I am getting ready to restrain a large deck, 1084 sq feet built of pressure treated wood >35 years old, still in good shape, which was treated with Sherwin-William's armor seal treadplex (WHAT was my contractor thinking?) which is now peeling off. I fear you will recommend sanding to remove what is left, ~60% still attached.

Once clean of the "paint", what do you recommend? Shall I still strip and brighten before applying a stain? What stain do you recommend for this location? I'd like to go with a gray and of course want to get more than one year out of the effort! 
thanks!

-kathy

This is probably a 20yr old deck that is mostly covered. Has not been treated since built as far as i know.  I am not sure if stripping and brightener would be enough before stain. We had to replace some of the wood around the edges, and fill in a spot where a hot tub use to be.  Also new steps at the end of the deck.  I am attaching some pics.  What is your opinion on how to proceed?

Thank you

New here and not sure where this belongs but my giant deck was built with 4x6 cedar posts and after 2 years in the PNW there is significant checking/cracking do to freeze/thaw/heat.  What are the best steps and products to repair and restain?  The original product used was C2 Guard for wood which I have discovered is not good on horizontal surfaces.

Thanks for all the informative articles on your site. We have a six-year old treated pine deck which was professionally stained with semi-transparent water-based S&W SuperDeck five years ago, and then I washed and re-stained the horizontal surfaces (with the same stain) two or three years ago. As you can see from the pictures, it is peeling terribly. It is a high-traffic deck, mostly shady, some light mildew, in central Ohio. It seems clear that we need to go with a solid stain, probably one of your top three - I'd like to keep the redwood color if possible, or something close. Do you think that the old stain needs to be completely stripped and/or sanded, or just the peeling areas? (The vertical surfaces don't look bad.) Then I assume brightener, light washing and then stain? Thanks for any advice you can provide.

A. The previous stain was applied 2 years ago (barn wood only), about when the wood started seeing daylight.                  Before that the wood was inside a barn built in the 1890's.

B. Most of the wood is rough and not sanded, this includes some decay and bug damage. 

C. I assume the old stain needs stripped and I should use a wood cleaner or brightener? I would like to remove the UV damage to bring back some color, such as using the Armstrong Clark.

D. Best application method? Brush, pump sprayer, airless sprayer?

• 1. Indiana

• 2. Full Sun

• 3. Unsure, whichever hardwoods were cut down nearby to build the barn

• 4. North side, which is the rock wall seems to be the only area with mold/mildew

• 5. Previously used Sherwin Williams super deck oil based transparent stain (6511-52639). While it looked great at first it did not provide protection for much longer than 6-12 months and weathering/discoloring started to appear, so now a lot of the wood looks gray/white.

I'm building a new porch addition at a lake house in upstate SC. I'm working with new untreated white pine on the ceiling of the porch and beams. I need to know what is the best exterior stain for unfinished white pine, in a high humidity area and I won't be able to wait 6-12 months for the wood to acclimate.

Brice