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Deck Stain Questions and Answers
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Topic starter
06/09/2020 7:47 pm
I live in the Denver, CO area and have about 1800SF of new cedar to stain for siding and soffits on my home. The soffits will be STK (consistently light and some red hues) and the siding will be clear cedar (many different tones, but not reddish in color)
About 50% of the clear cedar will be south facing with direct sun, the rest partial sun or north facing. The soffits, of course, won't have any sun. Colorado sun is intense, and it destroys anything outside.
This site has been really awesome!! Tons of great test-driven information. I was super excited to find the Defy stain here, with it's good penetration and zinc UV protection for the clear stain. I found a distributor and did some samples on the wood. Ideally we would go clear, or possibly a light semi-transparent light brown stain on the siding, and 1-2 shades darker on the soffits.
Unfortunately, the Defy colors didn't work well on the soffit color for a good combination. So, now I'm left to find something else, and the guy who sold me the cedar (they are the largest seller locally) said they recommend either ProLuxe/Sikkens SRD or Sherwin Williams SuperDeck in an oil base. Colorado changed its laws in May of this year for low-VOC, only. I really would like to go water based for environmental, health, etc reasons. Part of it is simplifying the future application of the stain, and risks associated with any spraying outdoors.
There are only reviews here for the SuperDeck oil based (likely not the lower VOC one), and they are definitely not good. ProLuxe oil also gets pretty poor reviews here.
Has anyone had experience with any of the following products:
- PPG Proluxe 500 series water based stain
- Sherwin Williams Super Deck, Water Based
What is important is both color selection and a protective finish, while reaping some of the color and grain benefits of the nice wood.
Also, are there any clear stains, other than Defy, that UV protect well against graying for 2-4 years?
Any advice or recommendations for my situation would be greatly welcomed!
Topic starter
07/09/2020 4:36 pm
Ok, thanks - so water based is out. I did find one local retailer of the Armstrong Clark and a going to see if any of their 'stock' colors will work.
Most likely I will have to go to custom color with a Sikkens/Proluxe Low VOC Oil or Sherwin SuperDeck Low VOC Oil to meet my color needs. Do you have any particular thoughts between these two for my climate and usage? Is there anyone else doing custom color I should consider?
Many thanks for your great site and advise!
Topic starter
07/09/2020 8:31 pm
I'm sorry - I might not have been clear in my question. I was asking about the modified oil based formulations of Super Deck and Sikkens, not the water based versions. They have a formulation that is lower VOC for states like Colorado, but it is not the water based version I am referring to. Does that clarify?
This post was modified 5 years ago 2 times by ross
