Deck stain disaster advice
We hired a general “handy man” to waterproof and stain our roof deck this week. He clearly did not know what he was doing because he went through 8 gallons of stain for a 650 sq ft deck and now, over 30 hrs later, the stain remains sticky and much much darker than the patch…
We hired a general “handy man” to waterproof and stain our roof deck this week. He clearly did not know what he was doing because he went through 8 gallons of stain for a 650 sq ft deck and now, over 30 hrs later, the stain remains sticky and much much darker than the patch test we did ourself because he globbed on layer after layer with a sprayer. The stain is supposed to be semi-transparent redwood and the deck looks solid, deep red/ brown.
Does anyone know of a way to remove some layers of the stain without having to re-strip the whole job and start over? would a power washing help? if so, should we wait a few days to see if it dries more or do it while it is still sticky?
thanks!
Amy,
You didn’t say what kind of decking you have. If it’s soft wood, like cedar or pressure treated pine, then some of the stain was absorbed. I wouldn’t pressure wash a soft wood deck…it can damage the wood. If it’s a hard wood, like Ipe, then there was little absorption, and you can pressure wash. Behr makes an inferior product, and your handyman was clueless…8 gallons?
I use penofin on all my decks. roller on, wipe off.
Maybe a deckwash product, like oxalic acid, would help.
Since it’s a roof deck, it’ll weather quickly, and the color will fade to gray in 2 years…or less.
One other tip. Behr makes awful stains. Moorewood by Benjamin Moore, or Cabot(the Best)makes for much better results, much more uniform. Additonally you get much more life from the product.
Ok, This is what you need to do. But it will likely cost a little bit. Stain is Stain, I’m not sure how important the look of deck is too you,it likely wont be perfict. Use an Eco-friendly paint stripper, You need to apply by brush or roller, roller is more efficient, leave for aprox. 2 hours. Repeat if necessary. You just need to hose off. It wont be perfect unless you power wash it at about 2500 PSI. You should restain the deck after this is compleate because untreated wood after stripping is not good. As a professional, i know that applying semi-trans stain has to be done by brush only to achieve a uniform look.Hope this helped.
He should have just used a roller… maybe two and a half gallons max. The cure time is actually 72 hours but that many coats who knows for sure. I would contact Behr directly and ask for advice. Short of stripping the wood with a pressure washer, i think you may be stuck with the painted look. Here’s the link for advice. Good luck. http://www.behr.com/behrx/act/view/contactus_projassist
He used Behr Semi-transparent stain and waterproofer for decks. thanks for the help!
It is likely you will need stripping. Describe what type of stain. Solid/Semi-Transparent/ transparent i will help you figure it out. Thanks Anthony
You can try some paint thinner to thin the stain out. However, I get the feeling that it will not make much of a difference because so much stain was used, Way overkill. Sorry, but I think you’re stuck with it.