deck stain or use resurfacing product

I have a deck that’s a year old now. I have never aplied anything to it. I want to either seal it or use the products that look like a bed liner kit like RESTORE or Revitalize resurfacer. Has any one used the resurfacer products before? It is supposed to come with lifetime warranty. Guess I would rather be fishing then restaining every few years. But i dont want to use a resurfacer and ruin my deck. Need to get this done so i can go try out my new 998hd si.

I bought a stain called TWP last year after doing some research online. So far I have been impressed. Color looks great and it still is repelling water after the tough winter we had. Look it up, I’d say its worth every penny.

I have a cedar deck that I should have stained the first year that it was put down, but delayed for 2 years allowing it to oxidize. I used a deck wash and followed it with a high pressure sprayer which took the oxidized layer off the soft wood but left the knots and hard grain still oxidized, so I was not impressed. I then proceeded to sand it all with a belt sander and 40 grit belt which worked pretty well.

I then used Cabot’s cedar tone semitransparent stain which gave a bit more orange shade than I care for but my neighbors really liked the looks of the finish. However, one year later, I can already see the fading from the sun on the south end of the deck, so I can’t really say that I would recommend Cabots, but still would prefer a semi transparent stain to other finishes.

I don’t think there is a really good deck treatment that lasts a long time. I’ve done a few in the past by pressure washing and doing it as to not lift the wood fibers. I then make a mix of 50% linseed oil to 50% mineral spirits and then add coloring. Doing so I’m treating the wood with oil and putting down a preservative that helps the wood. Unless I find out other wise I’ll keep doing it this way, it takes a a couple to a few days for the linseed oil to soak in and dry but the water still beads after the last deck that I did three years ago. Look on any can of treatment, the most important product is linseed oil.

We use Sherwin Williams Deckscapes, Natural and cedar color[we have a lot of decks at multiplie homes to seal] both still have some tint to them. We get about 4-5 good years of beading. Some of the decks are direct sunlight. The ones that look the worst are ones that get lots of traffic. We work a small area 3’x4′ approx., put 1st coat on and then go back and apply second coat, then move to next 3’x4′ approx. area. The wood really soaks the stuff up.
Seems if you try to recoat say in 4 yrs. or less, there is still beading effect in wood and doesn’t absorb stain well and looks like crap. Tried this in high traffic areas, bad idea.
Also buy the stuff on sale and we use about 1 1/2 times more than what is recommended. I suppose 2 coats has to do with that.

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I have a deck that’s a year old now. I have never aplied anything to it. I want to either seal it or use the products that look like a bed liner kit like RESTORE or Revitalize resurfacer. Has any one used the resurfacer products before? It is supposed to come with lifetime warranty. Guess I would rather be fishing then restaining every few years. But i dont want to use a resurfacer and ruin my deck. Need to get this done so i can go try out my new 998hd si.

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A neighbor of mine just had this product professionally put on her deck. It looks great. Seems durable. I asked him about it and he said that he’s having to go back to some decks that he did last year. The product warranty covers material, but not labor. I said to wait and see how it does over time. That’s all I know.

We have 3 decks and all have solid color stain which looks good for about 4-5 years than I pressure wash each deck to shoot lifting stain and paint over the whole deck again. My neighbor has a new deck and is researching products and is learning they all need to be reapplied after 4-5 years or sooner if heavy use. Good luck

I spent about $600 on the Restore product last year.I followed the directions to the T.This spring have had large dinner plate sized patches come off.According to them I did not do the preparation right.
I can not recommend this product.

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I don’t think there is a really good deck treatment that lasts a long time. I’ve done a few in the past by pressure washing and doing it as to not lift the wood fibers. I then make a mix of 50% linseed oil to 50% mineral spirits and then add coloring. Doing so I’m treating the wood with oil and putting down a preservative that helps the wood. Unless I find out other wise I’ll keep doing it this way, it takes a a couple to a few days for the linseed oil to soak in and dry but the water still beads after the last deck that I did three years ago. Look on any can of treatment, the most important product is linseed oil.

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What are your thoughts on buying a semi-transparent stain and cutting it with linseed oil? Say a half gallon of Linseed to a gallon of stain. Wish I could have afforded wrought iron spindles for the deck we built up north, it’s 48′ long. About 300 2X2’s front & back

I have been researching the Rustoleum product along with a few others that are comparable and I seem to find a lot of mixed results. Most people seem to think its great right away but there arent many reviews from people that have had it on their deck for more than a year or so. Jury is still out

Anyone have luck applying with a quality sprayer? On a calm day of course.

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Anyone have luck applying with a quality sprayer? On a calm day of course.

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You still need to work it in via roller or rubbing. Otherwise its just on the surface and you wasted your time, money, and effort. No easy way but get on your knees and work it bud

No easy way but get on your knees and work it bud

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I’ve tried that line…no avail.

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I spent about $600 on the Restore product last year.I followed the directions to the T.This spring have had large dinner plate sized patches come off.According to them I did not do the preparation right.
I can not recommend this product.

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I used the restore last year and the stuff is great. the stuff with the sand in it that I put on the floor is holding great the only advice I can say is they give you the paint with no sand in it to do the railings and that is crap it will not stick but the floor stuff is like a rock coating.

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No easy way but get on your knees and work it bud

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I’ve tried that line…no avail.

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Well that’s because you ended it with “bud”

That’s what I used on the deck.Uprights have the no grit and look great.

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No easy way but get on your knees and work it bud

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I’ve tried that line…no avail.

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I use an inexpensive sponge mop to apply the stain on the deck. Replace sponges if necessary. Throw it away when done. Brush can be use to get between the cracks.

I give up on all stains. One or two good years then they fail. I plan to use the Rustoleum 10X “permanent” deck coating this summer. I know one person on his 3rd year and the report is still good. My decision to use wood decking was a big mistake. I know the synthetics are expensive. Anything to get out of this every 3 year re-stain pattern.

I’ve used the Sikkens SRD deck stain. It is semi-transparent and fairly expensive (about 45.00 per gallon). The verticle surfaces hold up reasonably well. I think I have only redone them twice in 15 years. The horizontal surfaces in the sun and high traffic areas look good for 1 – 2 years and need to be sanded and restained at least every 3 years. I’ve only restained my bottom deck (in shade) 1 time in 15 years. It still looks pretty good.

I’ve heard alot of people over the years claiming the stain they used is great (especially if it is less than 2 years old or isn’t in direct sunlight). You don’t hear many people bragging about their stain more than 5 years later if it is in high traffic or sun.

My neighbor has Trex decking and it is nice from a maintenance stand point, but it looks like crap. It is warped, cracked and very moldy. I’m sure some of the newer products are probably improved.

How about just a clear sealant? Will they prevent/slow the graying process. I know Thompsons is junk. Maybe the linseed oil straight? I really don’t want to stain and start the cycle.
Thoughts?

Ya Scott, I’m a big fan of Sherwin-Williams products and use them exclusively, indoor and out. Benjamin Moore is my second choice. Using a semi transparent stain has quite a bit more linseed oil in it then does a solid based stain that has more solids. A mix of linseed oil and Sherwinn Williams semi trans. is a good mix at a 50% 50%, the mineral spirits is used to thin the linseed oil to the point where it soaks in and treats and dries quicker. Linseed oil soaks in when thinned at 50 50 and treats the inner wood plus it also dries with a thin protective coating on top of the wood. A second coat can be applied and it stands on the surface more, I choose the latter if it was on my deck and I’m getting ready to build one here at my house, with treated lumber. If its sprayed or rolled on linseed oil soaks in and that’s the most important part of this mix. That’s why they creasote railroad ties. Railroad ties are put into a vacume tank then all the air is vacumed out, most don’t know that theres alot of air in wood, concrete etc. Then the creasoate is then let into the tank and it fills the wood to the core with the preservative and then pressure is applied to push it into the wood as far as it will get, which is usually again to the core. I remember my grandfathers window sills that got wet from the rains. He was an old school carpenter and never used a power anything. He always treated his window sills with linseed oil and they never rotted, he did it when he thought it was necessary.

Thanks Dan, I’ve used linseed oil for many years on antiques I refinish. Never thought of using it for that! I appreciate the help, I might have bug you thru PM’s if I think of questions.

No big deal Scott, that’s what brothers are for. Another thing is linseed oil is around 25$ a gallon and it makes two gallons after mixed, 2 gallons goes quite a ways, 200$ of both linseed oil and mineral spirits goes along ways and its easy to apply, I apply it until it runs, then the next day I do it until it runs again but try to limit the running. Maybe put a dropcloth under the deck if you need too, or plastic incase you have rocks etc. under it. Surprisingly it doesn’t hurt plants that much, I got overspary on some hostas and they didn’t burn or die, kinda surprised me. If spraying it on, mask things off because it is relatively hard to wipe off things, even with mineral spirits, if you don’t have a hand masker just use some kind of news paper and a medium tack 1″ tape.

For spindles the last few times we’ve used the carwash type mitts. They work pretty slick. Big rubber gloves, leather glove and then the mitt on last, on one hand. Trick is to just dip finger tips in stain because it slowly saturates the glove and gets messier as you go.
On floor we use brush between boards and pad on broom handle for surface. 2 coats in small sections and move on to next section.
I’m not sure why you guys are getting such short life out of your stains. We used some junk about 25yrs ago and the next time it was CWP? and SW since.
3 buildings are cedar, 1 deck 360sqft, dock, steps, another deck wraps around 3 sides of house, that one took 28 gallons, other deck is about 264 sqft. We use the SW on all them. Might have to look into blending some linseed oil.

Cleaning: we use bleach concetrate, spray on, then a Oxi clean concetrate, spray on, brush it in, re spary with bleach and then pressure wash off. Work in small 8′- 10′ sections. We buy cleaning supplies in cases to keep costs down.