Spraying vs. Pads

[Gavin 14]

Okay, last week I did a 300 sq ft deck. I put 2 coats on the railing and on the floor (used TWP Redwood). Used about 2 1/2 gallons. Used pads for the entire thing.

This week I just did a 240 sq ft deck. 2 coats on the floor and railing (using TWP Honeytone). There was also about 35' x 3' of Lattice. This time I only used pads on the floor and top railing. I sprayed the Lattice and Spindles. The application time was 10 times faster (yes, I did backbrush everything) but I used 4 GALLONS??? 4 Gallons for a 240 deck seems like a lot. Did spraying (I did notice a LOT of spray floating away) really use that much more stain for a smaller deck? I mean if it's a toss up between time and stain, the stain is a lot cheaper than my time. Thanks in advance!

P.S.

If anyone is interested, I play drums for a band here called Losing November. You can listen to some tracks from our new album at www.losingnovember.com . :bandplay:

[Paul B. 523]

Using brush or pads will increase your coverage rate by 30-60% over spraying.

It helps to know your coverage rates for estimating the amount of stain you will need for the job even if you recognize the material $$ to time $$ trade-off.

We notice about a 40% increase in coverage rate with Ready Seal when using lamb's wool pads on deck floors. On certain types of decks there is not very much time savings in spraying vs. using pads (on the floor only), as you can apply relatively quickly with a 9" or 10" wide wool pads. The speed also applies to using a Hurricane type brush.

"Go Zildjian!"

[James 624]

What kind of wood. Maybe you didn't put enough on the first job. Also which type of TWP.

[Gavin 14]

Ya know, a lot of people don't know this but Zildjian is the oldest company in the world. Established in 1623 by Avedis Zildjian. They started out making gongs for Chinese Emperors. Still family owned to this day, 381 years strong!

Almost every deck (except Trex) in Colorado is made out of Redwood. Other than straight pressure treated, I don't think I've ever seen any other kind. I'm using the TWP 100 series. Redwood 102 and Honeytone 115 were used on these 2 jobs.

Let me see if I can upload some pics of both jobs for you. Thanks for the help.

Gav

[Gavin 14]

Here's the one I did in TWP Redwood 102

[Gavin 14]

Here's a better pic of the Redwood floor. It was still a little wet when this was taken.