Staining a Wood Deck

LittleBonnie

To stain a wood deck with semi-transparent stain, which company makes the best product, choosing between Porter, Behr and Sherwin Williams?

Faron79

Totally irrelevant question if no prep/cleaning is done.

How old is your deck, wood-condition, wood-species, height off ground, exposure, traffic, etc.
Has it ever been sanded....

Faron

ratherbefishing

We've used the Behr (twice). It seems to look better and last longer if you apply it sparingly with a rag instead of generously with a roller.

CruiseDivaNJ

Our deck is power washed (so much paint came off) and tomorrow DH will rent a sander and sand- then we should be ready to prime???

Prime before solid stain???

any recommendations?

(jsheridan, if you see this, diy forum didnt let me DM you back b/c I didnt have 20 posts. Im wokring on it. And, thanks for all your help!)

Matthewt1970

No. If you prime before stain, the stain won't be able to penetrate into the wood.

__________________
Latex Primer: Good for Drywall, that's about it.
Behr Paint: The plastic buckets are good, that's about it.

CruiseDivaNJ

solid stain penetrates the wood?

Matthewt1970

They are "supposed" to. Oil based stains penetrate much more than a latex stain will.

__________________
Latex Primer: Good for Drywall, that's about it.
Behr Paint: The plastic buckets are good, that's about it.

CruiseDivaNJ

Unfortunately, at this time we're forced into using latex solid stain...

Has anyone used an infrared stripper to strip a wood deck with who knows what stain/primer exactly was used on it prior to us? lol

The weather is not on our side this weekend, and wont be for another 8 days. Murphys law. But now we have some added time to investigate what this infrared stripper is- maybe we can strip the deck?

Faron79

Rent a vibrating-plate sander, & use 60-grit sheets with backer-pads.
"New wood" after you're done!!

Some companies have dropped Solid-Oil decking stains.
Sikkens has a "Hybrid" though....
No...no primer exists for solid color stains, other than one from Cabot for deeper solid colors.

Faron

jsheridan

?? Why confuse the issue? Problem Solver Primer, though it specs for use on pressure treated and under solid stain, decking isn't really a common usage.
Cabot's still makes oil versions of solid, semi solid, semi trans, and the toner products. You just have to find them.

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CruiseDivaNJ

This is what covers the deck now:


We're not 100% certain what was previously used but there appeared to be a layer of something white [at one point, and it is under the initial coat done by the previous owner in '05 when the deck was built] An intelligent guess is it was primed then coated with something [we think it was also acrylic solid], then we had it done in '09- the guy primed it with Im not sure, and it was coated with the pic above.

The sander you described is exactly what DH planned, but we arent optimisitc it will remove everything to reveal the bare wood [where we'd be able to use a transparent or semi transparent on it- which would be our ultimate preference of course].

You've just given me hope which Im off to share with my DH. Maybe the sanding he plans on will remove it all and we'd be good to go with what we really want.

Im just wondering....how will using a palm sander on all the uprights go? Plus, near the hot tub there is a surround that has lattice. Im guessing we could just replace that instead of sanding it.

Oh geez.....any opinions? [I have tons of pics I need to get on my pc to UL here]

Faron, you've been a world of creating enthusiasm and hope that the sander will remove it all. Now, if someone can just come do all the uprights? lol

jsheridan

Oh, to dream! I'm sorry to be the dark cloud hanging over your parade Diva. Aside from the uprights, what of the sides of the deck boards? I'm the anti-Faron! You know, I'm just realizing that we totally hijacked lil bonnie's thread. Sorry Bonnie, can't speak to Porter, so of the three I would choose SW.

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CruiseDivaNJ

LOL

Not a problem. The opinions are so wide and varied.

I just yesterday said to DH that I firmly beleive there are many variables that play a role in....projects, lets say! Climate, direction house faces, method of application, product used, capability of DIY'er, and the biggest is probably the prep work done prior.

Well, we are prepared for a mere interim job this year in hopes of next year to contract it out and have the deck stripped in its entirety, then stained (transparent or semi).

The BEST outcome would be the sander works a miracle! Hey, Im a positive person and stranger things have happened!

jsheridan

Diva, I just believe in softer landings from lofty heights.

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Faron79

Wow!
I have an "anti-Faron"?!?!

I too got mixed-up on the ORIGINAL question from Littlebonnie!!!

I was replying to items Cruisediva asked in post 3, as if THAT was the OP, when CD brough up priming b4 staining.

JS-
* I realize Cabot's Problem-solving primer isn't used very often for DECKS.
It IS one of the VERY few primers available for decking-use under solid-colors though, as CruiseDiva said she was gonna use.
* It's just not necessary most of the time, assuming good prep done.
* I also realize all the series of stains Cabot has. We used to sell them. When we became a bigger Sikkens dealer, we were able to drop Cabot. Sikkens was getting way more popular here. We'll let Lowe's have Cabot...they'll never have Sikkens!

CruiseDivaNJ-
* Since you mentioned this is an interim job, consider doing nothing this year! In a sense, you'd be wasting a lot of time & $$.
* I've sanded my 15y/o Construction-Heart Redwood deck-floor twice. Still looks very good. I'm using Sikkens SRD Redwood #089.
* In 2008, the year b4 DD's HS-graduation, I DID sand ALL my spindles, handrails, had the steps (18 2x6's!!!) planed, 2x10 Redwood skirt-boards, 2x12 Redwood stringers, and 6 4x4 Redwood posts.
* I bought a Porter-Cable square Palm-sander, and went through a lot of 60-grit paper!!!!
* I can post pics if you'd like!
* I never had any solid stain on though...always a S/T.
* You CAN sand through old stain. It just takes a while. You WON'T however, be able to do anything about in-between boards....unless you spend a couple days on your knees with a router and sanding-drums!
* I'd just buy new lumber!!
* Consider clear glass/plexi-panels to replace some spindles!! Saw some damn cool ones at our home show this Feb.! They can etch anything into them. College logos, team stuff, family things, etc.

>>> I KNOWETH WELL of what I speaketh here!!

Faron