"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
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"Jay Chan" wrote in message


By the way, what I want from the deck finish a (1) prevent the
pressure treated wood deck from turning grey in order to maintain the
natural wood color or have a nice redwood color, (2) reduce water
absorption into the wood, (3) reduce mildew on the wood surface, (3)
annual maintenance is OK, taking too much time to do each annual
maintenance is not OK.

The current wood deck finish that I have on the deck is semi-
transparent stain.

The semi transparent stain or a solid stain are not going to work well. No
matter what quality you buy, it is going to peel after a year. Railings
and other vertical parts will be OK, but the deck itself is not going to
hold up. I've tried various products over the past 20 years. They all peel
and the wood turns gray. Live with it or replace the deck top.

all wood left to the elements will eventually turn grey. The pigment in a
stain gives U.V. protection
The darker the stain the more protection it has. TWP (total wood
protection) is what I have been using the last 5 or so years. Properly
applied It wont leave a hard finish that peels away and unlike others
that have to be stripped off before recoating you can stain right over the
old finish. of course you should spray a bleach and water mix and then
wash /pressure wash the dirt and mold off before re staining. TWP semi
transparent wont peel but heavy traffic will wear away the pigment and
like Ed says it should be refinished every year.
of course a busy guy like me acassionaly skips a year here and there.

If I was re-building, I'd use either Ipe, mahogany, redwood, cypress or
cedar, in that order. I'd give it a coat of Penofin oil every year as it
has good UV protection.

The other choice is a plastic type material with solid color.
I think I would use some kind of Trex material If I was rebuilding. I
still prefer the look of real wood. but after 11 years I am constantly
replacing a few 5/4 cedar deck boards. After years and years of working on
other peoples houses, I am starting to think low maintenance is the
preferred way to go