staining a deck in Canada

[George]

I have a 5 year old cedar deck. Ontario, Canada. I originally used Sikens stain (clear) for the deck because it brought out the beauty of the wood. I know that it is easily damaged by sunlight and I thought I realised the maintenance involved , but I have had to powerwash the walking area and completely restain every year. Last year the local supplier of Sikkens went bankrupt and I made the mistake of using Behr's stain instead of Sikkens. The peeling was even worse.

This year I went back to Sikkens. I powerwashed off the old stain:

I put on a coat of Sikkens Cetol SRD 072 Butternut. I'm very pleased with the result: how do I ensure that it will stay that way? I can't believe the deterioration in the last year alone. Should I lightly powerwash regularly? with some sort of detergent? Should I put on a second coat? If so, when? I begin to get the impression that I need to powerwash down to the wood each year because I'm somehow not applying the stain peoperly in the first place. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Doug Brown]

Well, I'm not sure that I'm doing it right but I have a 5 - 6 year old deck in Regina. I too used Sikkens. I made sure that when the deck was new I followed the instructions to a "T". I sanded all surfaces to get rid of mill glaze, applied 2 coats of Cetol and then built the deck. If I understand the maintenance instructions you don't have to powerwash all the old/existing finish off, just the loose stuff and where it has peeled away to allow the underlying wood to discolour. Then just let the deck dry for 3 clear days and reapply the Cetol. I've only had to do this about every third year. So far seems to be OK.

[MB]

Don't be too aggressive with the power washer. It will slowly etch out the softwood in between each growth ring leaving you with a very rough surface.

[C & E]

Beautiful!!