Redwood Deck

[Mountain View 14]

I'm going to look at a Redwood deck tomorrow. Don't have many in Texas so a little help would be appreciated.

Questions:

Do you use stripper and ox in the same manner you would with other wood (pine, cedar, etc.)?

I know it requires special formulation stain; I am a Ready Seal user and I believe RS has a Redwood special stain. Any experience from anyone using RS for Redwood?

Any other tips or tricks? Any funky results I should be ready for?

I have plenty of experience with pine, cedar, ipe.

Thanks for any help.

[RPetry 564]

I'm going to look at a Redwood deck tomorrow. Don't have many in Texas so a little help would be appreciated.

Questions:

Do you use stripper and ox in the same manner you would with other wood (pine, cedar, etc.)?

I know it requires special formulation stain; I am a Ready Seal user and I believe RS has a Redwood special stain. Any experience from anyone using RS for Redwood?

Any other tips or tricks? Any funky results I should be ready for?

I have plenty of experience with pine, cedar, ipe.

Thanks for any help.

Pete,

Like you, here in NJ redwood is quite rare. We have only worked on 2 redwood decks in the past nine years.

In many respects the wood is similar to western red cedar. If you have to do a hard stripping and/or sanding, consider using Ready Seal's #80 brightener to suppress the tannins that will come to the surface. Otherwise ox, citric or a combo should be OK, just add some surfactant to get the brightener down into the wood.

I have heard that regular Ready Seal is usually fine for redwood. I did not take a chance on our two jobs and used the redwood only formula. You may want to call Peirce, I think they may have dropped the product line this year.

Here are two pics of "old growth" redwood stained with Ready Seal redwood only formula, medium red color.

[Mountain View 14]

Any pictures of completed Redwood decks would be much appreciated.

[RPetry 564]

Pete,

See the two attached pics in the message above your latest ...

[Adrian 155]

Rick, is that the Magnum sprayer in pic 2 ?

[RPetry 564]

Rick, is that the Magnum sprayer in pic 2 ?

Adrian,

No, it is the original Decker 5'er manufactured by PumpTec about 7 years ago. The pump itself has never been rebuilt. We only use it to apply stain, specifically Ready Seal stain. Aside from mineral spirits for winterizing, RS is the only liquid that pump has ever seen.

[Adrian 155]

That's a really really good track record for the pump.

I'm kind of " bratty" in that, my deckster works great, but, I just WANT another brand as a dedicated stripper and brightener pump. Then one for spraying only.

But then again my Ford Fiesta only has room for one pump. lol.

[RPetry 564]

..., I just WANT another brand as a dedicated stripper and brightener pump. ...

Adrian,

If wood working, Shurflo's are good for applying chems. Had this unit for years with a single pump. Tom of ACR installed dedicated dual Shurflo's with separate seals for caustics and acids. With a 15 gal. tank, this portable unit kicks butt in applying chems.

One other advantage is that if one pump goes, you have an already installed backup. Saves time on the job and labor costs. And they will die, I keep one of each type in stock.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Armstrong stains are made for redwood originally.

Some brands of stain may cause the tannins to go dark on you and the result is an almost black deck and not very appealing.

Rod!~

[big mike 14]

Some brands of stain may cause the tannins to go dark on you and the result is an almost black deck and not very appealing.

Have had this happen with RS clear (standard formula) a couple of times on redwood.