Hot take: My deck looks better now than it did 10 years ago

I bought this house in Ohio back in 2014 and the deck was already 5 years old. It was this weird orange stain that the previous owner put on and it just looked bad from day one. Last month I finally stripped it all off with a chemical stripper and power washer. That took about 3 weekends because the old stain was really caked on there. I went with a semi-transparent cedar tone instead and the difference is night and day. The grain shows through now and it actually matches the house trim. My neighbor came over and said it looks like a brand new deck. Has anyone else had luck bringing an old deck back to life with just a stain change?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_eric1mo agoTop Commenter

Totally agree, that orange stain sounds awful and stripping it down to bring back the wood grain is a game changer.

wesley3851mo ago

And yeah stripping is the only way to go when the stain is that caked on. I tried a semi-transparent last year on my own deck and it made a huge difference too. One thing I learned the hard way is you have to pressure wash with the grain not against it. Otherwise you leave those ugly little grooves in the wood. Also make sure you wait a solid week for it to dry completely before sealing. Ohio humidity will ruin a fresh stain real fast if you rush it.

mark_mitchell23d ago

Honestly that orange stain thing drives me crazy, I see it all over older houses around here. But your point about waiting a full week for Ohio humidity to clear gets me thinking. Did you use any kind of moisture meter on the wood before you sealed it or did you just eyeball it? I stripped my deck two summers ago and I swear it looked bone dry after three days but then I got blotchy spots where the stain didn't take right. I always wonder if I just didn't wait long enough or if the wood itself was too old and beat up to hold it evenly.