Seal and color for new deck?

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  • 04FXSTS

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    Dec 31, 2010
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    Building a new deck out of treated lumber and am wondering what type treatments have worked well for other members. The wife is also talking about wanting to color the deck to a grey color. I have also heard you should seal it as soon as it is built or you should let it weather for a year before treating.
    I have heard of "Thompson's Water Seal" and a friend suggested "Flood" another sealing type coating that is I think transparent. On a deck where we did live I used a product Pittsburgh "Revitalize" but not impressed, just like a thick paint. I am thinking more toward a stain type because if it does nor work out that well I can always paint over it later but if you paint the deck you are pretty much locked into always painting. What has made you happy or what disappointed you? Jim.
     

    dudley0

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    Definitely let the wood dry out before you seal it. The new stuff almost oozes. I have used Thompson's in the past. I also used a deep colored stain on a house deck I sold a few years ago. It was almost a paint in my opinion. Worked fine on the fence, but didn't last on the floor section with foot traffic.

    I power washed it first, just water. The old deck might have still had residual sealer on it.

    Have heard in the past that painting was a bad idea as it traps the moisture inside and advances rot. Not sure with the new deck based paints tho.

    Just rebuilt a treated staircase at the new place. I will wait until next year to seal it. Gives me time to figure out what color the spouse wants. I make decisions on methods, not colors.
     

    04FXSTS

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    I also am the one that does the work but the wife is the one who picks out colors. I know what you mean about letting the wood dry, I had the treated wood bought a month or so ago but it just came in so super new. Drive in a screw and the moisture comes out around it. Glad the moisture in the fresh wood was mentioned, looks like it will be best to let it dry till next summer. Jim.
     

    NKBJ

    at the ark
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    Yeah, wait a year but really do get it done.
    What you want the stain / color and sealer to do, to look like and how much you want to spend determines what to use.
    If solid color is wanted or if you want the wood grain to show figures into choices.
    Also (something you won't read anywhere), if the location is for instance on the south side of a wall that will put reflected sunlight onto the surface then that is going to create more solar radiation damage on the treated surfaces and lead to more rapid coating failure.

    I am using this semi-transparent product. Final choice was determined by the wife's eye for color and me saving a hundred bucks on an auction:yesway: for a five gallon bucket of the stuff. More on that later.
    https://www.defystain.com/defy-extreme-stain.html

    That picture was taken late in the day and there's blue shine from the sky but it pretty much shows what semi-transparent will look like. Solid color would last longer but we wanted the grain to show. Doing it the hard way, paint brush in hand and pads on my knees because I want attention to detail, not getting it on the light colored siding. The wood soaks it up like a paper towel commercial. The columns are 99% done. Got the horizontal surfaces of the decks done. Still got trim to finish before the big freeze.

    I've spoken with people who tried spraying but they ended up having to back brush. "How to" videos show people using car wash brushes to apply the products but that would have made a giant mess. So, I did sections of boards no wider than I could reach across, coat and then come back and recoat. Multiple sections could be worked simultaneously but it was still a protracted tribulation upon my retirement age body. So now it's almost all done and looks pretty darn good. About that five gallon bucket, it was a different batch and looks a little different from what I purchased separately in one gallon containers, but I don't mind. Besides, the individual boards look different any how.

    Researching various products on the interseine I more than once found good reviews and bad reviews for various manufacturers' products. Finally I went for something that nobody talked bad about.

    Hope some of that was helpful.
     
    Last edited:

    JettaKnight

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    I typically use Flood, but I'm no expert.


    Oh, and any INGO discussion about decks requires this video go along with it.
    [video=youtube;7-etIiYDpBM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-etIiYDpBM[/video]
     

    Leadeye

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    Super Deck is what I used for years on decks and boat docks. Like most stuff, it lasts a few years and then you do it again. On the plus side it was easy to use.
     

    bigretic

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    Jan 14, 2011
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    Guess what I did tonight? I put the 2nd coat of sealer on my Covid Deck. Yup, spent the weekends this summer building the wife the deck she's always wanted for her pool. OP - i listened to an old shooter buddy and used Behr. Note that "transparent" is not... but it does look great.

    If you want to see the deck before and after... Index of /damon/deck2020

    IMG_3763.jpg


    Unsealed:

    IMG_3508.jpg


    First coat:
    IMG_3628.jpg


    Tonight:

    IMG_3762.jpg
     

    D K

    Marksman
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    Apr 10, 2010
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    If water still beads up on it, no point in staining/sealing it, it just isn't going to soak in. Depending on the sun exposure, humidity, and time, it may dry out enough in 4 months, maybe 12, but it's not going to turn gray in 12 months, so you might as well plan on a deck wash and stain in 11-12 monthsl (you don't want the deck to be scorching hot or under 50 degrees).

    Lil tip - keep a few boards aside and let it weather along with the rest of the deck - then you can stain them with some different sample colors to see which you like best.

    Stained my 14-month old deck a couple months ago, it turned out darker than I liked, but it was originally the Menards "cedartone" lumber, and they recommend a certain color when staining it. It made it pretty darned dark, but I still like it. Anyway, whatever color you chose, you'll probably end up liking it, just be sure to keep up with it and treat it every 2-3 years with something. Incidentally, the color they recommend brought the uncolored boards up to a color close to the cedartone boards.

    Even boiled linseed oil will work, you just have to apply it every year, but the deck will likely never rot.


    I ended up using an HVLP sprayer for the stain/sealer, and occasionally used a brush to hit areas the sprayer couldn't get to. As the wood contracts, quite a bit after 12 months, I had plenty of space between the deck boards that the sprayer reached it just fine, and it would have taken 4x longer to brush or roll it on.

    Oh, and the darker it is, the hotter it is under bare feet in the sun! :cool:
     

    cburnworth

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    Sherwin Williams semi-transparent or solid color oil based stain. I also suggest using a sprayer with a 5' wand. It makes things go so much easier & faster, plus gets into the nooks and crannies. Def say let it go till spring, power wash & then stain.
     
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