match since the older one is deeper because it has had more staining.
rajung
Well-known member
I used Cabot, oil based mahogany Flame for the deck floor, its is out in the direct sun all day but does fade slightly into 3rd year. No matter what brand when it comes to staining, only stain no more than 3 boards at a time working in one direction.
I know it is a lot of up and down taking a lot more time. If you try and stain as many at one time as you can without moving too much, and then moving to the other end, you will get a double coat where you stopped and started and will look darker than the rest.
I found this out the hard way.
I also wanted a color on railing to contrast the reddish/ brown color so I used Cabot white, water based, complete garbage, don't use that S&%!.
Will feel chalky after 8 weeks and will start to just peel in spots after winter months. after 3 years and recoating ea. year it still does it. After 150 ft of this job with spindles, it gets old real fast.
After a couple years I talked to someone with some knowledge about stain, he said even though it was used on railing and not walking surface, that version of stain is really intended for use on older weathered surfaces that you want to fill the voids in and bring some life back to, even though at 35-40 bucks a gallon it does not mention it on the can.:batman:
I know it is a lot of up and down taking a lot more time. If you try and stain as many at one time as you can without moving too much, and then moving to the other end, you will get a double coat where you stopped and started and will look darker than the rest.
I found this out the hard way.
I also wanted a color on railing to contrast the reddish/ brown color so I used Cabot white, water based, complete garbage, don't use that S&%!.
Will feel chalky after 8 weeks and will start to just peel in spots after winter months. after 3 years and recoating ea. year it still does it. After 150 ft of this job with spindles, it gets old real fast.
After a couple years I talked to someone with some knowledge about stain, he said even though it was used on railing and not walking surface, that version of stain is really intended for use on older weathered surfaces that you want to fill the voids in and bring some life back to, even though at 35-40 bucks a gallon it does not mention it on the can.:batman:
From the research I'm doing looks like a couple of good products here. I don't see a real big difference between the TWP 100 or 1500 other than VOC's. I do some more research and make sure.
This year it was time to redo all our decks and I went with the Olympic Maximum stain and sealer from Lowe's. Supposed to be a 10yr protection on decks and 15yr on fences. A 5-gallon bucket of the stuff is like $170.
Previous stain used was also Olympic but it wasn't their premium stuff and it went several years before really needing to be redone so hopefully we get many years out of this stuff.
Always used CWF on the house to treat the cedar but haven't tried their deck stuff.
On a previous deck at the old house we used the rustoleum deck restore and it turned out fabulous. It actually looked like a composite deck once it was all done.
Previous stain used was also Olympic but it wasn't their premium stuff and it went several years before really needing to be redone so hopefully we get many years out of this stuff.
Always used CWF on the house to treat the cedar but haven't tried their deck stuff.
On a previous deck at the old house we used the rustoleum deck restore and it turned out fabulous. It actually looked like a composite deck once it was all done.
For around 7 years I've been using Benjamin Moore Arborcoat with great results. The reviews for it don't seem to be great so I don't know what people are doing wrong. Staining and painting is easy right? Wrong! I have 30+ years of experience so that might be helping...anyway, I use the Arborcoat as a paint really because it's that good. I use the solid version over treated wood mostly. Cost is around $43 per gallon. For touch up I don't thin but for spraying and rolling I thin at 16 oz per gallon.
I am not sure. I used the 1500 since that is all my state will allow to be sold so that is all they will ship to me.
Whatever you choose I would make sure it is stain. There are some out there that are more paint like so it flakes eventually.
CJadamec
TFP Expert
CJadamec
TFP Expert
My deck is just regular pressure treated 2x6 lumber from home depot. The stain looks better and more even after a year or two and a second application. Its a penetrating oil so the wood keeps absorbing the stain for the first couple of coats. I have an older deck that I washed and coated 3 times now and it looks even better.