Decks and fences: What you need to know.
Whether your deck or fence is brand new or getting kind of old, it’s going to need some protection from the elements. By elements, I mean: sun, wind, rain, snow, sleet, ice…all that stuff. In just a few months after being up you may notice it start to “grey.” This is a normal process that doesn’t mean the wood is going bad. It’s that the ultraviolet rays from the sun are starting to break down the wood. When wood starts to rot is when you have a problem. Here’s some things you need to know, recommendations, and product information to take care of your deck/fence and prolong that process.
There are many different products on the market for wood. I’ll go in order from most transparent to least. They are a clear coat, transparent stain, semi-transparent, semi-solid, solid. Our company only uses a transparent and a solid stain. The other ones have their place, but we just don’t offer them. Our favorites are Ready Seal for transparent and Flood for the solid stain. Ready Seal is an oil based stain that penetrates into the wood. It lets the wood grain show through while adding color to your deck or fence and repelling water. The most popular color we’ve found so far is pecan. It’s a mild brown with some deep notes that pairs with almost any house and landscape. Oil based stains are very thin and runny. If your substrate already has stain on it, this may not be the best option. With stain we want uniformity, so if there’s another substance on there it will need to come all the way off. If it doesn’t come off, it will show through the new stain to some extent. For application, we recommend using gloves and to roll/brush slowly so you don’t fling stain everywhere. Solid stains will be more like paint and likely be soap and water to clean up. These will be thicker and won’t run as much. Roll them on evenly for a nice new finish that will look painted. Semi-transparent and semi-solid are stains will fall in the middle of these two. Semi-transparent will have a little more “body” than transparent and semi-solid will have a little less than solid. Also, the thicker the product, the longer the life-span. Personally, I would rather do more maintenance and keep the transparent look.
You can apply stain in the same way you can apply paint. It can sprayed, brushed, or rolled. The problem you can run into with any of these is the wind. A windy day will make overspray fly over the entire neighborhood. That’s to be expected. It will also take drips and splatters from a roller or brush and send them all over a house, doors, cars, or anything else in the way. RollTheLex will usually brush and roll decks. Ready Seal is great for this. It’s marketed as a “goof proof” product and that’s true. It’s almost impossible to mess up. You can roll, spray, or brush and it all looks the same. The stain soaks in nicely and doesn’t leave brush or lap marks. Solid stain will be the same with rolling/brushing. It’s a little more difficult to lay out because it’s thicker, but it can be applied in these ways just fine. Spraying is done selectively and with care. It doesn’t take much wind for overspray to go flying so in most instances we stay away from this.
Finally, let’s talk about preparation. The wood needs to be as clean as possible and able to accept stain. The first thing to do is drop some water on the wood and see if it soaks in. If the water soaks in, it’s good to go, though we still give it a light wash. If it doesn’t soak in the wood needs to be opened up. We do this by using a cleaning agent and bristled brush. We start soft and work to more of a stiff bristle if needed. We don’t want to damage the wood if possible. Sometimes it takes a little more elbow grease to get the wood ready. The best way to avoid this is regular maintenance/cleaning of the wood. Once it is washed and dries out, you are good to stain! Oil based stain needs to have a moisture reading usually under 12%. Solid stain can have more because it’s water based.
Now that you have the lowdown on stain, pick the right one for your project and get to work. If it seems like a daunting task, you can always hire it out. Happy staining!
