Power Washing and Roof Cleaning Forum

Simon · Member

wood preservative

Art O · Approved Exterior Cleaner

We don't do a lot of Stain around here, but you can go over to FaceBook and look up this guy www.facebook.com/everett.abrams.3
He can help you out.

waxman18324 · Founding Member Rest in Peace

Follow Art's lead.

Hank

Andy Hinson · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Bakers Gray Away seems to be the choice of a very reputable wood restorer that does not sell anything except his service. I have done the research for u

Maverick Contracting · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Something to understand, translucent stain will not hold up as long as solid and semi solid in between.
The higher the solids the better protection

Art O · Approved Exterior Cleaner

I have a Cedar deck at my house with Armstrong Clark Semi stain on it. Every two years I give it a Bleach wash to clean the stain off and hit it with brightener. Comes out like new every time. Armstrong Clark is my stain of choice.

BlueRidge · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Maverick Contracting wrote:
Something to understand, translucent stain will not hold up as long as solid and semi solid in between.
The higher the solids the better protection

So true! I found Rymar Stain from the manager at Shewaim-Williams who I have know for at least 15 years and never has he let me down. He was doing what Art has to do and decided to try Rymar on his deck and made it five years. Pigment is the the key! Even the Rymar rep I spoke to tries to keep people from buying their clear finish.

I know of nothing that can be applied to a wet deck.

tjteed · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Your best bet is to offer two options. Either clean the deck - just to remove dirts and mold. Clean and move on. or offer wood restoration which is staining with the idea of developing a yearly or bi-yearly maintenance program. There are so many variables in softwashing wood that you really cant always get the guaranteed perfect results that a homeowner may expect. We make much more money softwashing than staining decks so we push homeowners to use a professional deck person if they a want the restoration. We sometimes use wood restore. I don't know exactly the long term benefits but it looks pinkish when applied until it dries. I tell homeowner it rehydrates and neutralizes any SH residue. I don't say anything about the cosmetic appearance. I figure it can't hurt. Homeowners also have the idea that they need to do something at the end of a deck wash but they don't know what. When I finish with the wood restore it helps with their comfort level

Maverick Contracting · Approved Exterior Cleaner

If you decide to stain paint or preservative I'd recommend spraying spindles (back brush) and I use an 18 inch roller and back brush the deck with a 6 inch brush on a pole. Just keep a wet edge or you'll get lap marks.

Simon · Member

Thanks for all the help guys. When you softwash a deck do you apply anything to neutralize it after or does rinsing enough take care of that.
Just to keep the wood from graying from the bleach.