How To Maintain Your Deck So It Never Peels
The Sand & Stain System
(3 of 3)
In case you missed it, here’s…
How To Sand A Cedar Deck—Part 1 of the Sand & Stain System
How To Stain A Cedar Deck—Part 2 of the Sand & Stain System
Your deck turned out beautifully. You’ve made memories with your family, hosted gatherings, dined friends, and appreciated a quiet place to escape with a book. You followed the Sand & Stain System to prep and finish your deck. Only that was last year. Maybe even two years ago…
So how do you keep your deck looking fresh and properly protected without pulling out the sanders or hiring contractors every year?
We’ll show you exactly how to get the most out of your deck for as long as possible before sanding again with no blistering, cracking, chipping, or peeling. Guaranteed.
What You’ll Need
Tools & Equipment
There several items you will need again (applicators, drop cloths, etc.) from what we showed you in Part 2 of the Sand & Stain System. Assuming you still have those around, we will refer to them in this post, but only introduce new items you will be needing specific to recoats and maintenance.
As always, these are items we use ourselves in our own business. If you’re missing any, please consider purchasing them here at our online Stain & Supply Shop for do-it-yourselfers and contractors, .
Deck Cleanser
Wood deck cleaners are typically in liquid or powder form. There are various products on the market available such as: cleansers, brighteners, or 2-in-1 formulas.
Not all cleaners need a brightening agent. Avoid using pure bleaches to brighten your decking boards as the wood knots may turn white due to higher porosity.
Note: It is normal for the knots to be the first part of your deck to fade out. This is because the knots have huge pores which suck in the stain almost instantly and do not retain colour like the softer grains. Take a look at this picture below displaying lighter knots after fading for a year.
Pump Sprayer
A pump sprayer makes spreading the cleaner easier to do than a mop, scrub brush, or rag when using a liquid solution. Simply pour the liquid into the sprayer and sprayer evenly on the deck floor and step tops.
These typically come in 1 or 2 gallon spray units.
Garden Hose + Low Pressure Hose Head
These should already be at most households already. Their purpose is to easily rinse the deck with water at low pressure to avoid damaging the wood. This can be to hose off any cleansers used, or simply to hose off dirt residue prior to a stain maintenance recoat.
Wood Moisture Meter
This device measures how much moisture is in your wood. A soaking deck is obviously too wet, but nailing if a deck is dry enough to recoat after washing / rain appears to be dry is more difficult to get right every time.
Better to be safe than sorry and use a handy tool like this before you accidentally stain too soon and potentially waste a few gallons of stain, your time, and worst all of—have a peeling deck on your hands that you have to sand again prematurely due to a lack of patience (or lack of proper tools to get it right the first time.)
Safety Equipment
Safety equipment is listed in the Sand & Stain System Part 1 and 2, but should not be neglected when maintaining your deck to prevent injury and encourage ease. Please consider purchasing items you require conveniently located at our online Stain & Supply Shop.
Safety glasses
Dust & vapour mask
Oil resistant gloves
Sun hat
Knee pads
Deck Maintenance Coats Order Of Operations
Your deck is outside and takes no time at all to get dirty from rain, wind, wear and tear, etc. Before reapplying more stain, we recommend lightly cleaning it to remove dirt, mildew, grease stains, etc.
1) Clean Your Deck
We typically recommend a formulated all-in-one liquid cleaner that does not need to be mixed with water. This saves time and avoids miscalculating water to cleaner mix ratios and can be easily dispersed onto your deck using a pump sprayer.
Some cleaners require scrubbing with a deck brush while others require sitting for a length of time (usually 15-20min) before rinsing off with a garden hose. Follow the instructions on the specific cleaner label for proper use.
Use a regular garden hose with low pressure hose head to rinse your deck.
WARNING: Do not use a pressure washer to clean / rinse your deck.
Pressure washers may seem like the most effective method to clean the deck, however, when set at too powerful a setting (measure in PSI, ie: pounds per square inch), they will absolutely damage softwoods like cedar, pine, and pressure treated commonly used for decks, fences, etc.
If you’re going to use a pressure washer to rinse your deck, use low settings (no more than 500 PSI) and make sure the tip of the wand isn’t too close to the planks to prevent splitting the wood.
Also know that pressure washers tend to raise the grain of the wood on the deck and leave a “fuzzy” texture on the wood, especially if too long has passed since its last maintenance coat (or has never been stained previously.)
We do not use pressure washers to avoid the many mishaps that can result in misuse or accidental damage.
Pro DIY & Contractor Tip…
It is crucial to let the deck dry before applying stain after cleaning / rinsing. Remember, literally every decision we make must be in compliance with our slogan Never Peel Again, and therefore our #1 promise to you: a deck that never peels.
Applying oil stain while the deck is still wet or has too much moisture in it is one way that even a high quality penetrating oil may potentially fail.
To be sure, use a wood moisture meter to make sure the deck is dry enough (between 12-15%—or less) before maintenance stain coat.
A Few Notes On Cleaning vs Sanding…
Only sanding will remove uneven fading from patio furniture, BBQ, rugs, plants, etc. Your deck will never look as good as it does when stained directly after a fresh sanding, but this way you can get away with years (perhaps forever) without needing to sand.
To be clear, it is excessive to be sanding your deck every prior to staining.
2) Apply Maintenance Stain Coat
This part, you’ve already done at least once. Nothing much changes here, although you’ll notice your deck may not need as much stain as when it was freshly sanded, as it is already somewhat saturated and sealed from your previous oil coat(s), and should also go much faster.
Now is the best time to use floor applicators like the lambskin wool floor staining block in addition to cutting the edges with a staining bock brush to:
Speed up the process with a wider applicator (10” vs 4”) that also holds more stain for fewer stain reloads.
Save yourself from lower back and knee pain by using this applicator on a pole as it’s meant to be used.
Focus on the faded, flat floor boards vs in between the floor planks that already have stain and are difficult to reach.
Easily clean or purchase additional lambskin refill heads as needed for multiple colours and / or future recoats.
It’s normal for your deck to appear darker this time than your initial staining coat. This is because layer(s) of stain are already there, so each additional maintenance coat will make it increasingly darker—even while using the exact same stain colour as previously.
Keep in mind that while the flagship Sand & Stain System guarantees no peeling, the thin penetrating oil stain will fade over time, thus more reason for maintenance recoats. The more often you apply, the less chance your deck will ever fade to gray.
Remember, the process with a penetrating oil stain is to apply only one thin coat at a time, however, more often (ie: once a year) versus 2-3 coats at a time once like some thicker water based stains suggest.
Friendly reminder: you are reading Part 3 of the flagship Sand & Stain System that’s all about maintaining your deck so it never peels.
If you’re reading this for the first time, refer to Part 1 & 2 if any of the staining steps need clarification…
