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Porches & Decks

Clear Deck Sealer?

15 years ago

I just recently got a new deck with composite flooring, but with southern pine railing, structural members and sun trellis. The pine is Home Depot's new pressure treated product (non-arsenic and not green colored). It is a beautiful color just the way it is and I would like to keep it that way. Any recommendations for a clear sealer or will a clear sealer cause it to gray? Is there any way to keep it as close to the current color or am I being overly optimistic? I like the light color and the look of the grain, so I definitly am not looking to use an opaque or dark stain.

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Comments (8)

carolina_prowash
15 years ago
A clear will definitely NOT offer the type of UV protection you are looking for if you have any amount of sunlight hitting that wood. There are some very good semi-transparent stains or wood toners (Olympic GREEN label comes directly to mind) that have the necessary pigment to protect your "color" but not change the color - enhance is the word I like to use :)

Celeste
Faron79
15 years ago
Carolina said it all...

CLEAR products have little UV protection.
That comes from PIGMENT...the more...the better!

Light colors like Cabots "Clear Solution" series are basically "Toners"...just highlighting the wood tones.

Depending on your decks' location & height off ground, you may be cleaning/re-coating every year just to maintain that slight color!!

Faron
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wait wait wait, im not sure if i agree with the whole thompsons sucks philosophy. ive put it on decks chairs and plenty of other things and have never had a problems-but im the kind of guy who reads directions. anyway with many oil based products you want to give your deck a thourough cleaning and with many oil based sealers/stains you must wait a full two days for the water to completely evaporate outta the wood. they usually take two days before they are rain safe-that means four days of dry weather to effectively seal your deck. one more word of advice ONE COAT ONLY the whole point of a water sealer is to seal out liquids-that includes more water sealer the wood has a saturation point. theres only so much the pores will take, so apply thin even coat, in these cases less is usually more. for that reason i dont like a roller theyre like a sponge and will soak up more than you may want them to so a painters pad is the absolute best solution and a natural bristle brush on the trim (or synthetic if youre using a water based product)...any questions? lol
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Tried posting this a few days ago but it seems to have disappeared: I'll try again, as we are ready to buy the sealer if we know what kind. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ We are almost done replacing the surface wood on our 28 year old deck. It is pressure treated wood, the kind that has a greenish tint when new. Preservation, not color, is the goal. If it turns grey, fine. The house is grey! I previewed sealers at the store. (We don’t want to order online). I saw some that were oil based, and some that said water based, and some where I didn’t notice. One stated wait 30 days after installation. October is almost here and it will soon be too cool to apply. First off, is oil based or water based best? I saw 5 different brands / kinds. If you have any knowledge of these brands specifically, please chime in. Pittsburgh Ultra Advanced Water proofing Sealant, Clear. The most expensive at $ 33 a gallon. Coverage 250-350 sq ft. Thompson’s Water Seal, clear, $14.50 / gallon. 200-400 sq ft. I’ve used this before but not recently, to seal some windowsills before painting. I don’t recall how well it performs. I recall it being very thin and watery. But I have nothing to compare it with. Wolman F & P natural Oil-Based $26 / gallon, 150-200 sq feet Wolman Raincoat Clear, water-based, $ 23 / gallon, 250 sq feet Wolman Raincoat Clear, oil-based, $ 23 / gallon, 250 sq feet Thanks!
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What sealer did you do with? we have the same type of deck and want to keep color as natural as possible.
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jdruding
Original Author
15 years ago
Ok, so I got it: pigment = UV protection. My deck is in direct sunlight most of the day, so it sounds like I need something with pigment. I got a recommendation for Olympic Green label, any other options? Thanks all!
carolina_prowash
15 years ago
There are others - I mentioned Olympic because of the availability at Lowe's. What you do want is a good OIL based product!

Celeste
jdruding
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks Celeste! In your opinion, is Olympic the best option? You mentioned others. Getting something from Lowe's would certainly be convienent, but I don't mind driving a bit further or paying more if there is a better product. Let me know.
carolina_prowash
15 years ago
One alternative that is "local" would be Flood CWF UV-5 (not just CWF). The "others" I refer to are going to be available through online stores - that contractors use. Armstrong Clark is available at www.thesealerstore.com and the Woodrich line is available through www.woodrich-brand.com. These are the products that we use as pros, however, when our products have been unavailable due to time constraints - the Flood or Olympic oils are our "go to" stains.

Celeste
thedeckguy-com
15 years ago
Hello, I wanted to inject some new information into this forum. For the past 5 years I have been apart of the Advisory Council Board for "Wolman Wood Care Products". This is a select group of deck contractors, from coast to coast, who have been in business for many years. We meet and discuss these types of questions. One of the thing that is constantly coming up is a "Clear Sealer w/UV protection" ... after 3 years of discussion it is in the works - as far as a launch date I do not have that information at this time. As a contractor who has cleaned and sealed over 3500 decks this is very exciting news.

Check with Wolman.com a branch of Rustoleum Zinsser Corp.
carolina_prowash
15 years ago
Hi Deck Guy :)

You are right - the talk all this and last year has been about the nanotechnology of getting pigment into clears without adding "color". We have a clear sitting on our back deck that is going down (when we dry out!) BUT, I don't want to recommend a product that I have no field testing complete on! The hope that I have is that we can prep & stain jobs as usual THEN add the clear for better longevity of the color (at least that would be my testing on a customer!) I hope they do get a GOOD oil based clear out there!

Celeste

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