Hey guys. Well, pool is open for the year and I prob shouldn’t say this but I feel like after a couple of seasons under my belt and following the good advice here I have the water under control (more or less). Different kind of post this year: I stained the deck a few years ago and now it looks like s^*t. I started to sand it off with an orbital sander (slow going). Once sanded I’ll give it a pressure wash. But I don’t want to do this every few years. What do you guys do with pressure treated decks? Thinking maybe just not restaining and maybe just get some sort of clear sealer. Then maybe light sand and pressure wash every couple years? Any thought? Recommendations? This is a huge pain and time consumer of a project and I should be chilling by the pool so I’d like to avoid this in the future. Thanks.
Recommendations for deck staining and maintenance.
- Thread starter Toad_stools
- Start date
Hey guys. Well, pool is open for the year and I prob shouldn’t say this but I feel like after a couple of seasons under my belt and following the good advice here I have the water under control (more or less). Different kind of post this year: I stained the deck a few years ago and now it looks like s^*t. I started to sand it off with an orbital sander (slow going). Once sanded I’ll give it a pressure wash. But I don’t want to do this every few years. What do you guys do with pressure treated decks? Thinking maybe just not restaining and maybe just get some sort of clear sealer. Then maybe light sand and pressure wash every couple years? Any thought? Recommendations? This is a huge pain and time consumer of a project and I should be chilling by the pool so I’d like to avoid this in the future. Thanks.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 65,181
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
That is the price of using real wood.
A clear sealer will wear off and look ratty after a few years.
Whatever you put on will eventually need to be stripped off and reapplied.
I would do a light sand over what you have now and then apply a new coat of stain. It does not need to look as perfect as indoor hardwood stained floors.
A clear sealer will wear off and look ratty after a few years.
Whatever you put on will eventually need to be stripped off and reapplied.
I would do a light sand over what you have now and then apply a new coat of stain. It does not need to look as perfect as indoor hardwood stained floors.
Yea it’s a bit of a pain. I agree it would be easiest to stain over what is there now but we hate this semi transparent brownish stain and want it gone. That’s gunna take some work I think. I feel like this is going to be the summer of sanding. Maybe once it’s sanded off just do nothing but a light sanding and pressure wash each year I don’t know.
Ours is just raw wood. Just replace the wood every 10 years, or try the Trex type of plastic wood. Those tend to need more support beams than traditional lumber though.
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Thanks I feel like this is what I wanted to hear. I think it’s prob easiest. Half the deck is about 10 years older then some of the newer stuff directly around the pool. When it was built we had it integrated into the existing part closer to the house. I have seen some of the trex stuff and it looks decent. Maybe I’ll replace half of the deck with that in a couple years then do the rest down the road.
Ours used to be painted and all of the paint has worn off. So it’s been sun beaten for a while and now needs to be replaced.
Ok thanks. I don’t mind having to do a light sanding and pressure wash every year or two but I can’t get my head around staining this thing once every three years.
VinnyinNJ
Bronze Supporter
- Jul 20, 2022
- 1,052
- Pool Size
- 13500
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Turbo Cell (T-CELL-5)
I have a Timbertech deck, if you're going to replace some - do the whole thing. My deck boards are no longer made and my color is limited to one type of board I think. Timbertech required 12" on center supports vs 16". Both Trex and Timbertech (don't know if any other brands are out there) are low maintenance not no maintenance. They may stain fairly easy so if you drop a burger on it the stain will live on and at least the Timbertech gets hot to the touch... great for melting snow.
I love the material but go in with open eyes vs marketing hype.
- May 23, 2015
- 25,703
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
It may not be practical but I’ve been using finishing oils on all my little wood projects. My latest fascination is Tung oil. Stuff is amazing once it cures and hardens. I redid a bunch of wooden handled utensils with it. After treating the handles with Tung oil, they can run through the dishwasher and they remain water resistant and have not changed color at all. Untreated handles will be destroyed in no time (grey, dried out wood that splits).
Never thought of doing an entire deck but it’s super simple to apply - just rag it on and let it dry. You do need to get down to fresh wood though so with all your staining it may not be possible.
I’m about to embark on a carpet ball table with my youngest son and my plan is to seal all the lumber we cut with Tung oil.
Never thought of doing an entire deck but it’s super simple to apply - just rag it on and let it dry. You do need to get down to fresh wood though so with all your staining it may not be possible.
I’m about to embark on a carpet ball table with my youngest son and my plan is to seal all the lumber we cut with Tung oil.
- May 23, 2015
- 25,703
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
It depends a lot on the geographic location and exposure etc as well as the wood type. In Houston for a pine wood deck we expect to have to restain it every 2-3 years and to get 10 year life out of it. IPE though you can expect longer life but have to re oil it every 4-5 years. Also solid and semi transparent lasts a lot longer than transparent (which we would expect to have to treat alsmot annually).
Horizontal surfaces also deteriorate faster than vertical so decks don’t last as much as fences all else considered.
A reputable paint store in your area (eg Sherwin or Benjamin Moore) would be able to give advice directly related to your climate and sun exposure.
PS - The easiest thing to do is to use the same color over and over. If you pick a new color it’s not impossible but takes a lot of work to make it look good especially if you are going dark to light color
Horizontal surfaces also deteriorate faster than vertical so decks don’t last as much as fences all else considered.
A reputable paint store in your area (eg Sherwin or Benjamin Moore) would be able to give advice directly related to your climate and sun exposure.
PS - The easiest thing to do is to use the same color over and over. If you pick a new color it’s not impossible but takes a lot of work to make it look good especially if you are going dark to light color
Yea I kinda got a weird situation. Part of the deck closer to the house out to about 12 feet is older. In fact that portion is now 12 years old pressure treated spruce. Beyond 12 feet up to the pool and then the areas at the ends of the pool were built when the pool was put in (August of 2019). The stain definitely doesn’t adhere as well to the older part of the deck due to the age of the wood. I’ve started to sand it off and it looks decent, and I think I’ll end up sanding the whole thing over the next couple of months. From there, just not sure but def won’t be doing a darker stain like we did initially. The goal is less maintenance. Replacing the whole thing for engineered Trex stuff is not in the budget either. Wood and trex prices here are still relatively high. Appreciate the ideas though. The oil idea is interesting and if it doesn’t come off could be an option. Might try a small area to see. But this year might just sand it all down and do nothing and see how it looks next spring.
Just realized you’re in Canada - that means you have to deal with ice and snow as well as sun. Don’t leave it unprotected l/sanded over the winter - it needs to be sealed/protected somehow for snow and ice sitting on it.
Just my 2 cents
Just my 2 cents
- May 23, 2015
- 25,703
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Not that I’m some kind of (Tung) nut, but the oil is pretty permanent. It’s a “drying” oil, similar to linseed oil, whereby the oil reacts with oxygen in the air and the natural porosity of the wood to created a hardened layer that is “inside” the wood and not just sitting on top (“penetrating” oil is the keyword). It’s water resistant once it dries. This is a picture of what it looks like on a utensil handle after it’s saturated and ragged off-
Compared to the original wood -
So it does deepen the color a bit. It turns a honey brown fully dried. It’s also not glossy after it dries. Some people will oil wood, allow it several weeks to fully cure and then put a urethane sealer over it to give a glassy finish. But that’s usually on wood household items and furniture. On a deck, the oiled wood would be sufficient.
I think the biggest downside would be the manual labor of applying it and then ragging it off and then the long cure time (days to week). During the setup time, the surface will leave an oily residue when you touch it.
It’s pretty amazing stuff but it’s probably a boat-load of work for a large deck.
- Jul 4, 2012
- 801
- Pool Size
- 21000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-60 Plus
I went through the same existential deck questions with myself year after year then got to where you might be getting. Here's what I did 2 years ago and it still looks about the same, VERY happy with the results.
www.troublefreepool.com
Trying to bring my deck back to life with Behr Deck Over
Hi All, When we bought our house (June 2012) the wooden deck around the pool was structurally sound, but very weathered and grey. I have re-stained it several times, but without doing the true necessary prep so it would start peeling pretty quickly. Whatever.... a power wash and applying...
www.troublefreepool.com
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@Pauls234 thanks for the reply. This is helpful and very timely. I had considered trying the stripper actually but for some reason I decided in my mind that it wouldn’t work. I think I may just give it a go, and then sand whatever is left over. As far as what to do with new staining afterwards, I feel like I am not quite there yet! Lol. I am a bit worried if I go with a solid stain it’s going to start coming off eventually and given the size of the deck I’m going to be in the same situation a few years from now. It’s quite a lot of deck and so the work to restain it is pretty significant. But I do think I’ll try the stripper so thanks for the suggestion. Your deck turned out great by the way.
So I started to research a bit more into this whole staining business and I noticed that Behr (and prob most other brands that do stains) also make what they call a wood penetrating oil. You can get it tinted as well. So I think maybe you are on to something with the wood oils. Anyway, they are made for decks, and I guess they do have some added benefit over stains in that they provide a bit more weatherproofing and potentially less peeling. From what I’ve read in reviews the downside is they are more difficult to apply, but apparently if you use a pad and not a brush or roller it is much easier. So I think I’m going to give this a go. It’ll likely take a month or so because I’m going to first get a chemical stripper to take most of the existing stain off, then power wash it, then sand it, then do the oil. Will report back with pics. Gunna kill my back for sure so hope it’s worth it. Appreciate the advice here.
- May 23, 2015
- 25,703
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Maybe see if you can rent an orbital floor sander. That way you can save your back a bit.
I’ve been using a hand held orbital sander when I have a spare hour. Doing a bit at a time. The results are pretty clean so far actually. I don’t think I’ll need to use a stripper. It’s slow going, but not to bad, especially on the part of the deck that is only a few years old.kind of a crappy pic I took out the window and had to zoom it in a bit.
