When you go to the home center or hardware store to select a color, you will see all kinds of samples. If a bold, dyed look is what you like, own it! For a more natural look, go subtle with shades.
Stains color wood. Aside from some stains that come with a polyurethane blend, or say, colored danish oil, you will need to apply a topcoat over your stain to protect the wood from UV damage, scratches, spills, etc. For some reason a lot of people begin woodworking thinking that staining wood is a requirement for a completed project. Mostly they are confusing wood stain with a wood finish.
A protective wood finish is a requirement for most projects. A stain is not. Another thing to keep in mind is that once you commit to a color and apply it to your project, the deed is done.
There is no undo button. Unlike paint, which just sits on top of the wood and can be sanded off, wood stain penetrates into the fibers of the wood like a sponge absorbing water. Sanding will also help open up the pores of the wood so that they can absorb stain better.
Start with 80 grit to remove big scratches and imperfections, then move up to and finally grit. Make sure you remove any sanding dust from the surface. To keep this from happening you must wipe off excess stain after applying it. Read it! You can certainly use a brush if you like but I would rather use a foam brush. They are cheap and disposable making cleanup a lot easier.
But my go-to method for applying stain is to use a rag. Do we really need to go through the cleaning and deck brighting steps to apply Defy deck stain. If so, is waiting until next summer which would make the new wood sit for months with out a stain ok to do?
Should I clean the remainder of the deck, sand the fuzzies off, then use the DEFY wood brightener, then let dry and apply the TWP semi transparent pecan color stain? Or can I skip sanding off the fuzzies and move straight to brightening after cleaning, let dry, then stain? Okay good to know. We will edit that verbiage. You do not have to sand off the fuzzies and we rarely do as contractors.
Thank you. Thank you for all of your help. I will hold off on cleaning and brightening until I can get it stained soon afterward. I just want to say you all have been a huge help and have provided me with great advice and guidance for restoring my deck that has needed a lot of work. Any DIYer looking to do this type of work on their deck should definitely visit this website.
I will definitely be referring people to you guys as well as posting pictures of the before and after pics when I am done with my deck. Is it okay for the wood to dry before using a brightener? Will this cause any problems? It is best to do it as soon as possible after cleaning but if you cannot do it the same day, then prewet the deck before applying the brightener.
My deck had heavily grayed so I also noticed the furring after cleaning. I plan to let it dry anyway to lightly sand off the furring before brightening.
Is this the right approach? If the wood has heavy gray oxidation, is it likely going to have furring regardless of how quickly the brightener is applied after cleaning? I see buffing pads made from lambs wool, rayon, or a green scrub pad looks similar to the red one shown above but called a scrub pad.
Which is the best to use to remove fuzzies. Thank you!! I cleaned, stripped and brightened and then sanded my deck prior to staining. I applied one layer of stain, and I can see several spots that have furring. Is there a way to correct this without sanding the stain off and starting all over again?
So, sand the stain off, then buff using a buffing machine and pad, then stain again. Do I have that correct? Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it. I have cleaned with BEHR All in One Wood Cleaner and power washed not on hardest setting our cedar deck and the deck boards look great, however the walls look like cedar with grey patches…I am wondering whether to stain or seal the deck boards and if I should wait to do the the walls to let the red grey a bit to catch up to some of the grey patches?
Or do I need to try and clean the walls again? I do like the look of cedar but want to know if I need to let this go to get back to the beauty of the wood.
The cedar deck is about 5 years old but does not get much sun as I live on a ravine and this deck butts up against the it. Thank you sooooooo much!!! In need of you help — please: We installed a new Cedar deck late last summer. Before the winter we live in Montreal we cleaned it and then protected it with Benjamin Moore Arbor coat. This week we cleaned it with a Benjamin Moore cleaner and then saw the fibers. We were then suggested to do a Wood Restorer which is their version of a striper from what I can understand , which should have been the last step before oiling it.
Now I am nervous as the deck boards, that were so smooth on the bare feet last week are now all with raised grain on the length ; you can now feel it on your feet when walking. We have a square foot deck. Will a light sanding with a pad done by hand be a good long term solution?
Or does it need to dry more perhaps before we sand and re-assess? It was brand new cedar wood…not sure how this could have been prevented. Any advise on how to move forward and not let this happen again would be much appreciated. The above article explains what to do. Rent a floor buffer and get a sanding pad. It will come off. There seems to still be in some area some fuzzies that look imbedded into the wood, is that OK to still oil and is this somewhat normal?
Are you use using buffer with a pad like above or sanding paper? You should be using the pad to knock down the fuzzies, not grit paper. I am using a 3M Very Fine hand sanding pad for my fuzzies on my deck since it appears to be the closest match to the larger buffing pad mentioned in this article. You can use a palm sander with grit paper for the rails. Use a deck brightener and then a water rinse when done. I already used brightener — is it needed again? Hoping to no repeat but maybe necessary to re-open the pores after sanding?
That would be a bummer. If the brightener is needed will it dripping on the rest of the deck be a problem or okay because it is already brightened? Yes, it will help to open up the pores, very easy to do. Apply to all wood with a pump sprayer and then rinse.
Going to be rinsing anyway so being head deep in this process, might as well break out the sander! Thanks for the continued guidance. Appreciate it! I did go with the 60 grit and was happy I did. Eliminated furring on rails and was able to hit a few stubborn spots. Followed up with brightening so should be ready to stain after some rain days here in VT. Is this possible? In short, how might I achieve doing a maintenance coat rather than my whole process of clean, brighten, sand, brighten again.
What are the key factors to avoiding? That makes sense on the prep always being needed. I love the idea of not sanding and will try to prevent the furring to eliminate that sounds like less cleaning concentrate and perhaps lighter on the power washing. I guess I was under the incorrect assumption that brightening can be skipped in some recoat cases. Too bad the folks selling the products have NO knowledge Thank You for a great site.
I am proud of my work so far and wish to continue, so again thank you. Thank you! I got the deck sanded. There are still some bleached out looking very light areas.
When wet it looks great. Clear coats do not give a wet look. You need a tinted stain color. I have a moderate amount of fuzzies after prepping. With an orbital floor machine, will an Oreck 80 grit sanding screen take care of the problem?
It should, but we like the pads better. Make sure to remove the sand dust when done if you use the screen. Light washing should help. This site has been extremely helpful! We did not sand but the employee used deck cleaner and then power washed it twice. Any advice on this would be great! If there is something we can do for this season to help us not have to redo the entire process that would be awesome. Is there a way for me to find out? We used Thompsons Water Seal.
Last year it looked beautiful they did it - not sure what was the issue this time. Thompons is useless, and yes, you need a hardwood stain. Strip it off and then brighten the wood. What is the shelf life of mixed stripper and brightener? Can I store it for a week? A month? How about a year or more? I sanded by deck with 80 grit to remove 2 coats of solid stain a month ago. I blew off the sanding dust and washed deck with a garden hose.
The wood looks clean with no stains or mildew on it.. I have several concerns. I am elderly and have no one to help me. Also I have no way of renting a buffer and transporting it from the rental place.
How can I prevent furring so I do not need to do the extra work? Is that ok? Attached is a picture of the deck after sanding.
There is some spots where I could not get the old gray stain off. I would appreciate any help you can give me. We sanded an old cedar deck to remove several coats of old solid stain.
We are planning to stain with TWP — cedartone. There was a light rain last night and hearing from some folks we need to resand because it raised the wood grain. Is that true or should we just wait the recommended dry time to ensure that the wood is sufficiently dry before staining?
Next step after fuzzies-my deck is stripped now and I am ready to revive and sand to get ready to stain. Which should I do first? Sand and then use Revive or use Revive then sand? Powerwashed every year with citrus solve cleaner. How do we get rid of the fuzzies and then best protect it! No obvious staining or discoloration, other than where planters stand on the deck. Not planning on staining….
See above in the article on how to get rid of the fuzzies. If you want to properly protect the wood after, then you need to stain it:. Reply Angela 6 months ago I have a treated wooden deck and every winter the raccoons trample all over it and leave muddy footprints that we cannot get out. Any suggestions? My husband stained our deck with redwood stain.
Red red. I hate it! Ruined the deck and entire exterior look of home. Is there any way to fix this? I can not live with this red.
Open to possibly painting over this stain. Wanted a much more natural and neutral color. Please advise. I cry everytime I see it. Also reflects red into my home. Could not hate it more! Please help! Heart broken. Thank you so much for your response. Could not find my original question so rewrote. The product he used was behr , he says water based. Will take photos later this morning of this hideous deck and the can of product. Will be home in an hour or two. So thankful for your reply.
Just go ahead and stan it, you do not have to sand or buff, and most likely it will not show when stained. We are using RAD system to clean 4 month weathered kiln dried cedar. After step 1, we have furring. When we use the brightener, will that help?
Can we stain over it or do we need to thoroughly remove the furring? Be sure to blast into all nooks and crannies, though keep the wand tip far enough away to avoid tearing up the wood. Let the deck dry for a couple of warm days, then run your sander quickly over the surface to remove fuzz like you see here to the left.
These fibres come off easily with just one or two passes of the sander, leaving a very solid and absorbent surface behind. The fuzzy area on the top of the photo is after pressure washing and drying. The lower left part of the photo is after a very quick sanding. The wood will then be in great shape to accept a finish. Refinishing an old deck is similar to finishing a new one, though there are important differences you need to recognize before settling on a strategy.
The first is the condition of your existing finish. How bad is it? What kind of old finish are you dealing with? What type of new finishing do you have in mind? Is the wood weathered and cracked?
In this case, you can save yourself lots of time by simply sanding the surface lightly in preparation for a new top coat of whatever you used before. What does lightly mean? A or grit abrasive in a random-orbit sander works well. In those small areas where the surface has peeled down to bare wood usually around knots , sand off any loose frazzles of finish. Nothing can be left loose. Use a workshop vac to remove dust, then recoat with the original product used previously.
Over coating is a common cause for deck finish failure. This is the situation most deck owners face by the time they get serious about refinishing. Making your wooden deck look good again depends on removing all traces of the old finish and grey wood.
There is no salvaging. After that, follow my finishing instructions for dealing with new lumber. Exactly how you strip depends on the size of the deck and the equipment you have available. You could simply sand to remove the old finish, but the fastest approach usually involves a water-soluble chemical deck stripper brushed or rolled on, then cleaned off with a pressure washer. The only difference might be if you have deep cracks caused by weather. You could use a traditional deck brightener if the grey colour runs deep and persists after sanding.
There are many on the market that work well. Gasoline-powered versions speed up the work considerably because they deliver a greater volume of water at considerably higher pressures than electric models. Just be careful. Pressure washers can easily damage your deck if you let the tip come too close to the wood. Start by connecting your garden hose to the pressure washer, turn on the water, then pull the trigger on the wand while the motor is not running and the spray nozzle temporarily removed.
If you purge with the spray nozzle installed, a tiny bit of dirt can clog it. When all air has escaped from the system, reinstall the spray nozzle, start the engine and begin work. High pressure water can cause a lot of damage, as you can see above. This tearing of the wood was caused by nothing more than a pressure washer nozzle held too close to the surface.
Click below to hear me explain the need to get your hands on tools that are truly up to the job of prepping a deck. The bigger your deck, the better the tools you need. Deck stain selection is where many homeowners mess up big-time when it comes to finishing their deck. They go to the store and choose whatever product has the most compelling label or the most widespread advertising, or the biggest discount, or the most familiar name, hoping things will turn out well.
Never rely on hope as the basis for a durable deck finish. Listen to my comments by clicking below before you go further with the course. Fact is, you can wear out your knees doing all the right deck prep work, but if you choose a weak finishing product, your deck will look bad in a year or less.
All else being equal, finish life is directly proportional to how opaque a coating is. And even then, after 4 or 5 or 6 years, weathering of the wood will eventually take away that bright new look anyway. At the other end of the spectrum are the deck finishes that look like paint. Some even look great after six years. Let me show you how I decide which deck finishes are good and which are not:. I also monitor other deck finishing trials that have been going on for more than a decade to round out my recommendations.
There may be better products out there than these, but I need to verify them personally before I feel right about recommending them to you. Cabot Solid Color Oil Decking Stain The oil-based formulation of this product is a long-standing recommendation of mine, but tightening government regulations have restricted availability to the central states in the US.
According to Cabot their oil-based Decking Stain is no longer available in Canada, though you can get the acrylic version across North America. Either way, this product is an opaque formulation and you can expect 3 years of decent appearance from this product before stripping and refinishing is required. Some people get 5 or 6 years. This product is like paint. No wood grain appearance shows through. D uckback Superdeck Elastomeric Coating.
Superdeck also works well on new wood. Any moisture on the surface even a little and Superdeck will peel.
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