deck paint?

[Forcast]

Any one use the new deck over paints? The kind that covers chips splitting act?

[Kasota]

I used some last year and I have to tell you I am totally thrilled with it!! It held up just beautifully over my nasty MN Winter. That deck is south facing and gets a lot of temperature extremes. I was really interested to see how it held up and have to tell you it looks as good today as it did the day I put it on. I used several coats because I had some deeper cracks. It was well worth it for me!

[puddlejumper007]

glad to see this. i am painting my deck in june...

[Alice Kramden]

The reviews I read on Home Depot's site sort of put me off using it. Many of the people who tried it said it did not last and was bubbling and peeling within a year's time.

I went to the store and looked at the display of some wood painted with it and, hate to say it, didn't like the way it looked at all.

If you use it on your deck, it would be nice to have a follow up report in a few months about how it is holding up. I've got to do something with my front porch, especially the uncovered portion. They have changed Thompson's Water Seal formula and it is no longer as good as the old stuff. I'm thinking that a solid color stain/waterproofer might be what it needs.

Would like to hear more comments from you all on this subject. Thanks!

[BadFordRanger]

but for those of you with fairly new decks, I was completely taken by surprise a few weeks ago!
I built a really nice and large deck for a man 32 years ago and I hadn't seen him since I finished the job, but I ran into him down at Lowe's and he recognized me when I got in line and we started talking waiting our turn!
I built tables into the corners and bench seats all around, and he told me that the deck still looked as good as it did the day I built it!
I said BS, that was 25 years ago! He said that was 32 years ago this June, and it isn't BS either!
I couldn't believe it and I had to follow him back home to see it and I'll be danged if it didn't still look great!
He sprays it every spring with Thompsons Water Seal, under it and all and it does still look as if I just finished it!
Most decks don't last 15 years but that one is more than twice that old and still looks good!
That man taught me a few things about building decks that I should have already known! At that time, I was really good at drawing the plans for a deck and ordering the exact amount of materials that would be needed to build it and I did so, a month before he wanted me to start the job!
He had a huge pile of cross ties to land scape his yard with and he paid me to set them all out and spread all the materials out in one danged layer, and he paid me to come back out there twice a week and flip everything for that month! Then before I ever started building the deck I sprayed the top and edges of everything and come back the next day, flip them again and spray the other side and the edges again and I finally got started building it the next day!
What he was after was drying all the wood out so that it wouldn't shrink after I built it!
I have built decks with cut that fit as tight as cabinet work when I put them together but by the time I finished the jobs, there would already be gaps between the cuts because the wood shrunk!
What really got me was that he owned a used car lot and couldn't cut a straight line with a saw if he had to, but he knew more about the nature of wood than I did!

Seal your wood every year People! You won't believe the difference it will make!

Ranger

[BadFordRanger]

Hi Alice, I hadn't heard anything about them changing the formula! Well, actually, I guess I have sort of anyway! They are always trying to make anything that is good, even better, LOL!

There are many screw ups people make when paining anything and with a porch or deck, it goes back to the moisture in the wood!
While the surface may be as dry as sand, most of the time, there is still water in the wood!
After the wood is sealed, that moisture will force the paint to bubble up if it is too bad!
You need a good couple of weeks of hot dry air before you paint it!
You can cover it with 4 mil plastic if it rains after a week or so to keep it as dry as possible, but you don't want to paint wood that is damp in the least!

Ranger

[Harry Chickpea]

IIRC, Thompsons is/was kerosene, paraffin wax, and shellac. I knew a guy who knew the "inventor" of it.

Seasoning wood is well known for dimension wood, but for decks the common practice is to place the deck itself while still wet from the pickling solution and let it shrink in place to open up the gaps where water flows through. If you allow it to dry out without proper ricking, you can get some amazing and amusing curves in the boards, but they are then worthless for decking.

On our decks I wanted more space so that I could replace damaged boards easily, so when building them I inserted a couple nails as temporary spacers between the deck boards. When I had a lead acid battery leak on a couple of the boards it was easy as pie to get those boards out and replacements in.

[Alice Kramden]

Well guys, since this morning, I have been out on the porch restringing lights and made a sickening discovery. At least one of the decorative posts holding up the roof is so rotten I can put my finger through it.

Its not enough that the air conditioner quit the other day, the back deck had to be pulled down as it was about to fall, and the roof leaks. No. The hits just keep on comin'. If I had a million dollars, I'd pull the whole thing down and have a new one built, and built right by someone who knows what they are doing.

There are times that I just want to weep. The money only comes in once a month, and I can't catch up.

[Kasota]

I have not had any trouble with the paint peeling off at all. I have with other stuff, but not that special stuff made to make old cracked deck wood look like new. I will try and get some pictures tomorrow so you can see what it looks like after a really brutal MN Winter. I don't use that deck in the Winter so there is snow piled up on it all Winter, unless I take off a foot or two of it because I'm concerned about the weight of it.

I think they changed the Thompson's formula, too. I used it on other things and it did not hold up at all.

I think the thing is that you have to have dry wood when you paint and it has to have any old stuff cleaned off of it.

[Forcast]

So what brand of deck paint Deck over.

[davrhods]

I applied some of that deck over paint at homeowners request last July. Front stairs and landing located n.h. coast, I do house checks every week during winter while homeowners are away. Around March product started peeling some pieces as long as my arm. Pressure washing it all of was a breeze. Thompsons is now water based .

[Kasota]

I got it at Home Depot...I have to run up there tomorrow to get some oil finish for a spinning wheel. I'll check on the brand when I am there.

[Forcast]

Thanks I see quite a few brands.

[barnyardgal]

Here in Missouri-everyone recommends 'CWF' & you get it at Lowe's & i think now you can get it in a paint.That's what i always use & had good results with it-don't know what area your in so don't know what is recommended in your area...