Are oil based and water based stains compatible?

[PPW1234 14]

Have a customer who wants his deck cleaned and sealed with solid Cabot's. He "thinks" Cabot's semi-solid was on there before, I'm thinking it was solid since I cannot see any wood grain at all. I suggested going solid since there was some doubt on exactly what was on there before.

The question: He wants the Cabot oil based product. I am unclear on the rules between oil based and water based stains.....can one or the other be applied over each other?

I know sanding/stripping are an option, but he wants to keep costs down and only wants a clean and seal.

[Doug Black 18]

Failed Cabot like that is not too bad to strip. Semi-Solid is fully opaque.... strange yes?...but such is deck staining...

[Celeste 341]

Do NOT try to put an oil over an acrylic. It will not work I promise. Did you do a test spot to see if it will come off or at least determine what is there? Have you explored flipping the boards if stripping is too expensive? Pics are always so helpful.

[PPW1234 14]

Hey Celeste,

That's exactly what I needed to know. I picked up four solid decks last week and was doing some research on solid stains. Up until now I have only had semi-trans jobs. I've heard of oil based and water based before and figured there may be some compatibility issues.

Customer in question does not want a strip thus no test spot. Discussed flipping the boards but is saving money....just clean it and seal it. Money is extremely tight up here in Michigan right now.

If customer is not sure whether the previous stain was oil or water based, it would be safe to just go with water based stain...right?

Tell Roger I said HI

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Oil and water don't mix and even in hybrid formulations it takes some fancy chemistry to make the marriage work.

Neither can be applied over the other.

Rod!~

[PPW1234 14]

So Rod what you are saying here is, if you do not know what is on the deck (regarding solids) your choices are to sand or pass up the job.....correct?

Oil over oil, acrylic over acrylic only. You would not put an acrylic over an oil based finish? I thought an acrylic would harden over top of an oil base......