Bruce,

The Behr semi-transparent stain you used....did it darken the wood much?
(that's what I'm trying to avoid).

Our contractor is mailing us a color sheet showing different stain colors.

I'm still leaning toward a transparent seal, because I just love the natural look.

And, yes, we're enjoying our deck immensely. If it means power-washing
and sealing it every year or two, so be it. It's worth it.

By the way, we're in Brainerd....just 2 miles east of town, in the woods,
not on a lake, but we're immersed in nature's beauty.

Scott

Bruce Bina wrote:

Scott,

I live in Minnetonka MN and have a large deck area situated similar to you.
We have lived here four years and I don't know the age of the deck. It
appears it was first painted. The first year we used the Behr chemical
cleansing process and applied a Behr waterbased deck stain. It hardly
lasted one summer. This year I pressure washed the deck and used a Behr
semitransparent stain that is Silicon based. So far that has the appearance
of being a winner. I think anything you use will require to be redone every
other year. Maybe you can get a couple of years if you are lucky. There
are solid stains that hide the wood, transparent that don't offer much UV
protection and semi transparent that offer some amount of protection but let
the wood show through. As the saying goes, you's pays your money and takes
your choice.

Enjoy the deck and don't worry about the choice. You'll probably be redoing
it in a couple of years anyway.

Bruce
"Scott" wrote in message
...
We have a 12' x 24' cedar deck that was built onto our house a
month ago. We want the contractor to apply a water seal to
the wood. He said he likes to use one with a "toner" for the
UV protection to inhibit greying of the cedar. We looked at
one he did, and the wood is noticeably darker in color. We
like the natural color of the cedar and the beauty of the wood
grain, so we're hesitant to cover it up with a "toner stain". He
said applying a clear water seal as often as once a year won't
inhibit the greying-- like a toner would. We live in Central
Minnesota, and the deck is on the east side of the house and
surrounded by trees on the east, north, and south side of the
deck...so there's not much direct sunlight on the deck. The
contractor says power washing would remove most of the
greying every year and make it look like new. This is our
first experience with cedar. Is there an alternative treatment
that would protect the deck from greying without staining the
wood and covering the beautiful wood look? The setting sun
highlights the cedar in such a beautiful golden color.

Thanks!
Scott