Deck Restaining

[mayhem]

OK, so I'm at my wit's end. Deck is 100% cedar except for the pt 6x6 verticals. Built in 2003 along with the house. We've stripped and stained it probably 5 times now and frankly I'm getting tired of it. Need a better solution here.

The stain we've used the last couple times is the Behr Premium outdoor stain/waterproofing, the photos attached show what the deck looks like after about 7-8 months from 3 coats on stripped wood...this thing was stripped and weatherproofed around Sept/Oct of 2010. You can see its coming up in sheets, looks as though none of it has soaked into the wood at all, this stuff is coming off like unprimed paint. I'm thinking this has to be a missed step in the prep work, but I don't know what I didn't do right. This stuff should be soaking into the cedar, right? I expected this stuff to last at least 4-5x longer.

I don't mind or object to doing touchups, putting on a topcoat every spring or so, but this is just plain crazy that I have to strip it all down and redo the damn thing over and over again. We're talking about probably 500 sf of decking and roughly 70 linear feet of fencing...its a huge deck.

My current thought is I'm going to have to sand the whole damn thing not, verticals, spindles, railings and all...it'll take me weeks of time to get this done, but when I'm done it'll look new and I'll want to lay down some stain and weather rpoofing right away.

So my question is, how should I proceed here? I cannot keep putting this kind of labor and money into this deck...the wife says fix it or she's going to have someone come and cut it off the sode of the house while I'm at work someday. If I had any idea of the effort involved in a deck I would have paid the extra and gone with the fake wood decking.

 

[joefrompa]

First, consider going with trex or something similar if you plan on living there a lon time and don't want this maintenance. Just a thought. Cedar is not a great decking solution...

Second, ditch the Behr.

Check out these guys and others: http://www.restore-a-deck.com/

Check out this product line: http://www.twpstain.com/

You should expect a minimum of 3 great looking years out of a well finished deck - some can go much longer, but so many environmental variables I chose 3.

Good luck to you!

 

[semipro]

I'm having some trouble with Behr on my PT deck boards also. It looks similar to yours.

Can you pressure wash the stuff off and start over or is that too hard?

You could remove the boards and flip them upside down, then use another type of stain. I believe Flood products are very highly rated. I would have done this on my deck but ring shank nails were used to attach the boards and you can't remove the boards without damaging them too much.

 

[mayhem]

I think the Behr is probably a sub par product that got put down over a poorly prepped surface.

Going to fix it.

Thanks Joe for the link to restore-a-deck. I like what I';m reading so far.

I don't think flipping the boards will be a good solution for me, but they'll probably clean up ok when I use the right product the right way. I think most of it will come right up and the stuff that actually sticks properly can be sanded if I have to. The real trick is going to be the million railing spindles on that thing. naturally those are holding the stain that we put on years ago...and it went on sort of orange.

 

[northwinds]

I feel your pain. We had 3 cedar decks on our old house. Stain came up in sheets just like you're talking
about. After about 15 years and several re-do-its, the boards had quite a bit of rot. We replaced all of the
deck boards with treated lumber, had it professionally stained, and sold the house.

 

[Marsh Rat]

Use sikkens stain, it's a little on the expensive side but lasts a long time. They use it for log homes and cedar sided houses up here. They say 3 years before recoating. Good stuff, it's what I used on my deck last year. Went through 8 gallons of the stuff and still looks good this spring.

 

[woodsman23]

Use sikkens stain, it's a little on the expensive side but lasts a long time. They use it for log homes and cedar sided houses up here. They say 3 years before recoating. Good stuff, it's what I used on my deck last year. Went through 8 gallons of the stuff and still looks good this spring.

X100 Sikkens is the very best stuff ever!!, Use the 2 part sikkens and be done with maint for at least 10 years maybe longer. Power wash off the crap thats on there now and restain with sikkens, it will cost you but it looks great and holds up even better.

 

[mayhem]

The house was done wiht Sikkens Cetol, but the Lincoln Logs people didn't have a Sikkens product available for our deck. The house looks great, even years after the first 2+1 Cetol coverage. Have not yet needed to top coat it.

The Cetol is $55 a gallon. Expensive yes, but not really all that much more than the $35 per gallon HD is getting for the Behr crap we used.

What specific product from Sikkens did you guys use?

 

[joefrompa]

Also remember that powerwashing to remove the existing stain will push moisture deep into the wood. REALLY let it dry out before re-coating.

 

[mayhem]

Not going to powerwash that deck. I don't own one and its really hard to find any deck finishing website that thinks its even remotely a good idea to powerwash real wood. Tends to rip the wood apart.

 

[muncybob]

What I've learned: Be sure the stain is an actual penetrating stain 2. don't buy anything with something related to plastic in it, it will wind up just sitting on the wood even though they claim it penetrates 3. just as with painting something, it's all in the prep work/time. 4. more expensive stain doesn't mean better quality...but it may 5. research the heck out of your brand choice(s) before taking the plunge! I feel your pain with all the work you have done thus far!

I have not stripped previous stain but on my new deck I did clean it with a stripper followed by a brightner. Followed directions exaclty and then applied "Defy" deck stain...read many good things about it from contractors and while it was fairly expensive compared to the big box store, I'm happy with the results after 2 years now. My other deck that has a lesser quality stain on it and while has not peeled the wood sure did look "old" quickly. The Defy stuff looks just about as good as the month I applied it....hoping it stays that way for another couple years!
The instructions at that restore a deck site is bascially what I did for the prep work....good luck!

 

[Jaugust124]

We put the Behr weatherproofing wood finish on our 1 year old pressure treated deck last June and so far so good. I put 2-3 coats on the deck floor and probably 4-5 on the top of the handrails. I thought that Behr was good stuff. Its supposed to last 4 years on decks, but after reading this thread I'm hoping I don't end up in the same situation.

Good luck.

 

[Czech]

We had the same luck with the Behr, it was good on the front vertical cedar sideing on the house but really bad on the deck. Has anyone used more of a paint based (colored) product rather than a stain? That's how fed up I am with trying to stain the deck, I'm ready to go with something else. When I get the money, I'll tear it up and replace with trex!

 

[mayhem]

Tried a couple stripping products...predictably they don't work all that well...and I probably killed a few plants when I rinsed it off. Spent about an hour sanding the railing and spindles yesterday with much more satisfying results. The quarter sheet of 180 grit I had on the old B&D orbital palm sander worked surprisingly well, the fresh sheet of 120 was actually remarkable in how well it worked. Amazingly soe of the stuff we put down in 2004 doesn't seem to want to come up, even with a stripper treatment adn then sanding. I jsut know though that if I leave it, it'll blister right up in about a month.

So I'll stock up on sandpaper and bust out the knee pads and get to it!

When iget it down to bare wood I'm planning on doing the wood restoration treatment to set the wood properly for stain. Just have to select a stain next. Sikkens worked great on our house exterior, but as noted, the horizontal surfaces take a severe hammering compared to vertical outside walls. More research is required methinks.

Anyone have a deck stain that has held up well in high traffic, snow/ice and drip edge environments?

 

[Jim H.]

Just another point, 3 coats is way too much! Most stains are a coat or maybe 2 but putting on 3 coats will not offer better protection, just will sit on top and peel like you experienced. Even the TWP (which I have sold thousands of gallons) has changed in how it is made. Most products now are a high solids and less solvent percent of coatings. So 2 coats of TWP semi can look like a solid! Just an FYI...

Jim.

 

[mayhem]

Interesting. All the dozens of gallons of stain I've used in the house have all had a 2 coat minimum, 3 recommended almost universally. None have ever looked decen, never mind acceptable with 1 coat.

The Sikkens requires 2 base and 1 top coat.

 

[joefrompa]

I also highly recommend using products that allow you to "hot coat" or "wet coat" the 2nd layer. In other words - you apply the next coat while the first is only partially dry/cured. I'm no expert, but I think it does a much better job binding the multiple coats together. On my interior wood floors, I used a basic coatings product that allowed me to hot coat repeatedly - and this was an emulsion product, which is supposed to be a blend of oil & water based properties. I put 4 coats down in a period of about 2.5 days and (again this is interior) you've never seen wood have such a protective layer.