Deck seal and/or stain

It's about that time for me to clean my wood deck, stain, and seal it up for the summer. What do you guys use here that you recommend for a stain or clear seal? Thompson's seal comes up quite a bit but i've never used it.

Any suggestions?

 

For me it depends on condition of the deck. If its really weathered I have used solid deck stain, if it just needed touched up from new Id use the Thompsons water seal.

 

yeah the stain has faded a little bit but personally i think i can just seal it for this year and get away with not staining it until next time around.

 

I recommend getting composite materials.

 

I agree with you 100%. Unfortunately, when we bought the house---the deck came this way---in the future when the wood starts to fall apart--but for now the 10 year old wood deck still looks really good so I just plan to maintain it as long as I can!

 

you can also strip and reseal...thats more work. But just make sure you clean and let it dry before putting on another coat of waterseal obviously. Eventually you have to strip all that waterseal stuff off to put solid stain on.

 

Actually I am in the same boat. My wife wants composite, I am not a carpenter and I don't want to put the money into it right now. I did find some stuff from olympic it really cleaned the deck and left a nice kind of golden brown color on it. I had some old thompsons water seal and sealed it and it looks nice now.

 

I'm in the same boat. I cleaned ours about two weeks ago and I'm staining and painting this Thursday and Friday. I say painting also because the previous owners painted the rails.

 

Welcome to spring time homeownership!

 

I would pressure wash and seal the wood, Thompson's works for me. I'm not a fan of composite, I have used it per customer request but the price is outrageous (IMO) and it gets hot in the summer under sunlight to the point of protecting your feet. It is not maintenance free as some believe. In the manufacturers specs it calls for pressure washing every other year. You do that with a wood deck it will last a long time.

 

Thanks for all the input. Based on lots of research yesterday---I've decided to go with this product.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/READY-SE...-Exterior-Wood-Stain-and-Sealer-512/204372098

The previous stain used on the deck was also an oil based about 2 years ago and its starting to wear away so I scrubbed the deck yesterday with good ol fashioned dish soap, water, and a brush. I'm going to let it dry for a few days then apply this product. Do you guys think I need to apply a strip coat to the stain or has 2 years been enough to wear it down? I'm planning to just do a test coat in a few days to see how it takes and then do the rest.

 

While there is a couple of knowledgeable people here, I just bought a house and the back deck is painted and it is peeling in some places. What is the best way to go about next? pressure wash and repaint? I dont think the wood is in good enough condition to stain and I am fine with it being the same color.

 

Schaeffer's, it's the Best..

https://youtu.be/t3A68fJS57Q

 

Being that we don't have a Home Depot around, I was going to ask which product I should use. My choices are Olympic stain at Lowes, Benjamin Moore Arborcoat at local paint store, Cabot at Lowes or local paint store. Anyone experienced with either of these brands? The first time my wife and I stained the deck a few years ago we went withe the Olympic semi transparent, but this time we are going to go with a solid stain.

 

I used Olympic Maximum and it looks as good today as it did 3 years ago. Will definitely use it again.

 

I know it sounds crazy, but I've been using a mixture of boiled linseed oil, mineral spirits, and a little used motor oil for 16 years on my deck.

I spray it down with bleach and water first.

Then all I do is mix my concoction in a garden sprayer and have at it. I do this every other year and the deck still looks great (and it was about 7 years old when I bought the house).

 

Curious how this looks! Have pics?

 

How about Sherwin Williams Wood Scape, I used this on my new workshop/shed. Benjamin Moore was almost 4x the price.

 

Will definitely price this. Thanks

 

Personally I prefer to go to a paint store for paint/stain. I stay away from the large stores HD and Lowes. Just my preference.
I needed 13 gallons of stain, Sherwin Williams was @ 700.00; Benjamine Moore was 2100.00
3x the price