PT Pine Test Pieces ... RS sucked right in; AC not so much

[wdcrvr 14]

Have been reading GrimeScene info for the past several months getting myself ready to strip, brighten, and restain my 12-year old pressure treated pine deck.

The deck is 12'x20' with two large sets of steps, wrap-around benches on two sides, and 4' vertical pressure treated pine sides on two sides. The deck is in full sun all day long. Two years ago I prep'd the whole deck and then applied Behr Acrylic ... horizontal surfaces flaked off within 3 months and the vertical surfaces were still intact after 2 years. In retrospect, Behr was a very bad choice, but I went with it based on Consumer Reports ratings. Subsequently read about similar poor durability stories about it on the GrimeScene.

Based upon GrimeScene reading, I used HD-80 at 8 oz / gal strength applied with a pump-up sprayer soaking in with repeated applications for ~25 minutes to keep the mix wet, followed by pressure washing ... one section of the deck at a time ... and was able to remove the Behr Acrylic. Then I used Woodrich Wood Brightener & Neutralizer (Citralic) to neutralize the HD-80 stripped deck surfaces followed by garden hose wash off. Looks fine to my eyes and ready for staining. Here are some photos of the stripped and neutralized deck.

As a result of my reading of GrimeScene, I decided to go with either ReadySeal or with Armstrong Clark semi-transparent. I ordered the sample pack of RS and AC stains to try out on my 12-year old deck to get an appreciation of application, odor, and color. As I've read on GrimeScene, all of the RS and AC stains are darker on my 12-year old deck surfaces than they are on new pine that I also applied the color samples to.

Haven't decided which stain to use ... RS or AC semi. I am writing now to ask about your experiences on absorption of RS and of AC semi-transparent. I made a number of sample applications of RS and of AC semi. On new pine surfaces, neither RS nor AC semi soak right into the wood, but appear to penetrate somewhat then dry to touch over a period of 30-60 minutes. However, for the real 12-year old deck surfaces, the RS gets sucked right in; a quick swipe of another coat also gets sucked right into the wood. Looks like RS will easily take 2 coats to get a finished look. The AC semi-transparent samples also soak into the 12-year old deck surfaces faster than they did into the new pine wood surfaces, but not nearly as much as the RS. For the 12-year old pressure treated pine surfaces, it appears that the RS is penetrating deeper into the wood fibers than the AC ... judging by my observation of how quickly the RS liquid stain disappears into the wood as compared to a slower penetration by AC.

Thoughts on my observation of RS penetrating into the 12-year old wood fibers more than AC semi?

Thanks.

Tom Hartranft

East Central IL

Edited July 31, 2012 by wdcrvr

[RPetry 564]

... Thoughts on my observation of RS penetrating into the 12-year old wood fibers more than AC semi? ...

Tom,

Nice work on preparing your older PT. And good observation on the two stains.

RS always penetrates into wood better than AC or any other remaining exterior oil based stain. This is due to the oil they use which is 100% paraffin, mineral, or "baby" oil. It is a true penetrating oil as opposed to linseed oil, which will get into the wood for a bit, but does form a film on the surface.

Give Jake Clark of AC credit, as he has a hybrid of paraffin and linseed oil in his stains. Your call.

[Jason Reider 25]

Tom,

I don't have any experience with AC, but I do hear great things about it, especially the color quality. I love using Ready Seal. I was amazed at how the wood just soaked it all up the first time I used it. Since then, I haven't used anything else when I supply the stain.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

We prefer AC to RS for a number of reasons. Longevity being the main one....

Beth

[AAPaint 14]

Haven't tried the AC, but Ready Seal really soaks in deep on any wood that's been exposed for a while. Even a year or two old, the wood will really drink it up. There's no doubt RS penetrates, and it does give a good look. Longevity, it may lose out to AC.

[wdcrvr 14]

Appreciate the feedback on your experiences with RS versus AC absorption on old PT pine.

Opted to go with Armstrong Clark ... tried out a variety of samples on my old PT pine including a couple of color blends. Narrowed down to either cedar semi or blend of cedar semi and rustic brown semi. Here's a photo of the two on a large section of a PT pine bench that is same age / condition as my deck. The bench is sitting upright on one end in the photo; only the two rightmost boards were stained. The cedar-rustic brown blend is at top; the straight cedar semi is on bottom.

Decided on the 50:50 blend of AC cedar-semi & rustic brown semi-transparent; ordered the materials end of this week. Will post pic's of finished deck and adirondak chairs when finished.

Tom

Edited August 4, 2012 by wdcrvr

[seymore 90]

Appreciate the feedback on your experiences with RS versus AC absorption on old PT pine.

Opted to go with Armstrong Clark ... tried out a variety of samples on my old PT pine including a couple of color blends. Narrowed down to either cedar semi or blend of cedar semi and rustic brown semi. Here's a photo of the two on a large section of a PT pine bench that is same age / condition as my deck. The bench is sitting upright on one end in the photo; only the two rightmost boards were stained. The cedar-rustic brown blend is at top; the straight cedar semi is on bottom.

Tom

Are those samples 1 coat or 2 ? Looks like that deck is going to soak up stain like a sponge!

You could also use a stiff deck brush on the deck to see if you can get the fuzzies off If you not wanting to sand?

[wdcrvr 14]

Are those samples 1 coat or 2 ? Looks like that deck is going to soak up stain like a sponge!

1 heavy wet coat that very quickly soaked into the wood. Yes, I expect the overall deck will take in a good bit of stain ... I plan to be generous as I don't expect any puddling.

Tom