I have a 5 year old cedar deck. Ontario, Canada.
I originally used Sikens stain (clear) for the deck because it brought out
the beauty of the wood. I know that it is easily damaged by sunlight and I
thought I realised the maintenance involved , but I have had to powerwash
the walking area and completely restain every year. Last year the local
supplier of Sikkens went bankrupt and I made the mistake of using Behr's
stain instead of Sikkens. The peeling was even worse.

This year I went back to Sikkens. I powerwashed off the old stain:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/gbmiller/washing.jpg
Then I put on a coat of Sikkens Cetol SRD 072 Butternut.
I'm very pleased with the result:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/gbmiller/finished.jpg
But how do I ensure that it will stay that way? I can't believe the
deterioration in the last year alone. Should I lightly powerwash regularly?
with some sort of detergent? Should I put on a second coat? If so, when? I
begin to get the impression that I need to powerwash down to the wood each
year because I'm somehow not applying the stain peoperly in the first place.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Well, I'm not sure that I'm doing it right but I have a 5 - 6 year old deck
in Regina. I too used Sikkens. I made sure that when the deck was new I
followed the instructions to a "T". I sanded all surfaces to get rid of
mill glaze, applied 2 coats of Cetol and then built the deck. If I
understand the maintenance instructions you don't have to powerwash all the
old/existing finish off, just the loose stuff and where it has peeled away
to allow the underlying wood to discolour. Then just let the deck dry for 3
clear days and reapply the Cetol. I've only had to do this about every
third year. So far seems to be OK.

"George" wrote in message
...
I have a 5 year old cedar deck. Ontario, Canada.
I originally used Sikens stain (clear) for the deck because it brought out
the beauty of the wood. I know that it is easily damaged by sunlight and I
thought I realised the maintenance involved , but I have had to powerwash
the walking area and completely restain every year. Last year the local
supplier of Sikkens went bankrupt and I made the mistake of using Behr's
stain instead of Sikkens. The peeling was even worse.

This year I went back to Sikkens. I powerwashed off the old stain:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/gbmiller/washing.jpg
Then I put on a coat of Sikkens Cetol SRD 072 Butternut.
I'm very pleased with the result:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/gbmiller/finished.jpg
But how do I ensure that it will stay that way? I can't believe the
deterioration in the last year alone. Should I lightly powerwash
regularly? with some sort of detergent? Should I put on a second coat? If
so, when? I begin to get the impression that I need to powerwash down to
the wood each year because I'm somehow not applying the stain peoperly in
the first place. Any advice would be appreciated.

Don't be too aggressive with the power washer. It will slowly etch out
the softwood in between each growth ring leaving you with a very rough
surface.

"George" wrote in message
...
I have a 5 year old cedar deck. Ontario, Canada.
I originally used Sikens stain (clear) for the deck because it brought out
the beauty of the wood. I know that it is easily damaged by sunlight and I
thought I realised the maintenance involved , but I have had to powerwash
the walking area and completely restain every year.

snip

Beautiful!!