Sealant for outside treated wood deck

[ron in sc]

What's a good sealant for an outside pressure treated wood deck?
Thompsons water seal at Home Depot? Or something else?

I want the sealant to be clear.

 

[Junkman]

I have been using the Thompsons for many years, and have been completely satisfied. No matter what you do with pressure treated decking boards, they will warp, twist, crack, and spliter. I have never had good luck with the boards, but the Thompsons has always worked well.

 

[1989bimmer325i]

There is a product called Ready Seal, you can look at their products on their website and order over the phone. Ask for Pierce Fitchett when you call, tell him Derek Davis from Deck Pro Services sent you. Best stuff you could ever use, my dad started and ran Deck Pro Services from 1992 until he passed away 11-7-2003. He tried everything on the market and this is the one thing that really looked great and lasted more than a season. It's a paraffin based sealer and the best thing about it is that you don't have to remove the sealer a couple of years down the road when you are ready to do it again, you just do a light pressure wash to clean it and apply a light "refresh" coat and then you're good to go for a couple more years. It's simple to apply (by brush) and it won't leave lap marks or streak; you couldn't make the coat of sealer uneven if you tried. Do 2 coats on all horizontal surfaces (floor and top of handrail) and 1 coat on your vertical surfaces (spindles). Hope that helps.

Derek

 

[mmhouse]

Whatever you use, make sure it is truly clear (no pigment).

Most 'clear' sealers use some pigment to help block UV rays and slow the deterioration of the wood. However, even though it's just a little pigment, after a few years and a number of re-applications, the pigment builds up just like paint...and with the same appearance problems.

After about three wood decks, I finally decided (in my most recent house) to go with a paver patio on grade. I'll never have a wood deck again.

 

[larry4406]

I used Thompson's water seal clear. I sprayed it on using a hand pump insecticide type sprayer after power washing. If I ever build another deck, I will spring for trex or similar.

 

[Junkman]

My neighbor used one of the plastic wood type deckings, and it cost 3 times as much as wood, but hasn't weathered the New England weather any better. It has some cupped and twisted boards. It is a composition of sawdust and plastic. I wasn't impressed....

 

[SCutchins]

No offense to those using it, but Thompsons is junk. Olympic Waterguard is significantly better, you can get about 2 years out of it.

FYI I used to work at a Lowes and we treated some boards and left them out. Was a pretty good test. Go with solid color stains, Olympic Waterguard solid color will last 5 years or more I bet.

 

[mmhouse]

No offense to those using it, but Thompsons is junk. Olympic Waterguard is significantly better, you can get about 2 years out of it.

FYI I used to work at a Lowes and we treated some boards and left them out. Was a pretty good test. Go with solid color stains, Olympic Waterguard solid color will last 5 years or more I bet.

With all due respect, solid color stains are essentially latex paint and you will end up with the same issues as paint over the years.

 

[RobSmith]

Have a look at COBOTS products ...hard finish....HARD.

 

[1989bimmer325i]

I second the statement about Thompsons water seal being junk. The only other sealer I would recommend besides Ready Seal, from personal experience, would be Cabot's. You can find Cabot's @ Lowe's.

 

[KevDawg]

I have a friend who uses Sikkens SRD and in my opinion His Deck is the best looking deck I've seen. I'm building a deck this weekend and already picked up some SRD.
Have a look... its really nice stuff.
http://www.nam.sikkens.com/product.cfm?product_id=18&product_category=log-home

 

[WolverineCoatings]

Hi Ron,

Where have you been hiding?

About 10 years ago I was involved in a huge study to rate the different sealers for wood decks. I looked at about 30 different products. Thompson's Water Seal came in DEAD LAST!

The best performing product was from Cabot. The three products that I formulated came in 2nd, 4th, and 8th. This testing was not only laboratory testing but also tested in the real world on a fairly large boat dock at Lake James in Morganton, N.C. The dock has complete exposure to the sun for the entire day... no trees or shade.

You can also check research done by Consumer Reports. Their results and mine were fairly similar although our project was much more extensive.

Cabot was sold to Valspar a few years ago. So, I'm not sure of their current formulations. Big companies tend to 'dumb down' technology when they purchase small technology companies. However, Consumers Reports does research about every 2 years.

Eric

 

[bulletpruf]

Bumping an ancient thread. I have a treated lumber 2x10 deck on my car hauler trailer and I want to seal it. The lumber was just installed and it's been drying for about 30 days; I still need to check to see if water soaks into it. If it does, I want to seal it.

As an initial question, should I be using water based or oil based sealant?

thanks

Scott

 

[MarlynOC]

Have to agree about Ready Seal. There is one sealer that is in the same class as RS> Armstrong Clark sealers. Look for deck restorers to see what they recommend like Deck Pro Sealers above. I used RS from about 1998 on until i retired in 2013 as a deck restorer in Delaware Valley.

 

[bulletpruf]

Have to agree about Ready Seal. There is one sealer that is in the same class as RS> Armstrong Clark sealers. Look for deck restorers to see what they recommend like Deck Pro Sealers above. I used RS from about 1998 on until i retired in 2013 as a deck restorer in Delaware Valley.

Thanks. The local Lowes carries Ready Seal. Looks like I'll need about a gallon.