Can i stain treated lumber

If it absorbs into the wood quickly, your deck is dry and ready to be sealed or stained. It is important to protect your investment with proper care and the first step in keeping your deck structurally sound and great looking is proper staining or sealing.

You can always choose to stain or seal your pressure-treated deck yourself, or you can hire a professional to do it. There are many tips and tricks for how to complete the process available online. We are also happy to refer you to a professional service that will stain or seal your deck for you.

If you have more questions or concerns about staining or sealing your Raleigh, Durham, or Chapel Hill deck, please give us a call. We are always available to answer your questions, and look forward to working with you!

Open Accessibility Menu. In this article we talk in more detail about how long to wait before staining a pressure treated wood fence. Pressure-treated wood falls into one of two basic categories , above-ground and ground-contact. The picture below shows the two different types of pressure treated wood and the color difference between the two. These different types of pressure-treated wood are distinguished by how and where they are used, but the steps to prepare them for staining or painting are the same.

Above-ground wood is intended to be used in areas where the wood is easily accessible and can be replaced or maintained with little trouble. Builders use this type of wood where it will be at least 6 inches above ground level. Also, the wood should be well-ventilated and allowed to drain when it gets wet. Above-ground wood can be used as deck rails or deck boards if they are easy to reach or replace when needed. In the picture, all fence slats as well as the top beams, rafter and arch of the pergola gate are above ground.

Ground-contact wood has been treated to keep a more generous amount of preservative than above-ground wood. It is therefore suited for above-ground applications or situations where it will be in contact with the ground.

Some ground-contact wood uses would be fencing where the fence posts are in-ground, as is the posts in the pergola gate above. When your project involves wood being less than 6 inches from the ground, or where it may be poorly ventilated and challenging to maintain or replace, you need to use ground-contact wood. Pressure-treated wood can be stained rather easily. Take the following steps to ensure your efforts are successful. Wet wood cannot absorb the stain properly. However, you may stain immediately if you have kiln-dried wood.

Sprinkle some water onto the wood, and then time how long it takes for it to be absorbed. If the water is absorbed completely, you are ready to stain. Wood that is not ready will pool or bead the water on the surface, signaling it still retains too much moisture. I love the idea of keeping dogs off and kids in. I was wondering how the stain is holding up? Hi Gretchen! Hope that helps! Do you have to stain or treat the underside of a deck?

My husband insists we do to keep it from rotting underneath. You could read the back of the container or ask one of the paint guys at your local hardware store. Your deck looks awesome! Congrats on it working out so good! Just got a brand new deck AND fence.

The fence is pressure treated and it still has a LOT of green showing. Do u know if the green color will bleed thru? Hi Nadine! If there is still a lot of green on it, I think I would wait for that to clear up some.

This was done before I read this article. Stain was on three months and started peeling. Now that winter is over, most of the stain, especially in walking areas, is gone.

It did not penetrate the wood. This was the second attempt at staining the deck. Both attempts had same result. Sorry to hear that, Steve. They might be able to help you troubleshoot it.

Wanted to see how yours is holding up? Hi Gary! So, we no longer live in the house where this deck is. Before we left about two years after the deck was stained , it was needing a touch-up. Wait 3 months and get a GOOD orbital sander, it is the only way the stain will fully penetrate.

The chemical in the wood must dissipate and dry out to properly sand and have the stain penetrate. Thompsons sits on top and peels if you dont do this. I would try a different stain product like PPG. Two coats will help keep the water out and look amazing.

My 2 cents. How did it hold up? Thank you so much for posting this. I was dreading the waiting period before staining. How does your deck look now? Somebody kill me, Nothing wrong with what you are doing BUT you can never changes it!! Wax wax wax!!! Wax wax wax. Think about pouring wax all over your deck and then trying to stain it. Biggest mistake we ever made.

Start Here! Comments Yeah…two hours IS so much better than 6 months! Brooke, you are so funny!!! Its the safe party deck!