Hi WB, If you've had dry weather, 3 or 4 days is OK, then use the sander. * You want all wood fibers to "shear off" nicely. If they're still damp, they may "tear" more...compared to a cleaner cut. * Important point: Get all the dust you can from where you sanded!! Sweeping/Shop-vac/light wipe with paint thinner. * Then, stain away! Deck Stains...hmmm...now THERE'S a "hot topic" here! * I can only speak of what we have good experience with at our store here in Fargo, ND... * Our climate here can range from -30 to 100+, with ALL kinds of humidity. It's a wonder anything holds on a deck! (our rough streets take a beating too!) ....That said.... * The "clear", "natural" colors from Penofin & Sikkens are our best sellers. * PENOFIN: Cedar, Western Red Cedar, & Transparent Redwood are by far the 3 top colors here. TWO-COAT process normally on untreated wood. 2nd coat goes pretty quickly. * SIKKENS: JEEZ we go through a lot of this stuff! SRD is appropriate for 95% of decks. ONE COAT on untreated wood. >>>> Most popular SRD colors... 077 Cedar, 078 Natural, 005 Natural Light, Mahogany, & 089 Redwood. * I've got an 11 yr.-old Redwood deck. I'm real happy with the SRD 089 Redwood I've got on it. I've had 2 yrs. off, but have to do it again this fall. * We don't get any shade on ours; but, up here, that's about all we can realistically expect. Let us know how it goes for ya! Faron

Oh wow, I am sorry to hear that. They should at least give you a discount if you end up replacing the beam. I would go with smooth cedar if given option over again since the stain on so much more predictable. We are building our house and have rough cedar beam indoor and cedar headers outdoor trim...so I just ordered yet another stain today called light walnut and hope that it works out. Lol... For Exterior cedar I am having an even harder time than my interior cedar beam because they don't offer many samples for exterior stains so have to buy the whole gallon as sample (multiple gallons) ....boooh. :(. I have about 3 weeks before they begin staining mine so we will see. Well I will let you know if I find the one and good luck to you! I'd love to see your finished product.

yep same thing happened to my cedar post that are gables on the house.. used a non red based stain but the post were so uneven in colors it looks pretty ragged. I am so disappointed.. new house construction and I just wreaked my gables.. It looks nothing like the stain sample and we tested it in the store but each piece was so different ... ugh.. white wraps might have to happen.. I wanted the oak look and I get red.... disgusted..

Thanks! More landscaping is a goal but very difficult. The ground is packed so hard around the house - very hard to get a hole dug that will drain. I bought pots, but my tenant did not water, and the deer ate most of the things we planted. We had a big-time blizzard that killed some shrubbery that hasn't been replaced.