RS redwood only formula on redwood deck

[RPetry 564]

Advice needed. Am working on a 25 yr. old redwood deck, constructed of 2x4's, that had been neglected over the yrs. Cleaned normally with sodium percarb and brightened with citric acid. Spot sanded some areas and the entire surfaced has been buffed with defelting pads.

Put down three separate Ready Seal color samples and the tannin in the wood immediately came to the surface, coloring the wood nearly black in each case and making the samples nearly indistinguishable. Ok, best go with the Ready Seal redwood only formula to minimize tannin bleed.

Problem is that I have never applied the redwood only formula. With regular RS and softwoods, I normally spray with a Pump Tek unit, with one heavy coat on the vertical wood and two on the horizontals, back brushing the second application with a large bristle brush.

Anyone have any tips on application? I understand the redwood formula is subject to lap marks. One or two stain applications? Wet on wet or let the first one dry before hitting the wood again? Back brush on all staining?

The deck is full southern exposure and with the weather remaining brutally hot and sunny here for the next week, I'm wary of any flashing problem. Also, the wood is extremely dry and will accept a lot of stain.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Tight ring pattern is not necessarily an indicator of dense wood fibers. Redwood is so soft you can scratch it easily with your fingernail. A dense hardwood will not scratch easily.

Typically old growth redwood is moderately lightweight, moderately strong and stiff, and moderately hard. The wood is easy to work, and generally straight in grain. The heartwood from old growth trees has high decay resistance; heartwood from second growth trees generally has low to moderate decay resistance. You can speculate what else is effected when trees are cut from second growth.

Beth

[Aplus 525]

Rick,

Ive done 1 redwood project with RS and when I talked to Pierce and I gave him the details and history of the wood, he said to use regular RS without the special redwood only formula. This thing was old and nasty too, like the pic you posted, that is really dry....... my point being when I sprayed it with RS natural cedar it was pretty damn dark which concerned me, but when it reached it final color in about 10 days it looked good......I stripped it with SH and when I neutralized it, I used Oxalic and I really hit it and let it stay on there for a long time, so when I sealed it, it was BRITE !!!

best bet is to call Pierce....

good luck :cool:

I tend to agree with Mike here, the stain may appear dark upon application, but after a week or so would most likely lighten up.

I've had many occasions staining old neglected wood where RS, when first applied, looked like crap. Several days later, it looked beautiful.

[RPetry 564]

Pierce from Ready Seal is a pretty smart guy. When I described over the phone about three regular RS color samples turning black on this old redwood deck, he immediately exclaimed "Tannin Bleed!". Boy was he right.

Thundershowers this AM so went to the job site this afternoon. Vertical wood was dry enough so did a little staining. The RS redwood only formula worked like a charm. Beth, you asked for some pics. First is the deck before cleaning. Second is after cleaning and buffing with defelting pads. Third is RS redwood only med. red on a balustrade post.

If anyone else runs into this problem it is readily identifiable. No matter what color of regular RS you use, light or dark pigment, if the redwood immediately turns black, and I mean in a heartbeat, go with the RS redwood only formula.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Cool! Looks great on the wood too! Can't wait to see the whole thing. I'm sure it will be a masterpiece.

Beth :sunshine:

[RPetry 564]

Reply did not allow a duplicate photo in the thread. The original redwood is in message #7 on this thread on the first page.

[tropical wave 22]

Looks good Rick......glad its working out !!!! did you strip off the blackened RS before using the redwood only formula???

dont forget the after pics when its all done :cool:

[RPetry 564]

Mike,

The three sample color patches of regular RS was less than 1 sq. ft. so I just sanded them out. The black tannin was on the surface and came off easily. To be honest, I'm not sure if you could strip tannin. I don't know anything about it except it must be some type of natural resin that occurs in great quantity in some redwood.

Beth,

I'm not expecting any masterpiece. This wood is 25 yrs. old and severely neglected. Some type of fungus or mold was in the cracks between ~30% of the deck boards and had actually taken root into the wood. The redwood is cracked, ridged, and starting to rot on some of the end grain and one spot on the floor.

But short of ripping out all the redwood and running it through a planer I'll do the best that I can.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

I'm sure the owner will be thrilled. That's what counts, right?

Beth

[RPetry 564]

Beth,

The owner comes in second. Most don't have a clue, just care if it looks nice when you finish. If I don't like the results, I've done a bad job.

Just got back in. It is ungodly hot here in NJ today. I wouldn't walk my dog in this heat and this 50 something is out bustin his hump on decks! Tomorrow is suppose to be just as hot and more humid. Great. I'm seriously thinking of taking tomorrow off. Thursday of this week and beyond looks more reasonable.

Keep cool...

[RPetry 564]

Tannin bleed redwood deck finished. Thanks to all on this thread for their help. Also, many thanks to Pierce of Ready Seal and Tom Vogel of ACR. This is the first time I've used the RS redwood only formula and it applied as easily as the regular RS.

Three pics attached. Original condition, after cleaning/brightening/buffing, and finished.

[PressurePros 249]

Looks great to me.. Nice job, Rick

[tropical wave 22]

Nice job !!! :cool:

was the client thrilled?? sorry bout the problems you had with this job, but I sure learned a lot from it, so thanks for sharing !!

[seymore 90]

That looks sweet Rick :cool:

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

I told you it would look great. ;)

Beth

[James 625]

I love redwood- nice job--

[RPetry 564]

Thanks all. My only disappointment is that I was unable to get a 2nd application of stain into the horizontals. Put the first stain into the wood this past Tuesday, when it was ~ 95 degrees F and in full sun. Must have over applied, but the stain was drying so fast, it took a good amount to allow any effective back brushing. Some of the deck 2 x 4's are 16 1/2 ft. long single piece, and even doing only 3 boards at a time as Jim suggested, it took a lot of stain to keep a wet edge.

Went back Wed. AM after the dew had dried and brushed a light amount of stain in a small shaded area to test. After 40 min. the redwood was still wet on top with a few spots dried to a sheen so wiped the excess off and figured that the redwood would not absorb any more stain. Last thing I want is a Ready Seal film on top of the wood.

Mike,

This job was not a problem. Knew that tannin bleed could be a problem with some redwoods, and it was immediately evident when I put down the 3 regular RS color samples.

My primary concern was application of the RS redwood only formula. Had been warned of spotty application, partial drying, and lap marks, which has never been a problem with regular RS. I guess I was lucky on this redwood as the redwood only formula was as easy to apply and uniform in appearance as regular RS on other species of softwoods.

The customers were very pleased. The wife seemed more impressed that I kept working in the brutal heat we had here in NJ early this week! Most important, I have another dedicated customer for the future.

[reed 500]

Rick, Well done. Be sure to keep those three photos for you album and to show future clients.

GREAT RESULT

reed