My contractor built a masterpiece deck for us one year ago out of Tiger Wood. He had some trouble with the first recommended finish after proper application, and he sanded and applied a different product. It looked great for about a month. This spring it looks as if half is completely worn off and the other parts look as if the product never soaked in. He is willing to make this right, but we want to make sure we choose the right product this time.

He is thinking about stripping the existing product off (not sanding), and then applying a new coat of something. I want to keep the beauty of the wood and not weather it. We are willing to do maintenance every year if necessary to keep the look. I don't want to add color, but just protect it. As another person stated, I have read sooooo many different opinions on this and am now thoroughly confused.

We live in Ohio if that matters. If you need any other details to help me figure this out, please reply.

THANKS.

Due to the density of you wood you will need to apply a stain 1-2 times a year. Nothing will last more then one season.

You must have a color/tint in your stain. I clear untinted stain will not last more then a couple of months. It will turn gray.

The most popular stains for hardwood such as Tigerwood are:

Defy Stain for Hardwoods
Messmers VOC UV Plus for Hardwoods

Stripping is much better then sanding.

BTW it is not your contractors fault the stain did not last. It is the wood's extreme density. Nothing can penetrate well, causing it to fail much quicker then other types of wood.

Thank you - and we'll use the great advice for prep and application that is on your site. I know the contractor did what he was advised to do - I chose the Tiger Wood. I didn't realize (even after a lot of internet reading) that it was so high maintenance to retain it's look. We'll probably stick to once a year treatment - I assume it will weather over time no matter what we do, and I'm okay with that. I also assume we'll brighten/clean and then treat yearly - we only strip once to correct this, right?

THANKS again!

you are welcome. Hope it works out for you

I am the contractor who built Leslee's deck. This was my first experience working with Tigerwood. I did alot of research regarding this wood prior to the project. After some debate I choose the Flood CFW (natural) product for the initial finish (this was the product recommended by the wood supplier). The deck looked great for about a month but the finish quickly began to degrade. Even though I followed the manufactuer recommendations to a tee I felt I must have done something wrong. Round two- I completely refinished the deck this time using the Wolman EHT product. Prep for this application included application of Wolman Cleaner/Brightener, power washing, sanding the entire deck surface with orbital sanders and vacuuming to ensure it was dust free. Weather conditions were ideal for application of both finishes.
This Spring (one year later) the deck looks worse than ever!
I am leaning towards the Messemer's product for round three but would welcome any recommendations.
I just want a happy customer.........

Here are the main reasons it has failed:

1. Tiger Wood is extremely dense. Stains will not penetrate into the wood very well because of this. This causes all stains to fade/fail quicker then normal

2. The two stains you choose previously were water based stains. Water based stains (except Defy stains) never penetrate as well as an oil.

3. Sanding is a bad idea. This will close the pores even more not allowing your stain to penetrate.

Combination of all three caused your failure rather quickly. Best to strip off the old stain, neutralize with a wood brightener and reapply the Messmers or Defy.

I had the exact same problem-beautiful wood that lost its stain over last winter. I powerwashed the stain off, and it was suggested I use a product that was clear, waterproofing, with UV protection. After checking out several with this type of formula, I choose BEHR Wood-Toned Waterproofing Wood Finish Acrylic w/UV protection, with a Redwood tone. Just put on this weekend(actually it took 4 days-put on two coats) It looks fantastic, I only hope it lasts....will update as the year rolls on. And, by the way, it was also recommended by the wood supplier that we use the Flood CFW natural finish. Will never use that again....on anything!

I hope the Behr works for you but honestly I am skeptical. It is a film forming water based stain and typically fails rather fast and is very very hard to fix later Please keep us informed!