I have a wooden deck that may be 30 years old.
It was somehow treated in the past, but I do not know how.
It is in good physical shape, but begins to show signs of green moss growing on it.
I would like to treat it myself, power wash, apply some wood preservative, and then stain it.
Would you like to suggest a good preservative and stain. Thanks
| Would you like to suggest a good preservative and stain.
You didn't mention what kind of wood it is. PT? Fir? I gather that it's bare wood. There are not a lot of choices these days. Water-base deck stain is junk. It will just wear away in one season.
Oil base stains no longer come in solid colors, though you can get semi-solid. But most colors don't look so great with only partial opacity over wood, especially old wood.
If you like the wood look you might try the Benjamin Moore transluscent alkyd stains. They have several colors (mahogany flame, teak, cedar, etc) that are a copy of the Cabot's Australian Timber Oil stains, which are now off the market. The can says to only use one coat. I use two coats. It may take a few days to dry but you get a nice, thick coat with a gloss that will last awhile. And the colors are nice.
All of the currently available oil stains seem to have the same problem with drying. They've fudged on the driers in order to meet the EPA regulations. So then they have to tell customers to only use one coat. But few things look good with one coat. I've considered trying japan drier to speed up the cure, but haven't yet tried it, so I don't know how it would work.
Beyond that, it's mostly experimentation. I've used a combination of good exterior gloss oil paint with linseed oil and thinner in the past. It makes for a watery liquid that soaks in and provides solid color with a bit of gloss. Holds up well. Linseed oil is what people used to use to protect outdoor wood and it's still used for wood gutters. The only down side of that approach is that you don't get any leveling to smooth out the surface. It looks solid like paint, but since it's more like a glaze it doesn't build up to smooth out little cracks and roughness.
I'm in the middle of applying rez "deck revitalizer" on my 19 year old pressure treated southern yellow pine deck. For 19 years it has been "naked" and was developing some cracks and minor deterioration. I used their filler on the wider cracks and to fill in where wood had rotted, then applied one coat with a roller. Didn't fill the fine cracks, so I went at them with a brush - will be applying a second coat with the roller in a day or so, after it has fully dried (we are expecting rain tommorrow - so that will have to dry too) The stuff has a real "anti-skid" finish - like coarse sand.
| I'm in the middle of applying rez "deck revitalizer" on my 19 year old | pressure treated southern yellow pine deck. For 19 years it has been | "naked" and was developing some cracks and minor deterioration. I used | their filler on the wider cracks and to fill in where wood had rotted, | then applied one coat with a roller. Didn't fill the fine cracks, so I | went at them with a brush - will be applying a second coat with the | roller in a day or so, after it has fully dried (we are expecting rain | tommorrow - so that will have to dry too) The stuff has a real | "anti-skid" finish - like coarse sand.
I've been curious about that kind of product. Sherwin Williams has something similar. Fairly new. They claim it's extra tough due to special hight-tech, crosslinked polymers. (Then again, that's basically the definition of a paint film.) Unfortunately, they don't have samples and their description sounds like a special coating for high wear areas like boat docks. Your description sounds similar. I'm not sure I'd want an "anti-skid" texture on a deck. It sounds "utilitarian" rather than attractive. What do you think of it, in terms of "elegance", assuming you care about that aspect? I'm curious how long it will last, since it sounds like a thick coating on top of the wood. There's really no way to know about that with such a new product.
I came across some interesting info:
--------------------------------------------------------- Rock salt will damage the coating and is not recommended. Metal shovels will damage the coating. We recommend the use of plastic shovels only.
Q: Can I use Revitalize on all four sides of my deck boards?
YES. REVITALIZE? is a breathable coating and can be used to coat all sides of decking boards.
[That implies it may not last well against moisture, just as normal acrylic paint doesn't.]Q: How does Revitalize compare to porch and floor paint?
REVITALIZE? is intended to improve the appearance of aged wood and concrete surfaces like patios and retaining walls, structurally sound old, gray weathered decks, stairs, docks, posts, railings, and more -- as an alternative to replacement. It will fill small cracks up to ?-inch in depth. REVITALIZE? can also be applied to new wood or to
30-day-cured new concrete when a non-slip, textured surface is desired. REVITALIZE? lays down a finely-textured surface.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
It sounds like these products are a good option to improve the look of an old, weathered deck, which is what it sounds like you have. But maybe not the best choice as a basic deck finish.
The marketing material at the SW store for their product was not so honest. They describe their product almost identically, but present it as something like an industrial coating rather than a high tech bandage for old wood.
If the only visible problem after 30 years is moss, you probably do not need to apply "preservative." (But your local climate is important, cf. humidity etc., and we do not know where you live.)
It seems unnecessary to use a pressure washer on a 30 y.o. deck. Hand scrubbing would clean the deck and remove moss. You can make your own cleaning mixture from 1/3 cup TSP (83 cc.) 2/3 cup liquid detergent 1 qt. bleach Water (2 or 3 gallons). (Wear gloves when scrubbing because of the bleach and TSP.)
Thompson's Transparent Water Seal - Oil based. Spray it on yearly with a garden sprayer.
I would not recommend power washing a wood deck. It's too easy to damage the deck surface and you'll force water into the wood fibers. You would need to wait at least a week or two for the deck to dry out if you use that method. It will also raise the wood grain and leave a "fuzzy" texture on the deck.
A safer and simpler option is to simply get a brush and soapy water and scrub down the deck by hand. Add a little bleach if you wish to kill the moss and stains. You can also find cleaners specifically made for wood decks at any home center.
If the deck still looks bad after basic cleaning, they do make "renewal" deck cleaners that will bleach the wood a bit to even everything out in preparation for stain.
If your deck is made of cedar, redwood, or other natural wood, it would be a good time to give everything a light sanding to remove surface scratches and other blemishes. It's a LOT of work, but makes a big difference. DO NOT try sanding pressure treated lumber though, you'll just create a lot of toxic dust.
Once your deck is clean and dry, apply a good penetrating oil stain. I've had good results with both Cabot (sold at Lowes) and Sikkens (sold at Home Depot) deck stains.
DO NOT use any kind of finish that forms a film on the deck surface. Over time the film will break down, crack, and look terrible. I used Behr deck stain once, huge mistake. I had good results with their siding stain, but the deck stain went on streaky and uneven and just looked terrible. I completely sanded it off and applied Sikkens stain, much better results. I've also heard a lot of bad reports for Thompsons water seal, so I wouldn't recommend that either.
Good luck!
Anthony Watson
Well, this stuff is not nearly as hoary as the Rustoleum Restore product, or the Olympic product. On my well weathered SYP deck, the texture of the grain still shows through, and applying it with a normal 3/8" or 10mm tile acrylic roller, it went on pretty thin compared to those other products applied with their special "loop" roller. It does have a rather agressive course sand type finish,
I bought an 11.7 liter container (that is 3 US gallons) and I would say I used about 2 gallons of that on a 12X12 deck with railing on 2 sides. There are 4 4x4 posts, 24 feet of 2X6 , 24 feet of 2X4, and 24 feet of 5/4X6 in the railing,(all covered on both sides and one edge, more or less) as well as 36 feet of 2X10 covered on one side. (perimeter framing)
It took less material than I expected - with 2 coats on pretty well everything - the main deck surface 2 rolled coats plus over half with an extra brushed coat to fill narrow cracks. Wider cracks were filled first with their crack filler product.
We will see how it stans up over the summer and next winter. Sure hope it sticks better than the rustoleum product everyone is posting horror stories about on you-tube!!!!!!!
Interesting info. Thanks.
Normal acrylic doesn't stand up against moisture??? Could have fooled me!! I've had a lot better luch with premium acrylic latex paints than I ever had with oil paints where moisture is an issue. Letting vapour out means it never has to blister from moisture.
It sounds like Ptitsburgh and REZ are pretty much the same product (both use the "revitalize" trademark)
Don't think I'd use it on a fresh deck, but there has been NOTHING on my deck for 19 years. On my front (cedar) porch I had used a stain, but it didn't stick and looked awfull within 2 years, so I sanded it off and left it bare for over 10 years before I replaced it with Trex. Other than 2 or 3 soft spots, it still looked very presentable when I tore it out to put in the trex.
This is in Central Ontario where we get all extremes of weather from
-40 to +95F, varying from extremely high humidity to months of virtual drought - so conditions are tough for an exposed wooden deck.
Mabee it is both???
That's all we did for 19 years on our SYP deck - except we rinsed it off with a pressure washer after scrubbing it. We used a lot less bleach though -about half.
The old stuff worked pretty good. The new stuff??? Whizzing on the deck would do almost as much good.
We found just using the bleach left a fuzzy mess, which the pressure washer removed. The bleach attacks the lignin in the wood surface, releasing some of the cellulose fibers. The deck isn't smooth after cleaning this way - it has a pronounced grain texture. (an accellerated weathering) - I'm counting on that helping make the revitalize product stick tightly to the deck!!
Mayayana posted for all of us...
Don't they have six sides (the end) like a door?
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