Homeowner Question? Deck Staining Help

[anupamgarg]

I have a cedar deck that is about 3 years old and was previously stained with CWF Flood deck stain. I am in the process of re-staining the deck. So far I have used Behr Stain and Finish remover (this was before I read negative reviews of Behr products online) to strip the old stain off. The deck looks relatively clean now.

From what I understand from this forum, and others, I can now brighten and then stain the deck. I have considered hiring a professional, but I would like to see if I can do it myself to save money on the project.

These are the two products I have been looking at:

Woodrich Citralic to brighten and neutralize the deck
Wood-Tux Advanced Formula Stain and Seal to stain the deck

Are there any other products or things that you would recommend to do in this process? As we had this deck installed just 3 years ago I would like to get as many opinions so that I can make the most educated decision.

The deck is in the Pacific Northwest and faces west, so it deals with quite a bit of rain during the fall, winter, and spring, and sun during summer.

Thanks in advance!

[Bryan C]

Pics would be great. Have used a lot of Wood Tux - great stain...

[bigchaz]

Have you gotten all the old stain off? That behr stripper isnt bad like their stains and seems to be one of the stronger homeowner available strippers. Its just priced high for what you get. Same ingredients as professional stripper though. Once you get all the old stain off with the stripper you'd be fine just neutralizing with their brightener. If youve waited several days already, especially if you had rain, the stripper is going to be pretty neutralized already.

Woodtux is a great stain, we use it on lots of decks. I would go with the woodrich brand stain and seal as opposed to woodtux though. I think youll find it a bit more forgiving to apply. If youve never used it, woodtux can be a little harder to get looking right

[anupamgarg]

Thanks for the help so far. I have stripped off all of the stain and I will be posting pictures tomorrow of what the deck looks like right now so far.

Would the Behr 2-In-1 Deck Prep do the same thing as the Woodrich brightener?

Also, how do the CWF and Olympic stains compare to the Woodrich products? Also, would it be better to use a solid colored stain for rain?

Thanks!

[bigchaz]

Normally I would tell you to order HD80 stripper and woodrich brand brightener together. You probably should have gotten your plan together before you started stripping everything. But as this point you need to get that deck neutralized. Sounds like its been a few days already and if you wait another week for shipping you might end up having to clean the deck again.

[anupamgarg]

Yeah that's what I figured as soon as I starting reading more. So I think I will neutralize the deck ASAP so that the stripper doesn't sit on there too long. There hasn't been any rain so far though so I think I still need to neutralize.

Does anyone have any reviews for the CWF Flood and Olympic stains? Those seem to be more readily available at stores. However, if there is a large difference between theses stains and other stains available online, it is probably in my best interest to order something and wait.

Thanks!

[CarolinaProWash]

We have had some very nice results using CWF-UV5 as well as the Olympic GREEN label oil when we needed fill-in stain. Both spray very nicely with an airless sprayer if that is an application option for you. John Orr on this forum swears by Olympic.

Celeste

[MMI Enterprises]

You could also check out Armstrong-Clark stain.. found around here at Sherwin or by mail order.

[MudDuck]

I just used the Olympic brown can 5yr Natural cedar on a deck and would not use it again. It came out looking like it was dipped in Hooters wing sauce, orange. It was on pressure treated wood though. I think John only uses the 3 yr toner green can. My HO got what I used from Lowes and said thats what he wanted me to use. I keep hearing more and more about the Armstrong Clark being good. Also the solid color would be easyer.

[gt2003]

Oh, don't cover up all that beautiful grain with a solid, please!! Opt for a semi-transparent. You'll be thankful when it's time to reapply (from what i've heard).