Semi-Transparent Deck Stain

So I know you are all waiting with bated breath wondering what stain I chose for my deck.  First let me tell you what played into my decision-making.

1.  I live in good ol’ corn-fed middle America smack dab in the middle of the USA. In Indianapolis we experience four seasons.  This means we get extreme heat and extreme cold.  We also get rain, snow, sleet, hail, ice and sun.  So I knew a transparent stain wouldn’t be good because I need more protection than that.

2.  I like the look of a stained finish with wood grain showing through.  So that made the solid stain a no-go.

3.  I also don’t mind maintaining my deck yearly as long as I know what the heck I am doing.

4.  I like the contrast of paint and wood, I think it makes such a beautiful and rich setting.  Do I smell a paint and stain combo coming on? You betcha!

This is my friend Sarah’s deck from Thrifty Décor Chick.  We have the same outdoor furniture and she is a local Indy girl.  Isn’t her deck just gorgeous?  I have deck envy right now!

5.  I didn’t have the greatest experience with the solid stain. 

Now  before you discount solid stain as an option for your deck keep in mind that I didn’t give it near enough coats and I didn’t prep the surface correctly.  However I still can’t get over the fact that these, in my climate, have the tendency to chip and peel.  Since I had this problem I ended up stripping and sanding the entire deck.  And let me tell you this people….it ain’t fun.  If I weren’t so cheap such a DIYer I would have hired it out.

So in the end I chose Flood Brand’s One Coat Semi-Transparent stain in Walnut.  I must admit I only chose Flood because they are sponsoring one of my posts but from everything I have heard from both Glidden and Brittany from Pretty Hand Girl (who has used the Flood product before) the Flood brand is a quality one.  And believe me, I don’t care how much they are paying me I ain’t stripping that deck again for nothing!  So I did my research and feel confident that this will be a good choice for my deck.

I am also going to paint the vertical rails.  The rails don’t take near the abuse that the horizontal surfaces take so I think a quality exterior paint will work fine and won’t need to be repainted for about 3-4 years.  Then I will just recoat the deck boards and rail top every year or two with the One Coat semi-translucent stain in Walnut.

Like I said before…a deck is a maintenance item for your home.  So washing my deck and putting a coat of stain on the horizontal surfaces every year or so shouldn’t be all that difficult and kind of comes with the territory.

Confused about deck stain?  Check out my previous post for more information?