Deck Stain

[cyclone_fan_1000]

Any tips on how to apply stain? In the past, I've used brushes, pads attached to broom handles (for floor boards), and rags. Each method to me has its pros and cons. Curious what others have done.

I have done this a few times on our deck, and have a couple of recommendations (#3 addresses your question):

1. I like to mix 50% cedar and 50% clear color for the stain to dilute the color so that it is not so dark. This is a matter of personal preference, but some dark deck stains, when undiluted, can come out looking like paint. Diluting to a 50:50 mix with clear deck sealer helps it look like stained wood, rather than painted wood.

2. Clean the deck with a pressure washer, and maybe some deck wash product. But don't put the pressure washer on too high a setting, or it can damage the wood. After cleaning, wait a half week or week before staining, so that the deck dries out. Also, plan ahead to pick a period of time when it isn't going to rain before you stain it. You want the wood to be dry.

3. Use a pump sprayer to spray the (diluted) stain onto the deck, and then bursh it in. But if you do this, you'll need to mask off a few feet of the house siding and patio door area near the deck, and the grass underneath so that you don't stain them while spraying. Just use plastic drop cloths or painter's plastic mask (comes in a roll) for this.The pump sprayer I'm referring to is something like one of these, available from most any HW store (maybe in the garden section for spraying insecticides or weed spray):

 

[JY07]

Since I originally posted this, this is what we ended up doing:

For stain we went with Sherwin Williams semi-transparent super deck which I think worked out pretty well. I wanted to get the waterborne version, but chickened out and ended up doing the oil base version instead. If you go with SW, don't buy it at full price: between now and then they've had two discount weekends (one at 40% and one at 30%), so they must do them frequently.

I used Defy brand for cleaning (cleaner + brightener), and I wish I had spent more time on this step. We ended up biting off a lot more than we could chew during cleaning (power-washing it all off was taking longer than expected), and so in a lot of places the boards dried out before we could apply the brightener, and there's some furring. Between the furring and the gray wood gunk that goes everywhere it was a hot mess trying to get everything clean/keep it that way over the course of the entire deck.

I did go back and sand the floor boards a bit that were furred, but didn't bother with the rails and stained over them: I'm hoping over time the fuzzy stuff just falls off; we'll see

 

[NATEizKING]

Best way to remove old stain? We are changing the color and power washer won't cut it for the railings.

 

[Cycsk]

We are getting ready to stain our new deck. We did research on products and found a lot of websites that said bad things about most brands, but good things about Armstrong and TWP. When I looked farther into it, I learned that many of the "deck stain review" sites (e.g. deckstainhelp.com) are managed by the company that sells Armstrong and TWP. It seems that the products aren't bad, just that you can't trust most of the "review sites." We focused on contractor forums and talking to pros.

Consumer Reports rates the big box store products and the best semi/oil that they tested was Behr's.

We also discovered Ready Seal which seems legit, but none of the pros that bid on our job said they had ever heard of it. I think it is more of a regional product from Texas. We only found one place in Iowa that sells it.

We went with our pro's recommendation: Sherwin-Williams semi/oil. Should be done next week. We got it at 30% off last weekend, so it wasn't nearly as expensive as we thought it would be.

 

[AmesHawk]

I've used multiple brands and honestly, there isn't much difference between a $40 can of Cabot, $30 Behr, or $25 Kilz/Flood. I think most people expect the longevity of deck stains to far surpass what they are capable of.

My advice is to find a color/transparency you like, clean the hell out of the deck, paint, and expect to repeat every couple of years.

 

[NATEizKING]

Menards had Thompson on their Crazy Day sale, $2 off to be $16.47 plus a $7 mail in rebate per gallon. That's what the people we bought the house from used - they left us a can of every paint and stain so we knew the colors and brands to match. Lasted 2.5 years (we should have done it last year probably, so it's been 3.5 years) so good enough for me.

 

[Farnsworth]

I am switching to composite decking after 15 years of Cedar.

We are thinking about adding a deck next year and I think this might just be the way to go. We are lazy when it comes to things like staining every few years so I don't trust myself to do the job right.

 

[BoxsterCy]

We are getting ready to stain our new deck. We did research on products and found a lot of websites that said bad things about most brands, but good things about Armstrong and TWP. When I looked farther into it, I learned that many of the "deck stain review" sites (e.g. deckstainhelp.com) are managed by the company that sells Armstrong and TWP. It seems that the products aren't bad, just that you can't trust most of the "review sites." We focused on contractor forums and talking to pros.

Consumer Reports rates the big box store products and the best semi/oil that they tested was Behr's.

We also discovered Ready Seal which seems legit, but none of the pros that bid on our job said they had ever heard of it. I think it is more of a regional product from Texas. We only found one place in Iowa that sells it.

We went with our pro's recommendation: Sherwin-Williams semi/oil. Should be done next week. We got it at 30% off last weekend, so it wasn't nearly as expensive as we thought it would be.

Hitting on one of my frustrations in looking for objective reviews. Lots of covertly sponsored reviews that are essentially fake on the web. Add in little armies of trolls placing pissy comments or glorious comments on store site or Amazon reviews. It's a pain in the ass to sift through.

Same thing for self published books on Amazon. Oh, look, a new book with hundreds of 5 star reviews!

 

[Cycsk]

Hitting on one of my frustrations in looking for objective reviews. Lots of covertly sponsored reviews that are essentially fake on the web. Add in little armies of trolls placing pissy comments or glorious comments on store site or Amazon reviews. It's a pain in the ass to sift through.

Same thing for self published books on Amazon. Oh, look, a new book with hundreds of 5 star reviews!

Same thing for hotels where feuding families leave reviews trashing the other hotels in town. I only read the verified reviews on the hotel's own website.

As for the deck stain review sites, they are pretty well done and have some good advice. However, for some reason, the fake review sites are the only ones that I found which say to wait a year to stain your deck. The combination of this piece of bad advice and the recurrence of recommendations for Armstrong and TWP products is what made me wonder if the sites were in collusion. Every pro we talked to and everyone on the contractor sites says to stain it right away.

 

[SCyclone]

A couple things I might add - most deck wash products are water with a weak amount of chlorine bleach added. Save yourself a bunch of money and make it yourself.

Any product with "UV" in the title is generally formulated to block UV rays, which are what fade the color out. It won't last forever - nothing does - but it does help with longevity.

These days, companies are reformulating and remanufacturing product to sell to the big boxes, and most of it is crap. Benjamin Moore is good, I have always used Sherwin-Williams and am almost always satisfied. Pratt & Lambert is another good brand, but tough to find. Companies like Pittsburgh Paint, Dutch Boy, et al have whored themselves out to the big boxes and aren't worth your time or trouble.

 

[SCyclone]

Same thing for hotels where feuding families leave reviews trashing the other hotels in town. I only read the verified reviews on the hotel's own website.

As for the deck stain review sites, they are pretty well done and have some good advice. However, for some reason, the fake review sites are the only ones that I found which say to wait a year to stain your deck. The combination of this piece of bad advice and the recurrence of recommendations for Armstrong and TWP products is what made me wonder if the sites were in collusion. Every pro we talked to and everyone on the contractor sites says to stain it right away.

The only time this might be applicable is if you have used pressure-treated lumber, and it is still wet from the treatment. You won't get good penetration then.