Why is it Important to Have a Tinted Stain or Sealer

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It is often a common belief that the reason to preserve your exterior wood deck is to "seal" the wood so that it "beads" like a car wax. This is absolutely not true! This is a marketing ploy by the "Big Box" manufactures.

While it is helpful to prevent water damage, the main reason to treat your wood is for UV damage. If left untreated, the Sun's ultraviolet rays will oxidize and damage the exposed layer of wood cells. When using a transparent tinted wood deck stain or sealer, the tint will act like "sunglasses" for your wood. The tint will absorb the UV and prolong the oxidation that turns the exposed wood cells gray. This is very important if you want to have your wood keep its natural color. The natural and/or synthetic oils in the deck stains will also replenish the wood that has dried out from the UV damage.

Depending on your conditions you can expect  a high quality deck stain or sealer to last 18-36 months on the horizontals and twice as long on the verticals. See Deck Stain for more info.

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SteveC |Y-m-d H:i:s And I beleived all of those Thompson's commercials. I was applying a clear coat twice a year and it did nothing to stop the graying.

DeckRestAdmin |Y-m-d H:i:s Don't feel bad. It happens alot due to their multi-million dollar campaign.

DeckRestAdmin |Y-m-d H:i:s Typically the richer the color the longer the stain will hold color. This is mainly due to more resins to absorb the UV rays.

Anonymous |Y-m-d H:i:s On my cedar framed home, how long would the best stain out there last? Is it realistic to expect 5 years or more? Currently I get about 3 years with a product called woodguards and I was hoping to get twice as long

DeckRestAdmin |Y-m-d H:i:s You should use a exterior wood stainthat has a higher solid content. This will give better UV protection. A high end wood stain can give 5-8 years on a vertical surface such a your cedar home.

Anonymous |Y-m-d H:i:s I have tried numerous sealers and none have lasted more then a year. I have never tried a tinted sealer. I guess I will now. What's the most popular color or product?

DeckRestAdmin |Y-m-d H:i:s Cedar tones or Honey tones are the most popular colors. They usually give the most natural look.

Anonymous |Y-m-d H:i:s Will the cedar colors give the wood that orange look? My husband used a Behr product it the deck looked like a pumpkin

Penelope  - Penelope |Y-m-d H:i:s I just put up a beautiful cedar fence as well. We put a natural colored sealant on it. The colour is no where near the same as the original tone of the fence. It looks more orange and it breaks my heart to think of how lovely it looked before. But we didn't want the fence to turn grey which is why we sealed it. My question is: Will the orange or "pumpkin" tone of the sealant fade a bit over time so that it's no so INTENSE! The color is now competing with my garden!

Anonymous |Y-m-d H:i:s same here, I just used the solid cedar stain and now I have an orange deck. What a shame.

DeckRestAdmin |Y-m-d H:i:s I'm sorry to hear that You could restain over top of your solid with another color.

retif |Y-m-d H:i:s what is especially good in the product - "They are not film forming finishes like a solid stain (opaque), paint or shellac"

retif  - re: |Y-m-d H:i:s SteveC wrote: And I beleived all of those Thompson's commercials. I was applying a clear coat twice a year and it did nothing to stop the graying. belieivng ads is worth after trial on the other hand, you won't know about a product not trying it

retif  - re: |Y-m-d H:i:s DeckRestAdmin wrote: Typically the richer the color the longer the stain will hold color. This is mainly due to more resins to absorb the UV rays. they guarantee "deck stains or sealers we sell to last 18-36 months on the horizontals and twice as long on the verticals."

retif  - re: |Y-m-d H:i:s Anonymous wrote: Will the cedar colors give the wood that orange look? My husband used a Behr product it the deck looked like a pumpkin and how did they (Behr) describe the output? has the result met the promise?

retif  - re: Penelope |Y-m-d H:i:s Penelope wrote: My question is: Will the orange or "pumpkin" tone of the sealant fade a bit over time so that it's no so INTENSE! The color is now competing with my garden! It's interesting whether the warranty of the product refferred to the pumpkin effect? The fence must be expensive to seal it with

retif  - re: |Y-m-d H:i:s DeckRestAdmin wrote: I'm sorry to hear that You could restain over top of your solid with another color. there is another way too - to go to the seller and ask to correct the situation