How Often Should A Deck Be Stained or Sealed?

When it comes to stain the deck, homeowners have many different choices in the type of stain. One can choose from transparent stain types, semi-transparent, solid, and semi-solid stain types. Each stain type has its own characteristics. For example, transparent stain will actuallyStaining, Sealing and Maintaining Your Deck soak into the deck boards. On the other hand, solid stain acts more like a pain as it rests on the top of the deck board. How often should you stain or seal your deck mainly depends on the type of stain you use and many other factors.

Type of Deck Stains and Sealers:

As a golden rule, the newer the deck, the more transparent the stain you need to choose. People generally don’t use high-pigmented solid stain when it comes to seal or stain a new deck. The reason behind is that people love the color and look of the wood that the deck is made of. However, the rule is that the more transparent the stain will be the faster the deck will wear and it will need to be re-stained more often. On the other hand, if you stain the deck with a solid stain, you will need to re-stain the deck less often. But in that case, you will actually have to cover the natural beauty of the wood deck. On an average a transparent stain will required to be re-stained or re-sealed every year. On the other hand, solid pigmented deck will usually need to be re-stained in every five years.

Sealing the Deck:

If you seal the wood deck with UV protected weather proof water seal twice a year, you will not need to stain the deck more often. According to the professional painters, sealing your deck with a good quality water sealer actually doubles the time between re-staining. Sealing offers humid weather protection and at the same time protects wood deck from UV rays of the sun. A good quality sealer also creates a shield that protects the deck from direct sunlight and avoids potential damages caused by the sunlight.

Weather Conditions:

If the deck is exposed to harsh weather conditions like humidity, sunlight, and snowfall, it will start to wear more frequently and you will need to stain the deck in no time. Wood deck that is regularly exposed to dry and humid weather condition may need to be stained and sealed more often to keep up with the weathering process.

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