LESLIE: Teresa in Tennessee is on the line with a question about staining a pressure treated wood deck. How can we help you?
TERESA: We just finished re-decking our deck outside and with treated lumber. And we were going to stain it, so I was very happy going to try and pick out my color. And I was told that we’re supposed to wait about a year to stain it. Is that true?
LESLIE: It’s brand-new, pressure-treated lumber?
TERESA: Yes, it is.
LESLIE: Yes. So the – there’s a formulation that they use to create the lumber to be more weather-resistant, which is basically saturating that wood with whatever that mixture is that makes that wood durable. So, in doing so, you’re dealing with some very green, very wet wood. So if you were to apply a stain at this point, it would kind of just float on the top and not really saturate into the wood. And you’d end up with a strange, finished product and it also would not last at all.
So what they recommend for pressure-treated is a season, six months. It’s got to be dry. It’s got to dry out. And once it does dry, then you’re able to apply the finish and it will saturate – whatever the stain is, saturate into the grain of the lumber itself and therefore stay for a much longer period of time.
TERESA: Oh, OK then.
LESLIE: And the type of woods will depend on what that aging time is.
TERESA: Oh, OK. So six months, not a year.
LESLIE: Right. It’s generally a season, Tom, right?
TOM: Yeah. I mean it is going to end up being a year but I would just – if it’s brand-new now, I would go through a full summer with it. And then when next spring comes around, you could think about applying some solid-color stain then.
TERESA: OK. Well, thank you all very much for answering my question.
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