Having just finished staining some 1,000 sq.ft. of exterior decking, I am pleased to report my experience this far has been extremely positive. Our decks which are made of Cumaru, a very dense tropical hardwood, had not been treated with any form of sealant since they were originally constructed some 15 years ago, hence the original color wheas a beautiful, rich, reddish brown, had turned completely gray. After a very thorough power washing, I experimented mixing varying ratios of Seal It Green walnut and redwood colors until I came up with a tone I felt best resembled that of the original wood color. Application was a breeze. Although I first tried using a power sprayer and back-brushing, I soon found due to the less than optimal condition of the wood that sticking to using just the brush alone allowed me to really work the proper amount of stain into each individual board (each individual board had different absorption rates and oftentimes even within the same board, certain areas absorbed more product than others). Again, I want to be clear in stating this was due solely to the condition of the wood due to the many years of total neglect, and not the product. Although it was very tome consuming and painstaking work, the Seal It Green product made the job as easy as possible because it was very forgiving. I found I did not have to worry about maintaining a wet edge, and that I could go back over areas I has just done without having to wait for it to dry. The first coat absorbed a good deal more product than I anticipated, again due to the degree of dryness and surface porosity of the wood in question. I was therefore very pleased to find the second coat barely took 1/3 the amount.
Last but not least, the entire job was spread out over several weeks, due to numerous rainy days. There were several days when contrary to the forecast it ended up raining late in the day or middle of the night, which was always of great concern, but in the end, despite everything...the less than optimal weather conditions (most of the good weather days when I was able to work, were either in scorchingly hot blaring sun, or unbearably humid), and the seriously neglected condition of the wood, the job turned out really well. Mind you, it remains to be seen how well and how long it holds up.
