Semi's/stains

[CLASSICPW 14]

A friend of mine owns and operates a painting business and he forwarded me 40 estimates for deck restorations. Life is good. Yet he is trying to push Sherwin Williams and Coronado Maxum semi's and acrylic stains. I've never used these so I'm hoping some of you have and can shed some light. Thanks for the input.

[Russell Cissell 65]

I hear this sort of thing all the time and it always strikes me as humorous. Your friend, the painter, has called upon you for your expertise. He is either too busy, or not skilled in wood restoration. He obviously knows that you are skilled or he would not be referring the wood to you.

Why is it then that he presumes to want to tell you the right products to use?

My best advise to you is to ask him why exactly he has made this recommendation? It could be that he has some sort of guarantee that is backed by the manufacturer of these brands. It could also be that he has no real legitimate reason, it is simply what he has heard works well.

Remember you are the expert when it comes to wood restoration. You should be the one recommending the best product for the job. If he trusts your expertise it stands to reason that he would trust your choice of products. As restoration professionals, we do our best work when using products that we are familiar with and produce predictable results.

Best of Luck

Russ

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Well put Russ!

[CLASSICPW 14]

Russ, you're exactly right. He knows that I can do a better job at wood restoration and he's backed up w/exterior paint jobs on high end homes so he just gave me all his deck work rather than lose it altogether. He also is a fairly large contractor and apparently gets a huge discount on Sherwin Williams products, so he wants to help me save a couple of bucks on my end. The issue is that I've never used their products and I'm not one to jump on something new when what I use has worked well for me. The question that I have: is it worth trying the product? Has anyone used their waterborne sealers and stains?

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Personally, we like Sherwin Williams Cuprinol as a solid on a two tone job. However for semitransparent sealers, we love oils. Water based sealers don't apply the same way.