Need Advice on New Deck, Oil or Water-based Stain?

On stuff like this, I like to refer to Consumer Reports. They had an article in June 2008 about exterior paint and stain. The two highest rated semi-transparent stains were Thompson's Water Seal Deck and House and Olympic Oil Stain. Thompson's appearance was rated very good after three years and Olympic's was good but does resist mildew more than some others. It does not appear that they rated Wolman. Quite a few opaque stains rated a lot better than the semi-transparent ones.

Hope this helps!

Hi J.,

We also used the latex because clean up is so much easier, but also because it was highly recommended by our friendly Ace Hardware expert. Randy owns and runs the Ace Hardware in Garden City and has proven to be extremely knowledgeable on most matters.

We've been quite happy with the results and they do carry some nice gray deck tones.

Hope this helps!

M. Overly
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I am a professional painter.

I prefer latex products on exteriors b/c they breathe better. Having that said, product quality varies greatly from manufactures. DO NOT trust big box stores. I've had guys behind their counters admit that they have NEVER painted... which is why I'm faithful to Benjamin Moore. Their stores are independently owned which means they are usually retired painters. They can answer any of your questions, and you can trust their answers.

I go to Northville Paints on 7 Mile east of Northville Rd. Very helpful. The brothers who own that store also own Brighton Paints (Grand River east of Old US 23).

Don't waste your time with the color stains-as tempting as it may be to match your deck to your house-they just do not last. We just powerwashed our "color stain" off after a couple of years and re-stained it with a wood color. We chose the Behr Premium-it's guaranteed to last 5 years. It looks great and repells the water so I think it really will last. The 5 gallon buckets are around $135.00 at Home Depot.
Good Luck!