Wooden Deck Maintenance-Paint or Stain

I have refinished dozens of decks during my career as a painter. If the deck has never been painted or had a solid color stain on it try the following for best results.

The trick is to use a commercial wood treatment to evenly remove the tanic acid stains, carefully power wash the deck using proper technique so the deck is not marred or damaged by the high pressure water, let it dry thoroughly and then use two good coats of a high quality, semi transparent stain with good UV light resistance. The sun is brutal on wooden decks.

Solid color stain and paint tend to peel and can be problematic years down the road, but they do have their place is some instances where the decks color is uneven or if a solid color stain or paint was used in the past and is failing..