New Deck Staining Is Easy with These Professional Tips
If you’re installing a new deck, it’s crucial to properly stain it so that it’s protected against the elements. A poorly-stained deck will be quickly damaged by weather, and potentially even ruined within just a couple of years. A solid deck staining job is a must.
Fortunately, staining a new deck isn’t that difficult, and many people can do it themselves with little trouble. So, we thought we’d share a few tips to help ensure the process goes as smoothly as possible. Then you’ll have a great new deck that lasts for years.
Here’s what you need to know.
Deck Staining Made Easy with Professional Tips
- Why stain, rather than seal?
One of the most common questions people have is whether staining and sealing are the same thing. They are not, and most of the time, staining is the better option.
Sealer is simply a clear coat that goes on top of the wood, sitting on the surface. It doesn’t alter the wood’s color – which can be good if you like the natural look – but it also doesn’t penetrate into the wood. This makes sealing much less effective as protection, and typically sealed decks become damaged more quickly than stained decks.
That said, sealing can go alongside staining. Once a deck is stained, you can then apply coats of sealant periodically to add extra protection. This is recommended if you expect your deck to see a lot of rain or snow.
- Don’t stain immediately after installing a new deck
This one is counter-intuitive and often trips up DIYers. You’d think that a new deck should be stained immediately, but that’s not the case.
The issue is that most wood you get from supply stores has been treated with preservatives that have been saturated into the wood. Otherwise, they’d rot in the warehouse. However, this makes the wood slightly moist, and that moisture will prevent stains from properly penetrating the wood.
At a minimum, you should wait at least three months before staining a new deck, and that’s only if the deck has been getting a lot of sunlight and open air. You can actually wait up to 12 months and still be fine; until then the pre-treatment will protect the wood from harm.
However, there’s one big exception to this:
- Cedar decks need to be stained more quickly
Unlike every other type of wood, you might use to build a deck, cedar wood is not pre-treated before sale. In addition, cedar is among the softest woods used for deck-building, which makes it extra vulnerable.
A cedar deck should be allowed to age and weather for a short time, to improve its appearance, but never more than three months. You could potentially stain it as little as one month after building, and still be fine.
We also recommend using a stain that’s as transparent as possible, to preserve the natural look of cedar.
- Staining works best in the spring or fall
“When should I stain my deck?” is another common question, and the answer is “whenever the temperatures aren’t extreme.” Significant heat or cold can inhibit the staining process and create poor results, so typically, the best times to stain a deck are in the spring or fall when temperatures are moderate.
However, be sure to keep an eye on the weather. Your deck must be thoroughly dry for staining to work, so be prepared to delay the staining if a storm hits the day before. Also, if you choose to stain in the fall, be aware that falling leaves can potentially harm the staining. Look to protect the deck from falling materials, but not with anything that will physically touch the deck. Hanging a tarp down from the roof might be one solution.
- Remove “mill glaze” before staining
The wood in your deck has pores, not unlike human skin, and for the stain to work these pores need to be as open as possible. However, most newly purchased wood has something called ‘mill glaze,’ a slightly shiny look caused by the oils in the wood making their way to the surface. These oils can clog the pores, again, just like skin.
So you should give your deck a good scrubbing before attempting to stain it. The goal is simply to get rid of the shiny look, which means the surface oils have been cleared off. This ensures the wood can accept the most stain, which leads to the best long-term results.
However, do not sand the wood on a new deck – this will cause more damage than good. Use hand-scrubbing instead. Older decks can be sanded, to get rid of accumulated grime.
- Don’t over-stain
Finally, when it comes time to actually do the staining, use a light touch. It is entirely possible to over-stain a deck and saturate it with too much of the staining liquid. In worst-case scenarios, too much stain can actually cause the wood to rot early by trapping the moisture inside.
So follow the directions on your staining product, and don’t overdo it. More is not better, in this case.
C.E.T. Painting Offers Superior Deck Staining Services
If you’d rather let the pros do the work, and deliver a superior deck with the best possible protection, C.E.T. Painting is here to help! We’re Westchester County’s exterior renovation specialists, and we can ensure your deck looks fantastic for years to come.