Cost to stain a deck?

[noodleoo]

Any idea how much is reasonable to pay to stain a deck? We did ours ourselves the first time and it was horrible, so much work! And it came out awful, it is all peeling and looks terrible. We've been having a hard time finding people to do it and got one quote for $1350 for a 12x12 deck with railings and one story stairs. Is this reasonable?

also, we did an orange cedar color and I don't like it, but it would cost more to change the color, not sure how much yet. Would you pay more to do that? What color do you like?

[ddi741]

Well we got an estimate to stain our fence and it was $4080. We will be staining it ourselves (with the help of some awesome friends) this weekend. Should end up costing us around $800 including beer and food for all the people helping.
$1350 seems like a lot but after the fence estimate, I have no idea.
We stain the deck ourselves (it's a 12X22), yes it's a lot of work to get all the spindals etc but it was cheaper then hiring someone.
Our deck is cedar color also but we will be changing it next time we stain it. We are doing the fence in the BEHR cappuccino color which is what we will ultimately do the deck in also.

I would get 2 more estimates just to try to get a range of prices.

[orval]

We had ours done recently (similar size to yours) and it was about $800. We used a solid color stain that is a rusty brick color like the bricks on our house. They should pressure wash to clean and get off any peeling before they stain. It is a lot of work and hard to find someone to do it. At the point I finally found someone willing, I would have paid just about anything!

ETA the stain itself probably was about $50 a gallon (Sherwin Williams) and I think they used at least 2 maybe 3 gallons

[mrshandy]

We're in the process of restaining our deck right now. We had soemthing similar happen. What a pain! It's been an ongoing process. Do your homework. H did no research before he put the crap on our deck last year and it all peeled off this year. He had to pressure wash and use some special acid to get all of the stuff off. He couldn't get all the stuff of the spindles so we had to get new ones.

I don't have an input on costs. I would just make sure that they come recommended by others since I know this is something you can screw up easily.

[noodleoo]

Jul 13, 2015 10:36:02 GMT -5 orval said:

We had ours done recently (similar size to yours) and it was about $800. We used a solid color stain that is a rusty brick color like the bricks on our house. They should pressure wash to clean and get off any peeling before they stain. It is a lot of work and hard to find someone to do it. At the point I finally found someone willing, I would have paid just about anything!

ETA the stain itself probably was about $50 a gallon (Sherwin Williams) and I think they used at least 2 maybe 3 gallons

This is where we are too! We have been trying to get this done Since last summer and it is so hard to find someone who will do it. So at this point we will probably just get it done. We also use crappy stuff when we did it the first time, which I'm bummed about! Oh well, didn't know any better as first time homeowners! Stinks though, he said it will be more if we want to change the color because he has to strip the spindles which is more work. Bummer!

[simpsongal]

We're having our 18x18 screened porch floor finished for $2200. This includes power washing the raw mahogany, sanding (full on hardwood floor style sander), and 2 coats of oil-based varnish. They're also doing the cedar rail caps and the bottom wrap around the porch.

Your quote seems pretty reasonable. Just make sure they have good reviews and do proper prep work. This kind of job is all about the prep.

ETA: re: color, maybe you can do a test area and go over the orange with another color to get somewhere you like?  Sikkens is one of the best stains for outdoor surfaces.  It's hard to say what color would look nice w/o seeing your home and landscaping, etc. 

[boiler717]

Ours was $500 of materials should have been $500 for labor but the guys showed up high and did the most awful job ever. So we are out all the materials and still need to get it redone.

[runnergirl]

We just re-stained ours but this time used a paint/stain sprayer.  For the price you were quoted, you could buy/rent the sprayer and still come out ahead.  I've stained the deck by hand in the past and this was so much faster and it looks better - it's very even coverage.  We bought a sprayer that could do paint and stain; it was great for painting trim this past winter (un-installed trim), so I definitely think it's worth it.  With the sprayer, the prep work took longer than the actually staining.   

[whitemerlot]

We got a quote to take off old stain with deck stripper, and restain our cedar deck and it was $850. Our deck is also 12x12 with on side rail and about 5 stairs. The guy was really busy and pretty rude, so my h has been doing it himself.

[imojoebunny]

Depends on where you live. I had 3 stories of deck, about 1000 square feet, and 200 feet of railings, and an entire house (2k square feet) sanded and restrained for $6k, which included a number of siding boards being replaced for $6k. I had my 20x24 deck at our regular home water sealed and it was $400. (Raw wood, new construction). They sprayed that and it is not great. I will need to do it again every third year. I have painted decks the size of yours for $600-800, including sanding  of loose paint and replacement of rotten boards for $600-800.

I would get some more quotes.

[lys]

Ditto the Sikkens recommendation for stain.
Stay away from some of the newer "stain - extend the life of your deck" products - They are famous for peeling as they are more "paint like" than a true stain.

[aam1003]

My DH is a carpenter and built our cedar deck last year. He has a hard time paying anyone to do anything that he knows he can do for us. We ended up paying someone earlier this year $1200 to powerwash and stain the deck. It was a good decision for us. Our deck is decent sized and also has a gazebo that the ceiling had to be stained too. I thought the guy was relatively cheap. He also told us that you can change colors but you typically can't go any lighter than the previous stain color. We both love the color we picked.

You can sort of see the color we picked on the pic with the couch.  It's a little bit lighter in the pic than IRL.  The other one shows the size (and this was right after it was finished so the yard actually has grass now, we've poured a patio, and we no longer have the trash everywhere   ) of the deck.