How To Stain YOur Decking

One of the common problems with wooden decking is that after a few years of traditional British weather your lovely decking might start to look a bit tired. This is especially true if you have not bought your decking from a reputable installer, and they didn’t put the correct finishing on it.
Or you may have done it yourself and missed the important wood stain that provides your deck with a bit of longevity.

This simple guide will show you exactly how we recommend looking after your Decking.

If you live in Plymouth we very much recommend our professional team, so for all your decking requirement click here on Decking Plymouth

​For this demonstration we are going to be using semi-transparent oil.

Here are all the tools/items you will need for the job

• 2 gallon bucket
• Wooden stirring stick
• 4inch Exterior stain brush
• Several clean cotton rags
• Latex gloves
• A good quality oil based stain
• White spirit

Put the stain into the bucket and make sure you use your stirring stick regularly to stop it setting on the top and keeping it nice and smooth.

It’s important you have a dry surface so pick a nice weather day for the job!
Working in one area at a time and only using the brush to dip in about a quarter of the way up the bristles start to apply the stain.

Making sure that it is applied nice and evenly, coat all your wood deck planks with the oil stain.

Remember if the area is not getting any sun it could take a couple of days to dry, so make sure you are not walking all over it until it drys!

Using your rag, any area of wood where the stain is not absorbing, gently pat the area so that you don’t have “wet” pools of oiley stain that are going to take an excessive amount of time to dry. This will just create a very “tacky” area.

The knots in the wood won’t absorb as well so don’t go so heavy on those parts of the decking.
When you have painted your stain over the entire area of your decking it’s time to do the railings. Here you have to be a bit lighter on the amount you put down otherwise the stain might start to run down in drips and cause a mess.

I hope this helps you provide that all important finish onto your patio area and make sure that the decking timbers last for as long as possible.

Its true we have damp weather in this country so if you have a typical softwood kind of decking then it definitely need looking after. We provide new decking for so many people who have a badly maintained decking area and it just rots and becomes unsafe.

When installing new decking you may decide to go for the harder wearing hardwood which can provide a more versatile surface.

For all decking advice in Plymouth please call us on 01752 905012