Deck protection ideas needed (1 Viewer)

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Hey everyone,
The cedar deck on my house is three yrs old. When it was new we used Cabot's clear deck protection, because we wanted to maintain the orig cedar color. Well that stain just peeled off so the next year we hired a pro painter who powerwashed it and used the same stain because he claimed that it was the best. Well the exact same thing happened the following year, so then we powerwashed it and again used the Cabot protection because three paint shops said it was the best. Well 1yr later again it has peeled off. SO NOW WHAT? I need to powerwash it, but what is the best deck protection to use? I think I am done with Cabot.

Thanks,
Zack
 
Stop worrying about your deck, you have a school that is out of control! Oh and stop sleeping with your teachers!! :D
 
I recommend Cabot. Its simply the best!

:D

C.
 
crholliday said:
I recommend Cabot. Its simply the best!

:D

C.
On second thought I do too...what I'm gonna need to do is pressure-wash your deck, then I'll apply it, it should be good for 5+ years...here is my card so you can call me to come and do this again next year.

:D
 
Find something oil based if you can. Watco was a fantastic product, oil based, and now illegal in the Republic of Kalifornia due to the Air Quality Management District! I don't know if it's still made or available where you are. The crap now available in CA to meet AQMD standards just doesn't hold up nearly as well. Opinion comes from years of maintaining a redwood (not cedar) deck I'd built at my last home.
 
If you want to maintain color, then you need UV protection. Some products will seal the wood from water damage, but not maintain the color, like Thompsons. When I sold paint in college we got a lot of good comments on a product called CWF-UV. It was fairly expensive, but very good. When you apply it, you need to brush or roll it on. You can spray it, but you need to go back and brush or roll still to get good penetration into the wood. As for durability, well, how much do you use your deck? Which side of the houes is it on? I would think the average life span of a sealer should be 1-5 years, depending on use, weather and application. One thing you want to be sure of; when you pressure wash you want to give the wood at least a good week to dry out. It will look dry, but it wont be. It needs to be bone dry or you will seal in the moisture and get peeling. I would guess that is what happened before. And my last suggestion, get a clear or tinted trasnparent sealer. Don't put anything solid color on it EVER. It is hard as hell to maintain and will not last/wear as well. I know the CWF-UV comes in a clear and a cedar both(at least it used to) so look into that. I know it should be sold at Lowe's and Sherwin-Williams among others.
 
I just did my redwood deck with cedartone TWP (Total Wood Protectant), that's what I used the first time and I think 5 years is good enough. For UV protection, you need something with a little stain or pigment. This stuff still allows the grain of the wood to show through.
A buddy of mine swears by Sikkens. They now have a one-step application instead of the old three-pass.

GL

Ed
 
Can't believe you're posting this question. I've tried everything and am disgusted at how it's all crap. I ran into a deck guy and expressed this opinion. Here's what he told me to do.

Go to a rental place and rent a drum sander. These things weigh 100lbs and the foot wide drum rotates like a dragster tire doing a burnout. After removing or screwing in any heads that stick up, grind the existing stain/paint/top layer of wood off. This took me about an hour for a 20 by 15 deck and it was cool how the wood edges were now perfectly uniform. It will take you the rest of the day to hand do the edges and around railings where the machine can't get.

Then find some Penofin deck stain. Good luck. Lowe's no longer carries it because they'd rather sell you 3 gallons of crap Behr/Thompsons every year along with stripper, applicators and pretreaters. It's expensive and they have two grades. The better one is like $8/gal more and is $34/gal at a local small hardware chain and it protects against UV. They only have tinted clear which is what you should use like Josh notes - don't ever put down "opaque stains" which are simply another name for paint that will come off.

My deck is in full sun from noon on and has nothing above it so it gets fully abused by nature, winter, our heavy furniture and our kids. It has lasted like you wouldn't believe and I regularly rave about it every time someone asks why my deck looks so good.

Now a rant about Behr. A couple years ago when I tried Behr I spent ALL the money buying their cleaner, their stripper, their wood prep, their pretreater, and finally put down their best stain after absolutely over the top meticulously prepping and perfect weather conditions. I kid you not, in 60 days it was coming off where the roof's drip line was from water. I began calling their "help/consumer hotline" on the can. I'm reasonably persistent and got no love from 5 messages (this line was never answered once) so I also sent them a few emails. I had all the receipts and went to Lowe's who told me Behr would take care of it under warranty. Nope. Never once got a phone call from those bastards or any contact whatsoever. The stain continued to come off everywhere in random patches just like every other product I'd tried - absolutely zero difference and it was the last straw that made me do the Penofin thing.

Penofin is something like 99% Brazilian tung oil if I recall from the label. It is the greatest deck stain I personally have ever used and I think I've about tried all the major brands. Last wednesday we finished doing my brother in law's deck and it looks fantastic. Guess what it's gonna look like next year? And the year after that? Yep - fantastic.

DougM
 
You hit it on the head Doug - you stated the stuff you used was oil based!
 
Doug, what type of wood is your deck?


Ed
 
IdahoDoug said:
Can't believe you're posting this question. I've tried everything and am disgusted at how it's all crap. I ran into a deck guy and expressed this opinion. Here's what he told me to do.

Go to a rental place and rent a drum sander. These things weigh 100lbs and the foot wide drum rotates like a dragster tire doing a burnout. After removing or screwing in any heads that stick up, grind the existing stain/paint/top layer of wood off. This took me about an hour for a 20 by 15 deck and it was cool how the wood edges were now perfectly uniform. It will take you the rest of the day to hand do the edges and around railings where the machine can't get.

Then find some Penofin deck stain. Good luck. Lowe's no longer carries it because they'd rather sell you 3 gallons of crap Behr/Thompsons every year along with stripper, applicators and pretreaters. It's expensive and they have two grades. The better one is like $8/gal more and is $34/gal at a local small hardware chain and it protects against UV. They only have tinted clear which is what you should use like Josh notes - don't ever put down "opaque stains" which are simply another name for paint that will come off.

My deck is in full sun from noon on and has nothing above it so it gets fully abused by nature, winter, our heavy furniture and our kids. It has lasted like you wouldn't believe and I regularly rave about it every time someone asks why my deck looks so good.

Now a rant about Behr. A couple years ago when I tried Behr I spent ALL the money buying their cleaner, their stripper, their wood prep, their pretreater, and finally put down their best stain after absolutely over the top meticulously prepping and perfect weather conditions. I kid you not, in 60 days it was coming off where the roof's drip line was from water. I began calling their "help/consumer hotline" on the can. I'm reasonably persistent and got no love from 5 messages (this line was never answered once) so I also sent them a few emails. I had all the receipts and went to Lowe's who told me Behr would take care of it under warranty. Nope. Never once got a phone call from those bastards or any contact whatsoever. The stain continued to come off everywhere in random patches just like every other product I'd tried - absolutely zero difference and it was the last straw that made me do the Penofin thing.

Penofin is something like 99% Brazilian tung oil if I recall from the label. It is the greatest deck stain I personally have ever used and I think I've about tried all the major brands. Last wednesday we finished doing my brother in law's deck and it looks fantastic. Guess what it's gonna look like next year? And the year after that? Yep - fantastic.

DougM

See if you can find a rental center with a super bee 6" orbital sander http://www.u-sand.com/. These are much easier to use and you can't screw the deck up. If you must rent a common drum sander be real careful not to gouge the deck.

Good luck. Better you than me. :)
 
I 2nd the C'Monster. Drum sanders on OAK are a MoFo to control and use properly, let alone Cedar or some other soft wood. They also rent around here at least, a pad sander that is 2'x2'....less likely to F'up the deck.
BTW...I wondered about Tung oil 'cause I've used it on indoor projects with great results.

Decks are enjoyable and a PITA to keep looking good.



Ed
 
:) Zach,
First of all, I am a finish carpenter, deck builder, and professional house painter by trade. For my choice I would never use Cabot, Behr, or Thompson Wood Sealer. My choice is CWF-UV Clear. I live in the mountains where we get snow, rain, and sun. Most deck finishes have to be redone about every two years. CWF-UV costs about $80 per 5 gallons. You can roll, spray, or brush it on. I recommend that you do two coats. Their website is www.floodco.com Most Ace hardware stores carry it. It's easy to do yourself.

Good luck!
Hatman
:cheers: :beer: :popcorn:
 
swank60 said:
What? No mention of stapling a blue tarp over the whole thing?

What kind of redneck 4x4 board is this? :flipoff2:


We drive Land Cruisers, not K5's...we are high class rednecks:D
 
My deck's red wood, my bro in law's is cedar. Good points on the sanders. If there's another way to do it that's as fast but reduces the skill level needed - go for it.

Also, I used a stain applicator that looks like a green sponge with a layer of white on the business side that has fine white bristles. It goes on any broom stick handle with a screw tip and saves at least 30% of wasted stain vs a roller. Use this, and get a couple spares as they'll eventually fall apart as the oil loosens the glue. They're $5 at Lowe's. Was downright fun putting it on this way vs on my knees with a roller last times.

DougM
 
IdahoDoug said:
Can't believe you're posting this question. I've tried everything and am disgusted at how it's all crap. I ran into a deck guy and expressed this opinion. Here's what he told me to do.

Go to a rental place and rent a drum sander. These things weigh 100lbs and the foot wide drum rotates like a dragster tire doing a burnout. After removing or screwing in any heads that stick up, grind the existing stain/paint/top layer of wood off. This took me about an hour for a 20 by 15 deck and it was cool how the wood edges were now perfectly uniform. It will take you the rest of the day to hand do the edges and around railings where the machine can't get.

Then find some Penofin deck stain. Good luck. Lowe's no longer carries it because they'd rather sell you 3 gallons of crap Behr/Thompsons every year along with stripper, applicators and pretreaters. It's expensive and they have two grades. The better one is like $8/gal more and is $34/gal at a local small hardware chain and it protects against UV. They only have tinted clear which is what you should use like Josh notes - don't ever put down "opaque stains" which are simply another name for paint that will come off.

My deck is in full sun from noon on and has nothing above it so it gets fully abused by nature, winter, our heavy furniture and our kids. It has lasted like you wouldn't believe and I regularly rave about it every time someone asks why my deck looks so good.

Now a rant about Behr. A couple years ago when I tried Behr I spent ALL the money buying their cleaner, their stripper, their wood prep, their pretreater, and finally put down their best stain after absolutely over the top meticulously prepping and perfect weather conditions. I kid you not, in 60 days it was coming off where the roof's drip line was from water. I began calling their "help/consumer hotline" on the can. I'm reasonably persistent and got no love from 5 messages (this line was never answered once) so I also sent them a few emails. I had all the receipts and went to Lowe's who told me Behr would take care of it under warranty. Nope. Never once got a phone call from those bastards or any contact whatsoever. The stain continued to come off everywhere in random patches just like every other product I'd tried - absolutely zero difference and it was the last straw that made me do the Penofin thing.

Penofin is something like 99% Brazilian tung oil if I recall from the label. It is the greatest deck stain I personally have ever used and I think I've about tried all the major brands. Last wednesday we finished doing my brother in law's deck and it looks fantastic. Guess what it's gonna look like next year? And the year after that? Yep - fantastic.

DougM


Hi, Doug!
The Penofin you used on your redwood deck and gets so much sun on it will look good for the first six months. Then the redwood will turn darker brown and will crack and peel off. Post again six months from now and let me know if I'm right. :beer: :popcorn: :cheers:
 

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