Deck sealing then rain!

[JohnG 14]

I sealed a deck yesterday with some Olympic Maximum. Checked the weather report, checked the internet, checked the radar, NO RAIN IN SITE. 2-3 hours later, RAIN!! Not alot, just enough to get everything wet. What kind of effect with this have on the job? Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks for all of the great advice from this site!!

[Pete Marentay 14]

Rain will damage the finish of any wet sealer with linseed oil or mineral oil in it. Because it forms a coating, it takes several hours to "set up" (dry) and during that time the sealer is vulnerable. If the surface dried enough to touch and the rain was gentle, you may find no problem at all. If the surface wasn't dry, or if the rainfall was hard, you will probably have to strip and re-seal.

Telltale signs are a damaged appearance and discoloration.

Customers are pretty aware of this problem. Your customer may insist on a re-do before he pays.

I had this same problem years ago, because Atlanta is similar to Florida where pop-up showers are the norm. I stripped and resealed dozens of decks damaged by rain.

I am a product dealer and I offer a sealer that has no temperature limitations and virtually no rainfall restrictions, but the wood must be absolutlely dry when you use this sealer. If you want to find out more, feel free to call Sun Brite Supply.

[Aplus 525]

2-3 hours may have been long enough provided the rain wasn't too hard. It's easy to tell if there was a problem because you'll see "water spots" on the horizontal surfaces.

If there are such spots, and they are not real bad, it may be possible to blend them in by wiping the deck with mineral spirits, or performing a very light sanding, then applying a light coat on top.

It would be maybe 50-50 that will work, but it's worth a try, since stripping new stain can sometimes be difficult.

Weather can and will get most of us sooner or later, it's just part of doing business.

Ready Seal stain supposed can be rained on 30 minutes after application with no ill effects, but I wouldn't want to bet the farm that everything will be allright.

Good Luck.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

You're in good hands with the help given by Pete and Tony.

Rod~

[CLASSICPW 14]

I used to use Olympic Maximum and this exact thing happened to me. Luckily my deck turned out fine. The rain was fairly hard, but it was in the middle of summer and about 2-3 hrs after I finished. The customer called me to check it out, but all was good. The worst was when I had to solid stain a deck with puke yellow Behr(the customer insisted) and it poured while I was doing it.......... nightmare.

[tropical wave 22]

The worst was when I had to solid stain a deck with puke yellow Behr(the customer insisted) and it poured while I was doing it.......... nightmare.

maybe SOMEBODY upstairs was trying to tell you something.....LOL

[Henry B. 4]

I've had this happen quite a few times also. It's unfortuanete but the bottom line is if you do enough decks it's eventually going to happen to everyone. It can usually be touched up like mentioned above but not always. I can vouch for the ready seal statement because I've had it rain pretty hard 40 minutes after applying ready seal.

No problems at all! Another sealer I used in the past called ABR X100 would have to be completly redone if it sprinkled after application. That problem and the stench of the product is what made me switch to ready seal.

Has anyone had any experience with what happens with wood tux wet when it rains after application? I'm curious since it can be sealed when the deck is somewhat wet. What happens when more water hits it?

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

We've had it rain on us 30 minutes after applying WT and have had no ill effects. However in those cases we would err on the side of caution and do another light application to the horizontals.

Wood Tux wet does work on wood that has a higher WMC, but it doesn't mean you can apply it in the rain.

Beth

[tropical wave 22]

for all that have used or are using the wood tux wet, how does it compre to ready seal as far as application? is it pretty easy or are there issues with drips, direct sun flashing, lap marks etc.....?? I love the ready seal but the reason I ask is for times like we're having now....rain every other day, then we get 2 decent days, then rain overnight again.....the decks are stacking up, cleaned, stripped and waiting.... the customers as well as myself are getting impatient..

[CLASSICPW 14]

I just finished a deck today with sikkens SRD in butternut, It started pouring as I laid the very last part. The steps were still wet so I guess we'll see tomorrow.

[Paul B. 523]

We've also finished deck staining in very light rain using Ready Seal.

Had short but heavy rain several times 30-45 minutes after finishing the stain application.

Knock on wood, no rework has been necessary due to rain.

[PressurePros 249]

I finished a deck yesterday by about 1pm and last night we had torrential thunderstorms. Went back today and all was well (thank god, 980 sf of floor). The temp was very hot and the deck was south side, the wood was about 12% when we applied MAB semi trans. I am a pain in the a** about backbrushing and wet spots, so I guess it paid off.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Jamie, did you go back and check it? How did it hold up?

Beth

[CLASSICPW 14]

Wow, I was very impressed. We had bigtime thunderstorms here in North baltimore County and the deck looked great! I couldn't believe it. There were so many instances in the past few weeks were they were calling for rain and I held off only to have a beautiful day with no rain. I finally took the chance and it poured on me. I now bow to SIKKENS. Of couse the deck was 18 yrs old and beat up so if there were any inconsistancies you couldn't tell. I still got paid, and the customer was happy, that's all that matters.

[seymore 90]

Here is a deck i stained last year with Gray Away Gold.It started raining pretty hard not too long after i was padding my last coat.I didn't have ill effects from the rain pretty happy for that :cool:

[ScorpioDad 0]

help !  I never had this happen before.....I stained a deck with Thompson's Signature series All In One......Within half an hour it started raining......There are puddles of a white milky substance on top of the stain now....What do I do?  

[ScorpioDad 0]

help !  I never had this happen before.....I stained a deck with Thompson's Signature series All In One......Within half an hour it started raining......There are puddles of a white milky substance on top of the stain now....What do I do?  

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

10 hours ago, ScorpioDad said:

help !  I never had this happen before.....I stained a deck with Thompson's Signature series All In One......Within half an hour it started raining......There are puddles of a white milky substance on top of the stain now....What do I do?  

From what I can gather, the product is a solid (according to the product named). Once dry, recoat where affected.
If the product has peeled or cracked, you may have problems later on during its installation. Trying to strip a newly applied product is very difficult
compared to one that has aged.
Can you post pictures of the results after the rain?

Rod

[ScorpioDad 0]

Hi Rod, I will try to show the pics. I am going back out in about 15 minutes....

[ScorpioDad 0]

Here's what it looks like now... Last night in the rain it was a milky white substance that was really watery

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Ok, Does any of it seem kinda powdery or chalky?
Asking because you may need to wash it again and recoat. If not, just recoat.

Rod

[blizzy 28]

Yeah,

He will need to wash again before the recoat.

That white dusty residue is the acrylic broken down by the rain.

You must wash or it will plug up the pores and prevent good adhesion.

Also, the acrylic " swells" when it gets wet even if it looks ok after it drys out you will have lost most of the stick.

 your saving grace is that this is an older deck, newer boards will completely fail in a couple months, but a recoat on these older more porous boards will likely hold up.

After a proper wash with perc.

Stay safe and have fun.