Recommendations for deck paint for porch

[newbury]

Any current recommendations for a long lasting deck paint?
Tired of every 2 or 3 years redoing.

 

[spitter]

Unfortunately, no. I did a job in a Sherman Williams Research center, and they had stains and paints laid out in full sunlight. The guy there said he had all brands there with test samples, at best a horizontal surface in full sunlight will need a recoat in 2 - 3 years depending on condition.

Clear topcoats are the worst. Oil stain types are the easiest to recoat because there is no peeling or chipping.

 

[oosik]

I use a semi-translucent oil stain. It's made by Cabot. Not saying Cabot is any better than others but it's certainly better than paint.

I redo my decks every five years or so. Except for the south side of my cedar house( PanAbode ) this product is good for 12 to 15 years. The south side gets recoated along with my decks.

With oil stains - when it starts looking bad - just roll on another coat.

 

[319Quahog]

Ever thought of biting the bullet and going with composite decking?

I'm using Timbertech on mine.

 

[oosik]

My small dock ( 10 x 16 ) has composite decking. It's 17 years old and I've never done anything to the decking. It's been on the lake for all 17 years and still looks as good as the day I bought it.

The only downside to composite - it gets HOT in the summer sun. Not a surface you will want to walk on bare footed. When we go down to the dock - we take a 5 gallon plastic bucket. Bucket water out of the lake and splash across the dock. This will cool it down and allow foot traffic for a while.

This is what it looks like after the winter. A normal spring project - scrub down the deck. All the local wildlife enjoy the little dock also.
The beavers, the geese & ducks and the magpies.

 

[Smokeydog]

Have a section of our back deck not covered. Sees the worst of the southern sun and weather. Been playing chemist by adding ingredients to oil based stains. Non-nano zinc, powder, boiled linseed oil and non diluted antifreeze.

Last fall had a gallon of Olympic best semitransparent stain in the cart to recoat the weathered section, $50. Noticed the paint counter at Lowe’s had two gallons of the same stuff that they had tinted for a customer. One brown, one green. $10 each.
To each gallon added pint of both boiled linseed oil, antifreeze, four big spoonfuls of zinc powder and a packet of moldicide. Mixed well. Brown stain on top. Green underneath. Over winter the tint adds durability. Antifreeze kills mold, algae or rot and helps oil penetrate deeper into the wood. Had some mold and algae showing underneath. All gone now. So far so good, time will tell.

 

[oosik]

Smokeydog. It's just too dry here to get mold or fungus. However - I do get wind blown volcanic ash. It is EXTREMELY abrasive and must be hosed off vehicles - not rubbed off in any fashion.

BTW - where in the world did you ever come up with that deck treatment formula. Sounds like a form of Witches brew or an alternate to Long Island Iced tea.

 

[Smokeydog]

Rot and termites always a problem here. Made DIY “BoraCare” to help keep our 300+ year old log structures healthy for future generations. Going to be wet, rainy and smokey for a week.

 

[5030]

I pressure wash ours first with ordinary household bleach sprayed on prior to pressure washing and then let it dry a week or so and spray on a coat of boiled linseed oil reduced with mineral sprits and it's good to go for 5 years or so. Do the same on my rentals which both have large PT decks. I like the composite planking but it's just too costly to use, at least for me. Heck, today, even .40 retention is expensive but then today everything is abnormally high including motor fuel and groceries.

 

[Gem99ultra]

I used Behr Porch paint w/anti-slip ingredient. Clean w/power spray, waited 1 week and rolled one coat. Looks like new still after 3 years. Cost was $38/gallon and covers 450 sqft. I recommend that.

 

[ponytug]

We used the same Behr deck and porch paint, and it was very tough. That said, if the deck hadn't already been painted, I would have preferred to use an oil stain, as it is easy to update, and does, I think, a better job of protecting the wood. I find that water can get under paint on a deck and then it accelerates rot. I prefer the breathability of oil stains. I dilute the first coat pretty heavily to improve penetration.

We replaced the rotting redwood deck with a composite deck. As @oosik mentioned, it gets quite hot under bare feet. I'm also not very impressed with the hidden fastener system which has cracked some of the tongue and groove edges loose/off underneath, allowing the decking to move, and to lift, in a few places. Timbertek.

All the best,

Peter

 

[CaterpillarCowboy]

Any current recommendations for a long lasting deck paint?
Tired of every 2 or 3 years redoing.

Cabot Australian Timber Oil
It is a great stain, comes in various colors. It ain't paint. I have it on my front porch 12x14 open with a roof. Current
treatment is 5 years. I am going to recoat it this summer. It doesn't build up like paint. I repeat it is really a STAIN....

 

[newbury]

Thanks for all the suggestions.
A little more info -
I've 4 decks to do, total ~ 1,000 sq ft.
In previous iterations of my decking preservation attempts I've gone from Thompson's water seal (good for ~ 1yr) to a Sherwin Williams (SW) recommended stain (2 to 3 yr) then was strongly advised to go with a solid pigment solution - on the theory that light destroys stain. So I settled on a SW SuperDeck Exterior Waterborne Semi-Solid Color Stain (this seemed to be a more of a paint to me) and this has held up really well for two full years on a small deck that gets direct sun from dusk to dawn in Virginia. There were some spots that had gotten stained by drippings from grilling chicken that peeled up the first winter, but a second application seemed to fix them.
Looking at this deck a few days ago it looked pretty close to what it looked like a week after application.
HOWEVER, as stated it's only been two years.
That said I've read of some new (to me) products such as Gulf Synthetics Deck Revive. Resurfacer Coatings for Wood that claims to

Deck Revive actually fills in cracks and knots, locks down splinters and nailheads, and provides a new slip-resistant textured surface that lasts for years.

It's a 2 part mix that must be used the day it's mixed. And the entire process (pema bond + deck revive) done in a day or two.
However that requires prep with their "Perma Bond" and addition of 1 gallon of gloss exterior acrylic latex paint of any color. So cost comes out to
$250 Deck Revive Full Kit (Coverage: two coats will cover approximately 200 square feet.)
$100 Perma Bond (coverage 350-400 sq ft) so estimate $50/200 sq ft
~$50 gallon of exterior latex ~ 200 sq ft.
Total ~ $400 for 200 sq ft, or $2/sq ft.

Compared to SW SuperDeck Exterior Deck & Dock Coating which covers maybe 100 sq ft for ~$80 but might need more coats. So maybe $160/100 sq ft, or $1.60/sq ft.

I tried to find coverage for Cabot Australian Timber Oil, best I could find was maybe 250 sq ft/gallon for $56@ Lowes. That would be a clear winner on price if I could trust it.
More research needed.

 

[BruceSH]

I use a semi-translucent oil stain. It's made by Cabot. Not saying Cabot is any better than others but it's certainly better than paint.

I redo my decks every five years or so. Except for the south side of my cedar house( PanAbode ) this product is good for 12 to 15 years. The south side gets recoated along with my decks.

With oil stains - when it starts looking bad - just roll on another coat.

FWIW I helped build a PanAbode cedar log home 57 years ago near Scapoose OR. My Dad and older brother were more help than me. It was and is a very nice home.

 

[oosik]

Newbury - I found the label in my log book. Cabot Australian Timber Oil. Purchased at Lowes in 2008. Wow - don't remember what I paid per gallon. It CERTAINLY was not $56. I'm too cheap to pay that much.

My neighbor tried linseed oil. Boiling hot - applied with a roller. Seems to be OK. Gotta watch your step when it rains. Surface can become slick.

 

[newbury]

Newbury - I found the label in my log book. Cabot Australian Timber Oil. Purchased at Lowes in 2008. Wow - don't remember what I paid per gallon. It CERTAINLY was not $56. I'm too cheap to pay that much.

My neighbor tried linseed oil. Boiling hot - applied with a roller. Seems to be OK. Gotta watch your step when it rains. Surface can become slick.

That would be about $38 in 2008.

 

[319Quahog]

I'm also not very impressed with the hidden fastener system which has cracked some of the tongue and groove edges loose/off underneath, allowing the decking to move, and to lift, in a few places. Timbertek.

That system looked over complicated to me, so I just went with their color matched screws.

 

[ponytug]

That system looked over complicated to me, so I just went with their color matched screws.

I have a feeling that I will be at that point soon on a few places on the deck. If I were doing it again, I would go that route, based on what I learned. Not the end of the world for me, as we have some stairs that are screwed down, and those seem to be holding up ok, other than a few screws that were a little bit proud, and now the a little bit of the screw coating has been abraded off.

All the best, Peter

 

[NorTracNY]

I have a feeling that I will be at that point soon on a few places on the deck. If I were doing it again, I would go that route, based on what I learned. Not the end of the world for me, as we have some stairs that are screwed down, and those seem to be holding up ok, other than a few screws that were a little bit proud, and now the a little bit of the screw coating has been abraded off.

All the best, Peter

I used snap off screws when I put my Treks deck on. They were a little more work than regular screws, but I loved the result. I've had no issues with them and the deck is about 15years old now.

 

[nyone]

Clear topcoats are the worst. Oil stain types are the easiest to recoat because there is no peeling or chipping

And that's why you use a oil based stain. Just the prep alone for paint would make be want a stone patio real quick.
Since you alreaty painted the deck you can sand it..