What brand of solid color deck stain?

[penguin23]

We bought a house last July with a very weathered deck. They claimed it was mahogony (difficult to tell as it was weathered and it was Feb when we looked at he house and did the P&S-closed in June and moved in July). Anyway, we want to stain the deck this year, so we got a deck cleaner and pressure washed the deck with little results a few weeks ago. So yesterday we rented a sander from home depot and sanded it down, I used a hand sander for the rails and 2 sides of the spindles and manually sanded the insides. There is still some weathered areas as the floor sander didn't get every last bit, but the majorty of it looks good. Not so good that I would be able to use a semi transparent stain (plus we need to replace 4 boards-we were just going to use pressure treated pine since we're not sure what the deck is), so I thought I would use a solid colored stain. BUt I don't know what brand. CR loved the Behr paint, but reviewers ripped it apart. I know cabot makes a stain, but I know nothing about it.

I live in Massachusetts, the deck is part sun and part shade. Its 23x16. I don't care how much the stain cost, and I want something that will last as long as possible (which I know will be difficult with solid colored stain). Any ideas? 

[orval]

I had a similar sounding weathered deck with a few new boards so we opted for solid color stain as well. I used Sherwin Williams. We stained it at least at least 6 years ago and now it is finally starting to look worn in some spots. The stair treads are getting worn. We do have a dog that goes down the stairs a zillion times a day. I have been very please with how long it has lasted.

[simpsongal]

Sikkens is the best for the transparent type of stains. In my experiencdce solid deck stain is basically like paint. There are some new products on the market for "deck shield" - so like a paint but an even thicker product that's supposed to resurface your deck. Rustoleum and Behr have products like this - I'd check them out, they may be more durable than the paint-like solid deck stains.

For wear and tear I think and oil-based transparent is probably the way to go, are you sure it won't look good and blend the weathered areas? It doesn't have to be perfect, the weathered spots might add character. Maybe try a test patch and sand it away if you don't like it?

[penguin23]

Orval-I will check out sherwin williams today.

simpsongal-I'm not sure if I can do an oil based transparent, maybe a semi transparent, but the 4 boards that get replaced will really stand out. I could always do a test patch-I'll see what DH thinks. I will check out sikkens. As far as the deck restore-the deck isn't that bad that it needs that much coverage. I was looking at the behr solid deck stain initially, but people gave it awful reviews.

[penguin23]

Simpsongal-what about the rubbol solid colored by sikkens? It says it's an acrylic oil based.

[munkii]

I was checking out Rustoleum Restore at the store the other day and am not sure how I feel about it for decks that don't have a lot of cracks, splinters, and damage. The reason I say this is because it's a thick coat of whatever their restoration material is, and it's textured. Once applied, wood no longer looks like wood--it basically looks like colored concrete. Plus, it only lasts a couple years according to their little infomercial at the store.

[simpsongal]

May 29, 2013 9:20:49 GMT -5 penguin23 said:

Simpsongal-what about the rubbol solid colored by sikkens? It says it's an acrylic oil based.

I would definitely check that product out.  My folks use a solid stain on their deck - it's latex and looks very "plastic" like - it also doesn't last terribly long. Call me crazy, but I think the stains that are oil-based and sink into the wood hold up better.

For the new boards, you should let them "dry out" if they're pressure treated for a few months before staining.  If the color seems really off, maybe buy a little minwax "weathered gray" to mix in and play w/matching?

[treedimensional]

I used the solid (oxford brown) Valspar from Lowes on my deck and fence. I apply a fresh coat to the deck every other year. I just think solid would protect the wood better than sheer.
We had a transparent stain on our first fence, and after 10 years it looked so bad we replaced the whole fence. Not sure how much of that (if anything) I can attribute to the sheer stain, though.
We pressure washed the deck and parts of the wood disintegrated, but we aren't ready to build a new deck just yet. We covered it over with the opaque dark brown stain.

[Deleted]

We used Cabot solid because it was highest rated by CR the year we did our deck.

It is a greenish color called Sagebrush. We're now on year four and it *might* need a few touchups by the end of the season but otherwise it is in great shape! In contrast, we were using Thompson's waterseal 2x per year the first 2 years we were in our house to keep it looking halfway decent. The $300 or so we spent on the Cabot was well worth the cost, considering how long it has lasted.