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

Read Consumer Reports test on stains. Clear doesnt last as long but if
you want try it. Being in shade it will mold you may be using bleach
twice a year, mold will just look like dirt

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

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

Scott writes:

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.

_Never_ power wash a cedar deck! The pressure of the washer is too high. It
will create small (invisible) cavities and damage the wood irreversibly.
Clean it with a thin solution of NaOH (which removes the tanning acid) and
hose it thoroughly. After that apply an _oil based_ stain. All water based
stains I have seen so far are crap. Or don't stain it at all. But if you
want to stop cedar from getting gray, you have to remove the tanning acid
every year (at least every two years).

Henning

--
Henning Follmann |

Scott wrote in message ...
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.


The Behr Premiun Waterproofer we used darkened the wood a bit. After
powerwashing the wood on our desk was very light, almost appeared
bleached. The stain is the 501, Natural Cedar and looks great.
Sometimes we have seen this stuff get almost red in color, but this
was fine. The best test would be to take a piece of scrap deck wood
and try it and see what you think. There are various shades of the
stuff available.

Hey your home is in a great location and sounds beautiful. Our home
is on the west edge of the city of Minnetonka, almost to Deephaven,
for those of you that care. No lake frontage (how I wish) but lots of
trees, animals, and natural forest.

Bruce

Scott wrote in message ...
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.


The Behr Premiun Waterproofer we used darkened the wood a bit. After
powerwashing the wood on our desk was very light, almost appeared
bleached. The stain is the 501, Natural Cedar and looks great.
Sometimes we have seen this stuff get almost red in color, but this
was fine. The best test would be to take a piece of scrap deck wood
and try it and see what you think. There are various shades of the
stuff available.

Hey your home is in a great location and sounds beautiful. Our home
is on the west edge of the city of Minnetonka, almost to Deephaven,
for those of you that care. No lake frontage (how I wish) but lots of
trees, animals, and natural forest.

Bruce

Scott wrote in message ...
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.


The Behr Premiun Waterproofer we used darkened the wood a bit. After
powerwashing the wood on our desk was very light, almost appeared
bleached. The stain is the 501, Natural Cedar and looks great.
Sometimes we have seen this stuff get almost red in color, but this
was fine. The best test would be to take a piece of scrap deck wood
and try it and see what you think. There are various shades of the
stuff available.

Hey your home is in a great location and sounds beautiful. Our home
is on the west edge of the city of Minnetonka, almost to Deephaven,
for those of you that care. No lake frontage (how I wish) but lots of
trees, animals, and natural forest.

Bruce

I've used a couple of stains including Caboit which is supposed to be the
best. It wasn't. This year I used a semi transparent REZ. It looks good and
it went a long way. It goes on nicely and where I used four cans three years
ago, I did the job with two this time.
The test will be how it survives the winter but I have a hunch it will last
longer than the others.
As far as pressure washing...
If you hold it at just the right distance, it works great. True, if too
close, it actually will blast grooves in the wood. There is the odd spot
I have misjudged, but overall it does a great job of getting off the crud.


"Henning Follmann" wrote in message
...
Scott writes:

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.

_Never_ power wash a cedar deck! The pressure of the washer is too high.
It
will create small (invisible) cavities and damage the wood irreversibly.
Clean it with a thin solution of NaOH (which removes the tanning acid) and
hose it thoroughly. After that apply an _oil based_ stain. All water based
stains I have seen so far are crap. Or don't stain it at all. But if you
want to stop cedar from getting gray, you have to remove the tanning acid
every year (at least every two years).

Henning

--
Henning Follmann |

On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 00:08:19 -0600, Scott wrote:

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

Scott

On our old deck we used Baere stain for the past 10-15 years and it
still rotted extensively. This year we had it torn down and a
replacement constructed with new pressure treated supporting structure
and all white cedar decking and rails. We too just loved the natural
look (especially the color when it was whet). Based on much research
we finally selected Sikkens Cetol SRD translucent stain. We selected
the Natural Cedar hue and boy it looks just great. And, according to
Consumers Reports, it one of the higher rated products.

Good luck.