To paint or to stain an outdoor deck that is the question...

Jess_718

Hi,


I am looking at doing some preventative maintenance on the outdoor deck at my home. Do you think paint or stain would be better?

Do you have any opinions on brands that are better for stain or paint?

Brushjockey

Do a little search- this one has been talked to death. Here's a good start-

A Topic That's Beaten To Death:NEW Deck Sealer/Prep

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funfool

Will give you my opinion, I prefer oil based sikkens.
There are other brands to use, this is just my opinion

Anytime you have wood outdoors, it will need maintenance. It does not matter if you paint it or stain it, will need regular maintenance to keep it looking good and protected.

If I had paint, it would be much harder to maintain, the weather will get to it, people walking on it will wear the paint, you will need to scrape loose paint to prepare it for new paint, the list goes on of preparation for repainting a deck.

With a high quality oil based stain, and I prefer clear for a more natural look, sikkens will turn a nice colour after a few months.
Butt after a couple years, some areas will be worse and these are the areas that get the most sun and weather, you will be able to see the difference in the wood, will say to self that it is time to apply more oil to it.
Is just a basic cleaning, then re oil.
Just the chore of maintaining a nice looking deck with oil is Sooo much easier then trying to maintain a painted deck.

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sdsester

Some of the nicer porch, floor, and patio paints have come along way but would still not be my choice for an exposed deck surface. Some solid stains say they can be used on horizontal surfaces but again they would not be my choice.

If you can, stick with as close to semi-transparent stain as your sense of design and aesthetics will allow. But plan on decks requiring maintenance no matter every few years. I would not use anything more than a semi-solid stain and only then if the colors of thing were really wacked and it was the only choice.

So buy good stain though and stay away from wax based deck sealers, like Thompsons, at all costs. You will be dissapointed with the performance of box store stains as well.

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Gymschu

If you enjoy getting down on your hands and knees to scrape paint every year, by all means paint your deck.

If you prefer gently pressure washing or gently scrubbing your deck every two or three years, stain it.......

Nailbags

Never paint a deck! it will ruin the wood! stain it with a good oil stain! last longer.

ohman

What if you ALREADY painted the deck few years ago and it's that time again to do the maintenance... as there is a dark color paint on the deck already, is it easy to switch back to stain? What type of prep work is needed? Do I need to scrape all the existing paint (to the bare wood) in order to stain, or just scrape the loose paint?? Thanks!

sdsester

If you painted it already, you could get all the chipping and peeling paint off, scruff the surface and apply a solid stain. As mentioned before, painting or applying a solid stain to a horizontal deck surface is a high maintenance proposition though at best. Not a good idea in my idea.

If you painted it, and want to apply something like a semi-transparent or semi-solid stain, you will have to strip all the paint on it now off. Especially if it was a dark color paint and as mentioned by a prior poster, you have probably caused the wood to be discolored in a manner that only a very dark color of semi-transparent or semi-solid stain would color. And you may have paint down in the grain which will keep the stain from penetrating.

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