LESLIE: Gene in Texas is refinishing his deck. What can we do for you today?
GENE: Well, I’m talking about wood decks on the lake; you know, around the house. And what I’m wondering is what solution – like a wood stain or preserver; things of that nature.
TOM: Mm-hmm. You know there have been great advances in wood stain products. It used to be that they were all oil-based and they were difficult to apply. Now the best stains are acrylic, so they’re water-based. They’re easy to clean up.
Behr has a line that just came out this summer called the Premium Exterior Weatherproofing Wood Stains and Finishes. Now, these are either semi-transparent or solid color and they’re made of 100-percent advanced acrylic – which means the application is easy to do – and they soak into the deck very, very nicely and they protect it for many, many years. So I would take a look at those products. You can see them at The Home Depot.
They have these little WoodSmart kiosks set up in the store where you can actually check out the colors that are available. There are a whole lot of colors. They can mix it to exactly what you need. But I think that’s the right approach for a wood deck right now.
GENE: So you think the acrylic is better than an oil-based type?
TOM: I do. If you have a good manufacturer like Behr and you use 100-percent advanced acrylic formulation, what you’re going to find is you’re going to get a product that soaks into the wood a lot more than the oil-based ever did and it really gives it ongoing protection for a number of years.
GENE: OK. And what do you do; put it on with a roller, paintbrush or what?
TOM: Yeah, actually a little bit of both. The idea is to get that material spread out there, so I think you’re probably – I mean if it was me, I’d probably be brushing to get it in between the cracks but I’d also be rolling it over the surface.
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