semi transparent vs solid pros and cons?

[a68cudas 14]

What are the major pros and cons between semi transparent vs solid stains? which do you prefer to use and why?

[John Orr 206]

What are the major pros and cons between semi transparent vs solid stains? which do you prefer to use and why?

Neither for me. I prefer a transparent stain. Semis and solids are too "finicky" for me - plus, I prefer the natural look of the wood. Disclaimer: 99.9% of the decks in my area are pressure treated pine.) Armstrong Clark has a much more user friendly variety of transparent, semi and solid stains that I plan on using this year.

[deach 14]

I guess it depends on what I'm staining. For decks I honestly prefer Transparent or Semi, I do a lot of cedar sided homes however that are solid already so for that we go back to solid color and many times actually change the color of the home for the homeowner.

[Scott Paul 164]

Natural looking deck vs. painted looking deck

Most people prefer to have a natural looking deck with the grain showing through.

[nlantz 14]

semi transparent. Cant seem to find it anywhere but we used oil based Olympic Natural semi transparent fir pine. It was semi user friendly as long as your worked whole boards. Cant seem to find oil based products as much anymore tho. Im unsure of any main advantage of having a solid stain. Semi's on the other hand protect great and look good. I'd say never use a non pigmented sealer because the pigment is what protects from sun damage.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Opacity.

The higher the opacity the greater the protection from UV rays. Semi-transparents are lower in opacity vs solid stains which are totally opaque.

The rest is like others have posted in addition to aesthetics and personal preference.

Rod!~

[John Orr 206]

Neither for me. I prefer a transparent stain. Semis and solids are too "finicky" for me - plus, I prefer the natural look of the wood. Disclaimer: 99.9% of the decks in my area are pressure treated pine.) Armstrong Clark has a much more user friendly variety of transparent, semi and solid stains that I plan on using this year.

P.S. I define a stain as not being "finicky" by being able to apply using a pump-up sprayer.

[Tegrey 121]

The solid stains are used for longer protection. They are more durable and will last a lot longer. They protect the wood longer also. If you like the solid look we use it. It is good for 3-5 years without any peeling. The semi transparent stains are less effective. They allow UV to penetrate more rapidly. They are usually good for 1-3 years. The toners are less yet. They allow most of the UV in and are only good for 1-2 years. This is a good choice if you can set up a maintance program. Last would be the Natural stain. No UV protection. Strickly for repelling water. Usually done every year. The choice is pretty much what the HO wants to pay for. The cost goes up from the toner, semi, solid. All in all we don't loose any money. The better the package the more it cost. Thank you.

[PressurePros 248]

Solid stains are paint.. completely ugly but that's just my opinion. The customer owns a solid stain once its on there. In addition, bare wood floors should be primed first which requires a third trip to a house. I would never put a solid stain on a wood deck unless one was already there. I leave that to the painters (no disrespect meant to Terry)

[GTRider245 14]

How about semi-solid vs. semi-tranparent?

[plainpainter 217]

The solid stains are used for longer protection. They are more durable and will last a lot longer. They protect the wood longer also.

I find this statement to be a load of B/S. I find that even solid oil stains just flip off like mad from horizontal surfaces worse than a semi-solid or transparent. I painted a whole house with solid oil stain - all new construction with pre-primed lumber. I even re-primed all the window sills even though they were primed and oil solid stain is a self priming product - no matter, the stuff still flipped off the window sills back down to bare spongy new growth pine wood.

[Tegrey 121]

Dan, Sorry about how you feel about a solid stain. I guess it is all in the knowledge of prep and quality of product you may be using. Our solid stains last quite a long time. Properly preped and applied, we have solid stains 12 years old, which show no problems at all. Read and follow the label?

[plainpainter 217]

Dan, Sorry about how you feel about a solid stain. I guess it is all in the knowledge of prep and quality of product you may be using. Our solid stains last quite a long time. Properly preped and applied, we have solid stains 12 years old, which show no problems at all. Read and follow the label?

You know Terry - I've forgotten more than you'll ever know when it comes to painting. And I like how you worded your sentence about 12 year longevity - nobody gets that on a horizontal surface.

[cande 14]

I have some AC semi-solid, can't wait to see what it looks like.....

[Tegrey 121]

You know Terry - I've forgotten more than you'll ever know when it comes to painting. And I like how you worded your sentence about 12 year longevity - nobody gets that on a horizontal surface.

Dan, Sorry you are so intelligent yet always looking for work? Must be a miss print or a wannabe? Have a great day sir.

[GTRider245 14]

There's the Dan we all know.

[plainpainter 217]

Dan, Sorry you are so intelligent yet always looking for work? Must be a miss print or a wannabe? Have a great day sir.

Terry - you are such a fraud - you are a perfect example of everything that is wrong with these boards.

[Tonyg 14]

What are the major pros and cons between semi transparent vs solid stains? which do you prefer to use and why?

I explain to my customers that that stain offers different levels of protection based on opacity. On a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the worst, then a clear such as Thompsons is the worst and, although it would come out like a barn red, a solid would be the best. That said the logical choice is a semi-transparent that gives some UV protection but also allows the natural appearance of the grain and beauty of the wood to show through.

[plainpainter 217]

I explain to my customers that that stain offers different levels of protection based on opacity. On a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the worst, then a clear such as Thompsons is the worst and, although it would come out like a barn red, a solid would be the best. That said the logical choice is a semi-transparent that gives some UV protection but also allows the natural appearance of the grain and beauty of the wood to show through.

Define protection? Are you so hot to protect wood from UV damage at the cost of everything else? Even if UV damage was 1 mil thick every year - you could resurface your deck a thousand times before you removed an inch away from the wood. Solid stain is the ultimate film former type product - it provides utterly no protection from water migrating through the finish and into the wood. And they become peely messes - which can never ever again look again unless totally stripped - which is not an easy task.

Semi-transparent stains can be applied and easily stripped every third year - cleaning the wood each time in the process. And look brand new each time.

Solid opaque style coatings work fine for vertical surfaces. I guess it comes down to the oak vs. the poplar analogy during a typhoon. The oak tree uses strength to stand strong against the winds of the typhoon - and so gets completely ripped right out of the ground roots and all. The Poplar tree bends to will of the wind - and yet remains through the storm. Solid stains are like the oak tree - and the semi-transparents are more like the poplar.

[Tonyg 14]

I have some AC semi-solid, can't wait to see what it looks like.....

Cande,

I've only used the Sequoia AC semi-solid. It was everything I could do to try and talk the HO out of it but it turned out better than I thought it would. You could still see the grain andit didn't look like paint like I thought it would. I was pleasantly surprised. e

[cande 14]

Cande,

I've only used the Sequoia AC semi-solid. It was everything I could do to try and talk the HO out of it but it turned out better than I thought it would. You could still see the grain andit didn't look like paint like I thought it would. I was pleasantly surprised. e

Great! That is what I wanted to hear! Sounds like that could be good for those old rough looking decks that were neglected for years and now someone wants to salvage. I have some woodland brown that I am going to put on a PT pine deck about 3 years old.

[GTRider245 14]

Be sure to post up some pics. I would love to see how it turns out.

[Tonyg 14]

define protection? Are you so hot to protect wood from uv damage at the cost of everything else? Even if uv damage was 1 mil thick every year - you could resurface your deck a thousand times before you removed an inch away from the wood. .

I define protection as a coating or sealant that can minimize UV damage, minimize moisture penetration that is also permeable enough to allow escape, and minimize external pollutants. Solid stain will last longer than typical penetrating stains both in color and protection. This is fact - whether one likes them or not. UV, climate, and moisture will do more than damage the top 1mil of wood. Splitting, cracking, splintering, cupping, etc. will all result from the lack of protection.

I also doubt many want to resurface their decks every year an thus damage will occur when the sealer/coating begins to fail or lose it's effectiveness. I believe you were even unhappy with your own deck that you have done every year. With a solid coating many will "simply set it and forget it" like it was an infomercial and outside of washing it periodically it should last 5 years or more.

Solid stain is the ultimate film former type product - it provides utterly no protection from water migrating through the finish and into the wood. And they become peely messes - which can never ever again look again unless totally stripped - which is not an easy task.

I disagree that it offers "utterly no protection" and a solid deck can look good.

Semi-transparent stains can be applied and easily stripped every third year - cleaning the wood each time in the process. And look brand new each time.

Solid stains can be applied without stripping every third year. If you have overall adhesion then problem areas can be sanded, primed, and recoated with great results and longevity.

In your OPINION solid stains may be inferior but I disagree. In my opinion MOST of the time they may not be aesthetically appealing but they do serve a purpose on neglected wood and verticals but they can also look very nice. They don't always turn out to be "peely messes"

solid opaque style coatings work fine for vertical surfaces. I guess it comes down to the oak vs. The poplar analogy during a typhoon. The oak tree uses strength to stand strong against the winds of the typhoon - and so gets completely ripped right out of the ground roots and all. The poplar tree bends to will of the wind - and yet remains through the storm. Solid stains are like the oak tree - and the semi-transparents are more like the poplar.

What?

It's ok that you have such a strong opinion but that does not make it the only correct answer. Dogmatic statements ruling out all other possibilities sometimes makes it hard to tell but in the end - it's still just your opinion - and we all have one one.