Stain or Paint Porch Deck?

[cbelt3]

For exaplanation...

"paint' flakes off.
Transparent stain also wears off, but it LOOKS like it's just 'disappearing'.
Solid stain wears off as well, and usually does not flake unless it was poorly applied.
And as noted.. sunlight damage goes through transparent stain more than solid stain.

Refinishing cycles with transparent are about 1-3 years.
Refinishing cycles with good quality solid stain are about 3-5 years.

It's all about what kind of pain you're willing to suffer.

[Speedy]

Once the stain goes away and the wood grays there are products to mostly bring back the original color of the wood.

[Michael]

We had a 20 year old deck that was looking crummy. I was going to replace the boards and a friend suggested that I flip the boards--great advice! After I flipped them, I used Behr cleaner and then the Behr Semi Transparent stain that Consumer's Reports said was great. So far, so good.

[kj]

Please use stain. Our deck paint chipped off, pealed, etc. a couple years after we bought the house, and I had to take all the crap paint off and stain it. Much better with the stain. kj.

[datbeme]

Solid stains are definitely better than paint or sealers, but if it starts to peel in a couple years, you are in for a major job of stripping and starting all over again.

Years ago I was swayed by some articles by the Tim Carter, the "Ask the Builder" guy syndicated in newspapers. He was touting an epoxy-fortified penetrating stain called "Defy" that sealed the wood without forming a film that would peel or flake. Having read some Consumer Reports studies that indicated that almost any major name brand sealer was a piece of crap, I was intrigued.

I had a new cedar fence, but the application seemed to require a lot of prep and careful following of directions...a pricey oxygenate bleach (like Oxy Clean but without all the fillers), a whitener and then the stain itself. I just didn't have the time, and I never got around to it. The fence weathered naturally, and I figured I could put up a whole new fence in 10 years for what it would cost me in product and labor to stain and maintain it. I don't regret that decision, but before the 10 years was up, the fence was in pretty awful shape, and it really did need to be replaced. One big summer storm and half the thing fell down in an instant.

In the meantime, I had tried the Defy on a new pergola and was pleased with the results. I did a maintenance coat after 3 years, but it held up beautifully for 3 more.

So when I replaced the fence last year, I decided to do it right this time. I went looking for Defy again at the high quality paint store I purchased from in the past. They professed no knowledge of it but tried to steer me to their Benjamin Moore brand. With a little research, I found another good paint store about 15 minutes away that was listed as a Defy dealer. Went there and the saleslady pleaded ignorance once again. I resigned myself into thinking I just needed to move on...but upon checking with the owner, she indicated that they did stock small quantities because he said "it's the best."

It took me several weekends, and I bought out all the stock of the color I needed on a couple of occasions, but the fence looks awesome. I don't have a deck, but if I did, this is what I would use.