Deck stain thoughts

1 of 1 people found this post helpful

Post Reply | Watch this Post

I'm not familiar with Rymar Xtreme, but its a great name. I just finished a redwood deck with Penofin. After shopping around and worrying about whether to use Cuprinol UV, Penofin, Preserva Wood, Olympic, Benjamin Moore, Akzo Nobel (Sikkens); I came to the conclusion these are all good, high solids, alkyd penetrating oil products that work basically the same. Most are primarily linseed with additions of rosewood oil or pine oil and urethanes to increase solids; and micro-fine pigments for UV control. In spite of claims of durability, I also know that these oil stains need to be maintained every two years or so in high exposure environments. They all cost about $100 per 5-gallon bucket.

Its not worth sweating the details of which one is best. All will work nearly the same, all claim to be better than the other, and its going to come down to how well you prepare your deck and make the application. None of the above sealers are designed to put a film on the wood and all will have limited water repellancy (beading) after the first half-year. They are designed to penetrate the wood fiber and prevent fiber deterioration and color change from water, UV and mildew. Using a high quality oil and re-applying as needed will minimize the preparation you need to make in future applications. So the trick is not to let the oil fully deteriorate and dry out. Reapply as soon as needed and you won't have much work to do. Wait until you see color change or deterioration and you will have a major project. One caution, avoid acrylics as a means of building solids in an oil finish. They will deteriorate faster.