I recently finished treating my newly built 14' x 16' pressure treated deck this past September. After plenty of research I settled on One Time http://onetimewood.com wood sealant/stain. I have 40+ years experience as a humble do-it-yourselfer home maintenance guy (not my main profession) and made more than my share of mistakes on various projects. Luckily I was able to learn some things along the way and feel I can give my recommendations on the use of this product with some confidence.

1. Watch the videos on the website for working with One Time. They provide some good tips as far as what kinds of tools to use as well as application techniques.

2. Make sure all deck surfaces are CLEAN and DRY before application. I used both a Behr deck cleaner and a Flood deck cleaner on different areas of the deck. I think that Flood did a slightly better job at brightening the wood. Just my unscientific observation. My deck was built in early August 2011 using kiln dried PT pine. After cleaning I waited 2 days (fortunately sunny)to allow the wood to dry out.

3. Applying the product was just as easy to apply as it appeared in the videos. I used 9" rollers for most surfaces and a 4" for spindles and tight spaces, finishing up with a 2" hand brush. Also used a large 5" deck brush on a pole to fill in the edges between the boards on the surface, just like in the video.

4. The one thing that I liked most about the product was also the biggest headache for me. One Time does not contain solvents to allow quick drying times. This is great for preventing "over lapping" of coats and eliminating the need to "keep a wet edge" as when using regular oil or latex stains. The bad part is that the long drying time means it stays wet on all your rags and applicators so it tended to be a bit messy during the whole process. Bottom line is I would settle for the mess as a trade off for the ease of application and evenness of the finish. I had several "runs" on vertical sufaces that I went over and over with a brush but was unable to get rid of. But by the next day they were totally gone and the finish was completely even and consistent. So if you happen to see that, don't sweat it like I did. All will be well the next day.

5. Last and most importantly: this product needs plenty of WARM DRY SUNNY days to cure properly. Let me say that again - WARM DRY SUNNY days. Obviously this requires a bit of luck on your part and accuracy on the part of your local weather person.

So that's my $0.02 on the matter. Now let's see how the deck looks next year on the other side of a long, cold, snowy northern Ohio winter. Hope you find this information useful.