Wood deck reconditioning options

In My Humble Opinion
1

I need some opinions from folks that have good or bad experiences with products designed for wooden decks.

My deck is 10 years old. The wood is for the most part holding up well, although there are a few boards that will need to be replaced. Once I do that, I want to water seal it to keep as much water as possible from getting into the wood and then breaking it apart over time as water gets in, freezes and pushes the wood apart, and begins the rot process. (Sort of like wooden potholes!)

I have used a water seal/stain in the past, and although it worked pretty well, I was thinking of using one of those deck “paints” that cover your deck in a coating of something that keeps splinters from popping up, and lets people walk on the deck with bare feet with little trouble.

My neighbor did this last year, and although it looked fine last year, it has peeled up in spots, and needs to be redone. I suspect this was due to their original prep work, but not sure. I believe they used an Olympic product.

Any thoughts on what I should use? If you have had a good experience or bad experience, let me know what you used, how hard it was to apply, if you would buy and use it again, etc. Basically, anything you can tell me about it.

I don’t need to be told to replace the deck with pavers, or a faux wood product (both products I love, btw) or anything like that. Ultimately, we will either replace the deck completely if we stay in the house, but if we move in the next couple of years as we are currently planning, I’d like to just fix it properly with some new 2x6 planks and a good stain/sealant solution.

(FTR, I have already power washed the deck, and will be spot sanding it where it needs a bit of work. And I will be replacing any nails that have worked themselves loose over time. I could use a wood filler to patch a few of the rot areas, but I tried it and I think the areas are too large and figure it would be more cost effective and in the long term a better fix to replace the boards completely.)

Thanks for your time.

2

I used Deck Over to paint my nieces’ swingset at my parents’ house. We bought them a 10-year-old wooden set which was rotted in some places. I took it apart and power washed it, let it dry and then went with Deck Over. The super rotted parts we did replace.

It’s been 3 years now. Looks great still - HOWEVER, very little of it gets walked on and very little is exposed to sun. It’s in the shade. And very little has sitting snow. There’s a platform that gets walked on but still not much. 90% of the thing is just framing, you know? So I am always hesitant to say “I used it and it’s great” to anyone doing high-traffic because I am not familiar with how it does in high traffic.

But it does look great and only small spots have had to be re-painted. And I think they were spots I missed when I first painted. It wasn’t too crazy hard to paint - I used a rather large brush and slopped the stuff on like mud. I think it took a lot of cans to finish one swing set but I also didn’t think it needed more than 1 coat like can said. It definitely makes a lovely protective skin around your wood.

I have a painter friend stain my deck every 3 years. He’s got a deck now, as he just bought a house, and he needs to refinish it. We talked about Deck Over and he said Sherwin Williams (where he goes to buy paint) was into it for a while but now is into something else. So if you don’t get a really good recommendation here I would find your nearest Sherwin Williams store (where all the pros go to buy paint) and ask them what they like for decks these days.

3

I am going through this right now, too. A good resource that I’ve found is : http://www.deckstainhelp.com/

I was going to use one of those coating products, but most all the reviews I’ve read have turned me away from them (in fact, I’m going to buy a semi-solid stain today). It seems they look great for a year or two, then start to bubble-up and flake-off after that. Part of the prob seems to be the heat/cold and freezing/thaw cycles underneath an impermeable barrier.

Here is one comprehensive review but you can find many. I read a lot at the lowes and Home Depot websites, too.

4

I can’t find the name right now, but I got it at benjamin moore and I want to say is was a Norwegian/scandanavian name. It was not a sealer but it was a high quality stain. We put on a grayish white stain that looked awesome. We bought the house with the deck and it was ~10 years old and had never been treated. We were looking at replacing all of the deck boards when a negihbor recommended it. I spent many hours with a scrub brush and dilute bleach water scrubbing the debris off of the boards as well as screwing in and nailing any now exposed screws and nails. We put a coat on and the deck looked amazing! Put another coat on a month later just to try and protect as much as possible. For the next 5 years, all I had to do in the spring was hose off the dirt and leaves (never powerwashed), let it dry for an hour and then do another application of the stain. No more prep work and it was a 16 x 30’ deck with a railing and it took ~1 hour to coat everything.

The deck was in better shape when we left the house than when we purchased. I think the key is to do it every year- wood is amazingly resilient if you just get the moss and mold off.

This is all to say that shunpiker is spot on with stain vs coating/sealants.

5

Paint will give the best results on old decking that has been properly prepared. That’s because it leaves a smooth finish that hides the original wood. If you intend to replace the boards at some point I think paint is a good idea, but I would sand rough spots, bleach the wood and then start with an exterior primer to seal the wood. I’ve seen a bunch of decks over the years painted with ordinary exterior house paint and they did fine. If there is non-structural rot you can use polyester wood repair stuff to seal it up and strengthen it. If it’s structurally damaged you’ll need to replace the wood of course.

Most of the stains and sealants you’ll find at the big box store are crap. If you really want to protect bare wood long term you need to use real oil. It will cost more the first time, but properly applied it will give you more protection for less money in the long run.

6

Can anyone tell me about the use of bleach on wood?

I assume you use normal bleach, and need to dilute it with water, but anyone know the proper ratio?

I would like to prepare the deck properly, and since the power washing is done, I can use a stiff scrub brush with the bleach solution before sanding any spots needed and putting the final product on.

I am glad I asked about this… I was leaning toward the coating deck product, but I don’t want something I need to re-do in a year or two.

And I do have the freeze/thaw problem also, so I need to find something that will provide a good barrier to the elements.

I can’t believe August is almost half over.

7

You can use regular chlorine laundry bleach, I’m not sure of the proper ratio but I’ve done it with about 1 quart Chlorox to about 2 gallons of water. But that was just for cleaning exterior siding. If you’re going to use stain and still see the wood you should use wood bleach. The simplest type is oxalic acid and will come in dry form with instructions for mixing. You have to be careful, oxalic acid can seriously damage your eyes. Staining after bleaching should make the grain show very well.

8

When I moved into my house, the deck had not been stained or taken care of in any way for many, many years. At least 10 is my guess. It’s a pretty big deck - 5 gallons of stain/sealant leaves just a little extra each time.

I spent three weeks sanding it down to get rid of a layer of papery rotten wood on the surface, and that also got rid of big spinters and cracks. After sanding, I did a quick pressure wash (using an attachment on my regular hose). I didn’t bother with all the cleaners, given the amount of sanding I did that first time.

That process was well worth it - I feel like I set the clock back at least 5 years on the deck.

For stain/sealer, I use Flood (transparent cedar tint). 2 years is the warranty; I let it go 3 years usually. I’m in western Washington state, which means frequent freezes in the winter, little snow, but almost constant moisture virtually year-round. I have a mix of mostly sun to mostly shade.

Since my big restoration 10 years ago, I just do a pressure wash and then apply a new coat of the sealer. I have not bothered with bleach or soap - just water. I have not needed to sand or replace any boards in the 10 years I’ve owned it (which makes it at least 20 years old total), though I think I will replace the stairs this year just to be safe.

Anyway… I don’t have the experience the OP is looking for with the deck over type products, but I would avoid them. I want to see wood, not paint, and my experience with sanding down the deck shows that you can eliminate splinters very effectively that way. Put some time into replacing rotten boards, sanding down splinters and then you should have a nice result at the end without having to cover up the whole thing.

9

I looked into the deck-over type products earlier this year and read enough bad reviews to seriously question using one. Then heard from a friend who used one with poor results. Then I rented a cabin where it had been used on the deck and was peeling up in places. Some places it seemed to adhere really well, but others were chipping off. That was enough to get me to go with a regular stain again. One big drawback with the stuff is that it is really hard to get it off the places where it went on right, if you need to redo the whole thing because other places are coming off.

10

Any idea id this site is funded by any deck stain company like TWP? I never heard of that brand before, but the ratings are great. Makes me wonder if it is an advertisement for TWP masked as an “unbiased” review site.

I’m not saying it is… I am just skeptical.

As for the direction I am going, I have decided to replace all boards that are in need of replacement, and then, finding the best stain I can find and skip the paint-like deck coloring products. I have not read anything that gives me any indication that using that kind of product is going to last a season or two at the most before it begins to chip away.

So, tomorrow, I continue the removal of bad planks, and hopefully get all the new wood screwed down securely… I am also going to be replacing any nails that are popping up with screws, to make the deck look better with the proper fasteners. I realize nails are fast and cheap, but holy cow… Do it correctly from square one, with wood screws and the deck will stay together much longer.

I want something that will seep into the wood, sealing it while giving it a great look. I want the wood grain to show through, even if it is only slight. The good news is the deck has held up nicely over the past decade, with only a few bad spots that need to be replaced. I just purchased the pressure-treated wood, but I am worried that the new wood may not soak up the stain as well as the old wood, and the new planks will be noticeable.

Anyone have experiencen with this? How long should one wait before staining new pressure-treated wood? I want to do it all at once, but don’t want to do the wrong thing and will hold off if I have to.

Thanks.

11

Hmm… Tangent here.

If you have the ability to replace the decking with a synthetic wood product, I highly recommend it. I used a product called EverGrain. I’ve no relation to the company, but it is easy enough to find.

I live WAY up at altitude and get HOT sun in the summer and 6 months of snow to be shoveled in the winter. Nearly every day it gets shoveled in the winter. I’ve a gravel drive and so track a lot of rocks and dirt on it.

It’s 6 years old. I haven’t done a thing to it but abuse it, and it still looks brand new.

I know it’s not for everyone, I have a friend that just replace her deck on a historical house. And she wants to keep things as original as possible.

12

I appreciate the tangent, and I will look into the product.

We are planning on moving within 2 years, so I don’t want to pump that much money into the deck. However, if we end up staying, I will do something like what you did. I have a relative who had a deck built with a similar product, and he loves it. He has done nothing to it maintenance-wise, and it still looks as good as it did the day he had it done. I know it has seen 2 summers and 2 winters, maybe 3.

I have no idea of the cost, but if I knew I was staying long term, I would just replace everything with something similar.

Right now, I want to replace all boards that are bad (and there are only a few) and then seal it properly so it looks good, and when we sell, it will not need any work.

13

The new boards are unlikely to match the old ones. They also won’t be as dry as the old ones and won’t take stains exactly the same way even if the wood grain and color match. Depending on the wood none of that may matter much though.

14

You are right about the wood not being as dry.

The new ones I purchased have a slight “dampness” to them, probably the by-product of the pressure treatment. The boards on the deck are 10 years old now, and whatever “dampness” they had is long gone.

To be honest, I have no idea what type of wood was used originally. Pressure-treated wood is about 2x more expensive than the untreated, and my guess is the builder used the cheapest product he could. I don’t know how to tell if the old wood was pressure-treated or not, but I am going to default to “no”.

I guess I will test out a couple of products. I was reading on that link that shunpiker provided, and it seems some stains have an oil base to them, which penetrates the wood better than others. However, some states don’t permit the sale of these any longer, so I have to figure out if I can get it or not.

What a pain in the ass. I wish I could buy a paint/stain/whatever that would do what I want, and not have to dig through all of these different products. I guess that is why wood decks always look either great (brand new) or crap (not maintained properly). If I was staying, I would get the plastic/composite/fake wood and just be done with it.

15

While I am at it, I might as well ask if anyone has used a sprayer.

I have discovered the Wagner 0518080 power sprayer, and it gets amazing reviews. I have some interior painting to do as well, so investing in a good sprayer may be a great idea at this time.

Apparently, there are some issues with product viscosity, so thining may he required, but if I can use a sprayer, I will save a boatload of time. Especially on the deck rails and slats.

Anyhow, I thought I’d toss this question in also, since others are reading this thread. Might as well get as much personal experience as possible!

16

Sprayers are great and save you money because you’ll use less stain, paint, or oil. I used to have a Wagner, gave it to a friend and he loved it. I think the Wagner nozzle will be made for paint so oil and stain shouldn’t have viscosity problems. Just make sure to clean the nozzle well after use, and make sure to filter whatever you load it with.

OTOH, using a roller on a deck is as easy as it can get.

17

Yeah, the rolling of the deck walking area isn’t what worries me. It is the railing and the small wooden slats that look nice, but take forever to stain with a brush (I did it once and it took hours, so I don’t want to repeat that if I don’t have to.)

And like I said, I do have some interior painting to do as well… I’ve read a lot of good things about the wagner model I listed, and the only complaints seem to come from folks that jump right into painting without getting a feel for what kind of output they are getting from sprayer, and the need to thin the product they are trying to spray.

When you say “filter” what does that mean, exactly? Can I run the paint through a coffee filter, or is there a special filter for paint and stain? Also, when stain/paint is filtered, what is filtered out? Anything important needed to keep the product sticking to the surface, or waterproofing, etc?

18

It should come with a fine strainer for filtering, and those can also be purchased at most hardware stores or paint stores. The nozzle aperture is quite small and can easily be clogged. It may take a little time to pour the fluid through the strainer, but far less than the time spent cleaning nozzles. Thorough mixing of the paint/stain/oil should be done before hand to make sure everything gets dissolved. Many stains have a wax like colorant that will settle out during storage, oils may have some solids settle out that you don’t really need. Paint could easily have bits of cured paint from the top or edges that get mixed in and will definitely clog up a nozzle, sometimes requiring the nozzle to be replaced. So mix thoroughly, get one of those drill mixing attachments to do it, and then make sure to use the strainer supplied.

19

TriPolar,

Thanks for the tips!

Hopefully, I can control the overspray. The drawback with the sprayer seems to be that prepping the area to keep overspray off of everything seems to be just as time consuming as using a brush/roller for application. I have had a lot of success with using the roller method for applying just about everything, and maybe that is the way to go ultimately.

I read one guy’s review of a sprayer, and he was using it for indoor spraying. He had to spend all sorts of time covering everything, including the ceiling because of overspray.

Outdoor spraying isn’t as big a problem, as I will just have to make sure the house is covered. And for those areas close to the house, I can just use a brush and/or roller.

20

When I had my deck built I was told not to stain it for a year. I know the guy didn’t use the highest level treated lumber but still it needed to sit.

IMHO you should avoid staining the new pieces this year.

My painter who stains my deck uses a sprayer, but he does the spindles by hand. I only have about 30 spindles though.

He tapes/plastics the house before he sprays. He does not worry about spraying the grass.

Do you have a PAINT STORE in your area? Not Home Depot or a hardware store but like a Sherwin Williams store? They know everything and can answer your questions about spraying and staining treated lumber.