Year-round exposure means you must protect your deck by staining, painting
Leaving wood exposed and unprotected opens up your surface to premature failure
Can you please recommend a really good deck surface paint for an older cedar deck with adhesion issues? I have used several and they do not last much longer than a year before peeling. The deck was sanded to bare wood four years ago, left for a year to dry and then painted with what was advised as really good paint.
Decks can be a bit of a challenge to maintain. They require more frequent staining/painting than other outdoor surfaces such as fencing because they are on a horizontal plane and receive year-round hammering from Mother Nature — not to mention foot traffic. How often depends on the environmental factors your deck is exposed to such as exposure to sunlight, the standing moisture from dew, rain, snow and ice.
Research from the Forest Products Laboratory suggests that leaving wood exposed and unprotected will reduce its ability to hold applied paint and stains, which can lead to the product failing prematurely.
For newly built decks, pressure treated or not, you should refrain from staining the wood immediately. New or “green wood” is very high in moisture and has not had time to dry or “season.” Staining too soon will trap the moisture which can cause a number of problems such as uneven colouring, keeping the product from penetrating and even mould or mildew.
It is this trapped moisture that often causes the finish to lift off the surface. Drying time will vary depending on the type of wood used, environmental exposure and structure of the deck itself. For best results, the wood should have a moisture reading of 12 per cent or less and can be measured using a moisture meter, which you can find at most hardware stores. This also applies to freshly power-washed decks. When you apply a finish to your deck boards, you are sealing only one side of four. UV rays from the sun deteriorate the surface and heat it up, pulling moisture into the unprotected sides and ends. Depending on the deck structure, there may not be enough air circulation below to dry the boards. Not enough spacing between the boards can also contribute to this problem.
The ideal time to stain or paint your deck is when the temperature is above 10 C and below 35 C, relatively low humidity and no rain forecasted for a few days. It is preferable that you have three to four dry days consecutively prior to your project.
As with paints, there are a variety of stain products, transparencies and colour choices to choose from. Make sure to read the manufacturer’s product specifications to determine if the product is the correct one for your particular project.
Because each deck is highly individual (structural, type of wood used and location) I would suggest that you contact the manufacturer’s help line and explain your particular situation. They are usually very good about assistance and will often send out a rep to view and make recommendations. Andrea Colman is a colour consultant and principal designer and owner of Fine Finishes Custom Design Solutions. Send paint shade questions: info@finefinishes.ca