How to with Deck Redo

Whether you are staining the deck yourself or having it professionally stained, there are 3 things questions you need to ask.

1. First and foremost you need to ask yourself what color you want.  You may think this is just a personal preference question, but in reality the amount of pigment in the stain will affect UV (ultra violet) protection from the sun, can prohibit you from colors in the future and can highlight scratches.

   1. Pigment:  The darker the color you choose the more pigment and ultimately the more ultraviolet protection you will have on your wood.  Similar to sunscreen, when the pigments get just a little darker than a natural or honey color, the changes aren’t substantial.  I always recommend to clients that a Cedartone color will provide adequate UV protection while still allowing the wood color and grain to be visible.

   2. Pigment:  As for the future staining of decks, if the original color chosen is too dark the cleaning process of a high quality stain will not remove all the stain and therefore future colors must typically be very similar or darker.

   

2. Solid or Penetrating Stain.  This is the most common error made by homeowners.  Typically a homeowner will go to a big box Do-It-Yourself store and pick their recommended stain.  What you will not be told is that most often these stains are solid stains and work more like paint.  From my experience, this leads to peeling, cracking, covering of wood grain, and overall customer dissatisfaction.  On rare occasions a homeowner will be satisfied with a solid stain, however in my experience I would say about 1 in every 200.

3. Lastly is the preparation method.  I have seen methods ranging from using a normal pressured garden hose, up to completely sanding the deck, however there is a happy median.  The goal of washing a deck is two fold: 1. Remove current stain to expose bare wood, and2. Remove dirt, debris, mold, mildew etc.  Truth is cleaners, strippers, hosing down do a nice job of getting the wood to look clean, however the underlying dirt needs to be removed with a very high pressure washer.  I do NOT recommend this for a non-professional as the proper pressure can harm you wood permanently.  However done properly the stain will take well to the wood lasting a very long time.

Naturally there are many more things to consider when staining a deck, however these three will get you on the right path to a perfect summer sanctuary.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »