Decks, Patios, Porches and Docks - Did I ruin my deck by not priming?

I repaired, sanded, and cleaned my deck for staining. It did have some junky Behr semi-transparent on it before, which I got most of it off.

I bought some Benjamin Moore solid deck stain and THOUGHT I was following the instructions that I didn't need to prime first. I happened to go back and read the directions again for a different section I'm about to stain, and it mentions that I DO need to prime new wood. The directions are a bit misleading the way they are written. Have I ruined the bare parts that I already stained without using primer? When the time comes to re-stain, will I need to remove everything just to put down some primer? I never thought stain needed primer, but I guess the solid kind is more or less paint.

:wall:

I've never put a primer on before applying a solid stain. Rereading your post carefully, I see where you did all of the stripping and repairing before applying the stain. Later you mention that the can said something about priming NEW WOOD. Your wood isn't new. Forget the primer.

Usually the only time you need a primer prior to applying a latex solid stain is when you are using wood with heavy tannins [cedar, redwood] and a light color stain. The oil base wood primer will seal the wood so the tannins don't bleed discoloring the stain. It usually isn't an issue with the darker colors [tannin bleed doesn't show]

If the stain looks good - your fine. What type of wood is your deck constructed of? There usually aren't any problems with staining directly over PT pine as long as the wood has dried from the pt process.

If the stain looks good - your fine. What type of wood is your deck constructed of? There usually aren't any problems with staining directly over PT pine as long as the wood has dried from the pt process.

I hope you're correct. It is PT pine. I sanded most of them down, so they were bare. The BM instructions mention using their latex primer. Is it best that I prime the remaining areas that I haven't stained yet?

The other areas look fine, but have only been stained about one month. I'd love to skip the priming, but only if it won't cause the finish to wear out faster.

Here are the instructions from the BM website:


New Wood or Properly Prepared Weathered Wood:
Prime with BENJAMIN MOORE FRESH START®All-Purpose 100%
Acrylic Primer (023) or BENJAMIN MOORE®Alkyd Primer (366) before
topcoating. Two topcoats are recommended. For light shades applied to
treated lumber or wood with high tannin levels, such as redwood and
cedar, a coat of BENJAMIN MOORE®Alkyd Primer (366) should be used
before topcoating to prevent bleeding.
Finish: To prevent premature cracking and peeling do not apply more than
2 coats of BENJAMIN MOORE®Acrylic Solid Deck Stain.

I've never put a primer on before applying a solid stain. Rereading your post carefully, I see where you did all of the stripping and repairing before applying the stain. Later you mention that the can said something about priming NEW WOOD. Your wood isn't new. Forget the primer.

It also says "properly prepared weathered wood"...

I don't often use BM coatings so I'm not real familiar with them but I wouldn't think there would be any issues with not using a primer. My concern with doing one section without primer and one section with - is the finished product may look different. The un primed wood will soak up the stain more while over primer the stain will more or less lay on top of the primer giving a different look.

I don't recall ever using primer under stain unless tannin bleed [or some other issue] was a concern. I've used oil base primer under solid latex stain when needed and can't see any value in using a latex primer as it would do a poor job of sealing stains or overcoming adhesion issues.

If the areas that you have already done without a primer look fine, then continue just like you have been -- no primer.

(If you change horses in the middle of the stream there MIGHT be a visual difference in the two areas once you're finished. Why chance it?)

Solid deck stain usually does not fend well on the top deck surface. The problem is primer or not it will chip in future thats why sem-transparent is best for the top deck.:madhell:

joburns,

I don't know what your experience has been or where you made those observations.

I'm a deck contractor that walks on easily 100 to 150 decks a year. (All kinds -- wood, composite, vinyl, ...) Out of the wood decks that I've seen, some have never been stained or sealed. Of those that have been, some have been done with clear, some with semi-transparent, and some with solid stain. I've never noticed any one of those 3 types of sealer having a higher or lower rate of chipping than any of the others.

Of course, the weather has a lot to do with it. Let me describe the weather conditions in Redding. Winter lows can easily get into the 20's or less. We get about 50" of rain a year (about the same as Seattle). An average summer in Redding has about 70 to 80 days over 100 degrees. Out of those, about 30 or so are over 110. An we've been the hottest spot in the US on more than one occasion -- hotter than say Phoenix, Needles, Death Valley, ...

Not all exterior stains are deck stains. A siding stain should not be used on decking! It's ok to use a deck stain on siding. A deck takes more abuse than siding [traffic, more sun and rain exposure] so the stain is formulated differently.

Lefty has seen more decks than me but I've probably stained mored decks :D:p:D A quality deck coating [coupled with correct prep] will last longer than a cheap coating, irregarless of the type of stain used.

Marksr, no doubt you've stained more decks than I have, and I know it!!

Because of the weather and exposure conditions around here wood decks DO take a real beating, which is part of the reason that so few people are continuing to install them. (That, and about the only wood that we have ever used for them is redwood, and I can get a composite for the same amount of money or less!)

Wood decks around here are just going the way of Model A's and Model T's. Still some, but they are getting harder to find.