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Deck Stain Questions and Answers
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Topic starter
11/08/2018 6:40 pm
I'm new to the deckstainhelp website and have found it to be a real education! I live in rainy western WA and am building a small deck out of kiln dried red cedar. I've looked at the most highly recommended stains on deckstainhelp, but none offer a semi-transparent or semi-solid color that really appeals to my wife and me. The Flood website, however, does offer a number of appealing colors in their semi-transparent and semi-opaque lines.
Does anyone have any positive or negative experience with Flood or other manufacturers that offer colorful stains? My wife and I would enjoy reading your thoughts.
And, a related matter ... so far as I can tell, experts routinely recommend that new cedar be treated on all six sides of the board, which would be easy to do before I screw the boards in place, and lots less easy after doing so. I don't see that advice anywhere on deckstainhelp, and am wondering if anyone has thoughts on the matter.
Many thanks!
12/08/2018 12:12 pm
You should always follow the advice of the stain manufacturer you choose as to if you can prestain or if you can stain all sides of the wood. Most brands will say to not stain all sides and that wood will need to weather before staining.
As for getting colorful stains, we are not fans of custom mixing as that means it is acrylic based. That also means it will be prone to drying on top of the wood, creating what is considered a filming coating. These coatings are more prone to peeling and are harder to maintain compared to penetrating stains.
Topic starter
12/08/2018 2:47 pm
Many thanks for your reply! We were not thinking about getting a custom mix; perhaps my original post was unclear on that. We've been looking at Flood's "Pro Series Semi-Transparent Alkyd/Oil Stain" colors. There are around forty of them. The product contains Penetrol and is described as a penetrating stain, but I'll definitely check those specs again.
