Question:

How long do I have to wait before I stain my deck?

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Just built a new deck with pressure treated wood and I have plans to stain it. Some tell me to wait an entire year, others say within a month or so. I plan to stain it a transparent, tinted stain. Any suggestions for brands and application techniques are welcome too!

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  1. You should be able to stain the deck after 2-3 weeks.  Clean it with a bleach and tsp solution.  Mix one gallon of bleach,  1 cup of TSP and 4 gallons of water.  Use a pump sprayer to apply the cleaner to the deck and rinse with a pressure washer.  Allow 2 sunny days drying time and its ready to stain.  Two stains I like for decks are Sikkens SRD and Sherwin Williams deckscapes.  I usually apply stain by the spray and backbrush method.  That means spray it on and brush it in.  


  2. drop a little water on the deck. if the water beads then don't apply stain. try again in a few weeks. if it doesn't bead then go ahead with the stain. some treated lumber is wet and heavy when you get it so it will take longer to dry out.    if what's under the deck is not an issue then you can probably use a roller. i prefer a brush as i believe it does a better job of working the stain  into the wood. don't buy cheap stain. any of them are pretty good if they cost around 25 to 30 dollars a gallon. if you brush it start at one end with 2 or 3 boards and work them all  the way to the other end, then take the next 2 or 3 and work them back across. it goes faster than you think. good luck

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