What's the best way to go about staining a deck?
Question:I've got it clean, got opaque stain.. but I'm looking at the deck thinking, "Am I really gonna have to get on my hands and knees with a brush to stain this thing?" Is using a roller attached to a pole all right, or should I just nut up and get down?
Answers:
Depends on the size of the deck and your desired results.
1. Sprayers are fast but spray everywhere.
2. Brushes take forever, but you can get into every nook and cranny.
3. Rollers are the best of both worlds.
If you're so minded, use all three and utilize the design of each to its fullest advantage.
Also what kind of wood is it? Me, personally, if its Teak, I would use a brush.
get an all purpose paint sprayer, the ones with the canister you fill up with paint underneath it, just fill it with stain instead of paint, much faster, and saves u alot of trouble, try lowes or the home depot or your local hardware store to get one
A roller is fine. Use a brush around the edges and hard to reach areas first.
Depends. If the wood on the deck is rough, use a roller. No problem with that, just don't stop for coffee. It needs to be done in one application.
If the wood is relatively smooth, get a lambskin applicator and the wood block it wraps around. (about $18.00 @ H.D)
This is a better way because you won"t get a lot of "lap marks" that the roller can leave". But you should still have your coffee first
You should go with the paint sprayer. However to get an even application you should back roll it. First you would spray a section of deck. Then you would take a new clean roller and roll over where you just sprayed. This will ensure an even finish. Hope this helps.
A roller would be fine. I would take about 4-5 boards wide and roll from end to end reducing the chance of lap marks and keep a wet edge. A sprayer would work, but I would not use unless your deck is huge. The reasons being that spraying needs to be back rolled (two man operation), conditions have to be right (no wind) and you lose approx. 15-20 pct of material when spraying. You would have to be careful in masking off areas that you don't want overspray to hit (there will be drift) and clean up on a sprayer takes some time. If you are using one of the cheap sprayers (Wagner) with a paint pot, you will be refilling often, wasting time and they are difficult to manuver and use on a horizontal surface.
-If you go with a deck sprayer you will be spraying everything-because it gets everywhere. And even though you will be spraying it most likely you will have to go over it with a roller to even it out. If you do decide to get a deck sprayer then make sure it has a metal tip...it can not be a regular garden sprayer.
-Doing it with a China Bristle Brush would take forever but you can do it that way if you prefer.
-What I would recommend would be to use a deck roller, can not be a regular roller. Roll the stain on and then use a brush where needed. Just remember to keep a wet edge!
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