[Sticky] Deck Staining Help

I have tried semi-solid on a portion of my deck and was not pleased with the resulting look, so am going to go with a solid. But I cannot find an oil-based product as recommended. This site recommends Flood and Cabot, but are these products still readily available anywhere? I see oil-based solids listed among their product selection on their respective websites, but no stores either in person or even online appear to carry them. A few online sites carry the oil-based Cabot, but only the base and not the tint (?) So I was wondering if anyone has had any luck finding and buying these or any other oil-based solid stains?

1. IL
2. Partial Shade
3. Pressure treated wood - not sure what kind.
4. None
5. Used Behr stain which was terrible.

I am in the process of redoing my deck. I had Behr stain on from a few years ago and most of it has chipped off. I am sanding the entire deck so I can remove all of the Behr that is left. I am planning on using a cleaner and lightly pressure washing after and using a deck brightner before I stain.

I am going back and forth on the type of stain to use. I order some TWP samples based on the good reviews on this site. However, I may be looking for something in a solid stain that has more color options. We are looking to use a couple of different colors and I don't think I want to use paint. However, the paint would only be used for the spindles and possibly some other small areas.

What would be the best solid stain that is available? Also, what is your opinion on painting portions of a deck while staining the majority of it?

I am spending on lot of time prepping the deck so I can make sure that it lasts after staining.

I would really appreciate any advice or feedback you could provide.

Thanks!

Shawn

Quote from crabbie on August 6, 16:03
I have tried semi-solid on a portion of my deck and was not pleased with the resulting look, so am going to go with a solid. But I cannot find an oil-based product as recommended. This site recommends Flood and Cabot, but are these products still readily available anywhere? I see oil-based solids listed among their product selection on their respective websites, but no stores either in person or even online appear to carry them. A few online sites carry the oil-based Cabot, but only the base and not the tint (?) So I was wondering if anyone has had any luck finding and buying these or any other oil-based solid stains?

Depends on what state you live in. Best to call them directly and they can assist you with this.

Quote from sjenkins@burtonpartners.com on August 6, 17:05
1. IL
2. Partial Shade
3. Pressure treated wood - not sure what kind.
4. None
5. Used Behr stain which was terrible.

I am in the process of redoing my deck. I had Behr stain on from a few years ago and most of it has chipped off. I am sanding the entire deck so I can remove all of the Behr that is left. I am planning on using a cleaner and lightly pressure washing after and using a deck brightner before I stain.

I am going back and forth on the type of stain to use. I order some TWP samples based on the good reviews on this site. However, I may be looking for something in a solid stain that has more color options. We are looking to use a couple of different colors and I don't think I want to use paint. However, the paint would only be used for the spindles and possibly some other small areas.

What would be the best solid stain that is available? Also, what is your opinion on painting portions of a deck while staining the majority of it?

I am spending on lot of time prepping the deck so I can make sure that it lasts after staining.

I would really appreciate any advice or feedback you could provide.

Thanks!

Shawn

Read this article and try a two toned deck. Solid stain for verticals and semi-trans for the horizontals:

http://www.deckstainhelp.com/advantages-to-having-a-two-toned-deck/

We just finished sanding off a failed solid color stain off our 3 year old deck and plan to use one of the semi-transparent products recommended here. When considering the recommended weathering time, is our deck considered "new wood" or is it considered sufficiently weathered given the recent sanding? Do we need to use a brightening product as part of the prep process?

<ul>1. State you live in - Washington, north of Seattle
<ul>2. Full Shade, Partial Shade, or Full Sun - Partial Sun
<ul>3. Type of Wood - Pine
<ul>4. Mold or Mildew Issues - None
<ul>5. Main Issues with Previous Stains - extreme adherence to peeling

Your advice is very much appreciated as is this website! Thank you.

Best to clean and brighten for prep after heavy sanding. Try the TWP 100 Series as the stain.

I am a novice in this area and really appreciate all the guidance & help this site as well as experts on this site provides.

1) Indiana
2) Full Sun
3) Pressure Treated from big-box store
4) None that i know of
5) None (Previously used Ready Seal oil based stain)

I am planning to pressure wash. Do i need to strip and brighten before re-staining?

Also, it is too late to stain in Indiana?

Thank you so much for your help!

Same answers as on other post for prepping. No it is far from late to stain in Indiana.

We live in Kansas City area, stained our 1 yr old pressure treated pine last night with TWP 120 pecan after using RAD kit 3 days prior with finally dry weather. This morning after it has dried, it looks great but has 2 different shades although each can has the same label. A new can was opened at the point where it is lighter. All cans were shaken at the store 3 days ago. We used 2 coats on all. Is there anything we can do now? The stain is dry but the deck is dewey this morning still.

Not much you can do now. Leave alone until next Spring. Lightly was to remove dirt and apply one light coat to all the wood with the same can. It will even out then.

Thank you very much. Still have the steps to do and skirt. Should we use that same can for steps and skirt or reserve that can for this lighter area of the deck next spring?
Also, dewey this morning. Do we need to wait until later in day to dry out but it will be hot today.

Let dry out.

We stopped our refinishing prep work for our deck and stairway once we found your web site, and wish to have your recommendation for products and where to go from this point.

Here are the facts:
• North-facing deck (mostly shaded) and covered screen room built 1993; we believe pressure-treated yellow pine was used
• We live 1 hour north of Cincinnati, Ohio
• Thompson’s Water Seal used 1993 and 1994; none since.
• 1998: Olympic Deck Stain semi-transparent used (Pearl Gray); this is a penetrating linseed oil product
• 2000: Kurfees semi-transparent stain used; no further info
• 2004: Kurfees Semi-Transparent Wood Stain & Sealer (mostly peeled off)
• Mildew/algae on current deck has been removed

Prep work so far:
• Tried a chlorine-based cleaner but it was not effective
• Applied Simple Green with a hand sprayer, then pressure washed. There is very little stain color left after power washing, as expected given the length of time.
• Once we found out about TWP products, we stopped work. Next steps planned were to strip the remaining stain, wood brightener, and apply new stain

Questions:
• What TWP product(s) should we use?
• What are the steps we need to follow?
• Do we need to strip the vertical surfaces? They appear to us to not need stripped.
• What future maintenance is recommended?

You can only use the TWP 1500 in Ohio. It does not come in a gray though. Maybe look at Armstrong Clark in Driftwood gray?

You do need to strip, pressure wash and brighten. I am not sure though you will get all of the built up layers of stain off completely, especially in the porch area and on the railings. Best to use the RAD products for the stripping.

You cannot apply any semi-transparent stain over the railings without stripping all the current stains off first. If you cannot get it all off the railings then you may want to consider removing all from the floor then going with a two toned deck:

http://www.deckstainhelp.com/advantages-to-having-a-two-toned-deck/

Help - I hired the local professional painters to stain my large deck. They have put on one coat of the Benjamin Moore Arborcoat waterborne exterior stain. Semitransparent. Yellow Tint Base N638 12. There is only one coat on as of now, and the agreement was for two coats. They said nothing about a transparent coat on top.

location: Northern Virginia. hot humid summers, cold and some snow in winter.

partial sun, but it is fully exposed for some hours 10-2pm in summer.
deck built in 1997 with PRESSURE TREATED PINE, and has held up well.

last stained 4 years ago with oil based stain.

some black mildew appearing on horizontal surface, but not a lot. after four years, the earlier oil based stain is largely gone on the horizontal surfaces.

deck was prepped by power washing

I believed the contractors when they said the BM Arborcoat was good. But the color is a bit off, and now I have read the reviews about this product. I should have done the research, and stuck to oil based stain.

Contractors are not showing up today to apply second coat because of expected rain. What are my options? How can I fix this? I don't want a bad product that will be peeling in a year. I feel terrible I did not look into this in advance.
Thanks so much.