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Posted my brushed-application of 50-50 mix of Armstrong Clark Cedar semi and Rustic Brown semi a week and a half ago ... http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/wood-cleaning-restoration-decks-fences-etc/24164-ac-blend-pt-deck-finished.html. In that post, I commented that I'd be recoating again next summer and then hoped to go two years before the next cleaning and recoating. Jake Clark posted a comment that I could avoid a recoat summer 2013 if I'd put a second coat on now. Thought about it then decided to invest time and $ and put the second coat on now and hopefully get two years before next light cleaning and recoat. Here are photos of 1st coat (left) and 2nd coat (right). No surprise, the blended stain color appears deeper and richer after the second coat. Appreciate the suggestion from Mr. Clark ,,, looks even better now, plus anticipate two years before next recoat. I also recoated 4 adirondak chairs and a wooden yard swing with A-frame support. First coat on deck, chairs, and swing took about 3-3/4 gallons; second coat took about 2-1/4 gallons of the blended mix of semi-transparent stains. First coat was applied 8 August; second coat on 18 August. Had two hard rains between 1st coat and 2nd coat. So, now the great experiment begins on how the two coats do in my application after 1 and 2 years, respectively. Tom

Posted end of July about my experiences getting my 12'x20' 12-year old PT pine deck ready for stain ... http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/wood-cleaning-restoration-decks-fences-etc/24104-pt-pine-test-pieces-rs-sucked-right-ac-not-so-much.html Here are a couple of photos of the deck before I began stripping ... shows the remnants of 3-yr old coating of Behr Acrylic on horizontal surfaces and on vertical surfaces. Stripping and brightening method is described in above link. Then did a light sanding to lessen the fuzzies from pressure washer / stripping. Here then are a couple of before/after stain photos. The 'before' on left of each photo were after stripping/brightening but before stain application. Blended 50:50 mix of AC Cedar semi-transparent and Rustic Brown semi-transparent; stick-stirred 1 gal of each color in a 5 gal bucket; applied by hand with a brush. Also did 4 Adirondak chairs plus a yard swing / A-frame with brush; took 4 gallons total. I estimate about 175 sq ft / gal coverage ... heavy wet brushed coat quickly soaked into the 12 year old PT pine, especially the horizontal deck surfaces. Dried to touch within an hour. I'm pleased with the outcome ... after many days of work stripping, brightening, light sanding, and finally -- staining. And now the great experiment begins on longevity of the stain. I expect to apply another coat next summer on the horizontal surfaces after a light cleaning ... then perhaps my recoat period will increase to every 2 years on horizontals. Hopefully I won't be stripping it again ... just light cleaning and recoating. Tom Tom Hartranft East Central IL

Have been reading GrimeScene info for the past several months getting myself ready to strip, brighten, and restain my 12-year old pressure treated pine deck. The deck is 12'x20' with two large sets of steps, wrap-around benches on two sides, and 4' vertical pressure treated pine sides on two sides. The deck is in full sun all day long. Two years ago I prep'd the whole deck and then applied Behr Acrylic ... horizontal surfaces flaked off within 3 months and the vertical surfaces were still intact after 2 years. In retrospect, Behr was a very bad choice, but I went with it based on Consumer Reports ratings. Subsequently read about similar poor durability stories about it on the GrimeScene. Based upon GrimeScene reading, I used HD-80 at 8 oz / gal strength applied with a pump-up sprayer soaking in with repeated applications for ~25 minutes to keep the mix wet, followed by pressure washing ... one section of the deck at a time ... and was able to remove the Behr Acrylic. Then I used Woodrich Wood Brightener & Neutralizer (Citralic) to neutralize the HD-80 stripped deck surfaces followed by garden hose wash off. Looks fine to my eyes and ready for staining. Here are some photos of the stripped and neutralized deck. As a result of my reading of GrimeScene, I decided to go with either ReadySeal or with Armstrong Clark semi-transparent. I ordered the sample pack of RS and AC stains to try out on my 12-year old deck to get an appreciation of application, odor, and color. As I've read on GrimeScene, all of the RS and AC stains are darker on my 12-year old deck surfaces than they are on new pine that I also applied the color samples to. Haven't decided which stain to use ... RS or AC semi. I am writing now to ask about your experiences on absorption of RS and of AC semi-transparent. I made a number of sample applications of RS and of AC semi. On new pine surfaces, neither RS nor AC semi soak right into the wood, but appear to penetrate somewhat then dry to touch over a period of 30-60 minutes. However, for the real 12-year old deck surfaces, the RS gets sucked right in; a quick swipe of another coat also gets sucked right into the wood. Looks like RS will easily take 2 coats to get a finished look. The AC semi-transparent samples also soak into the 12-year old deck surfaces faster than they did into the new pine wood surfaces, but not nearly as much as the RS. For the 12-year old pressure treated pine surfaces, it appears that the RS is penetrating deeper into the wood fibers than the AC ... judging by my observation of how quickly the RS liquid stain disappears into the wood as compared to a slower penetration by AC. Thoughts on my observation of RS penetrating into the 12-year old wood fibers more than AC semi? Thanks. Tom Hartranft East Central IL

Appreciate the feedback on your experiences with RS versus AC absorption on old PT pine. Opted to go with Armstrong Clark ... tried out a variety of samples on my old PT pine including a couple of color blends. Narrowed down to either cedar semi or blend of cedar semi and rustic brown semi. Here's a photo of the two on a large section of a PT pine bench that is same age / condition as my deck. The bench is sitting upright on one end in the photo; only the two rightmost boards were stained. The cedar-rustic brown blend is at top; the straight cedar semi is on bottom. Decided on the 50:50 blend of AC cedar-semi & rustic brown semi-transparent; ordered the materials end of this week. Will post pic's of finished deck and adirondak chairs when finished. Tom