Q. - We are planning to stain our outside deck and a covered porch. I pressure washed both this weekend and found some areas of concern. I have attached pictures for you. The bleached out area has been under a hot tub for about 9 years so I know the concrete around it is just weathered differently. The other two areas appear to be stained. The larger area has been under a Rubbermaid storage box and the smaller under a rubber door mat. I have not tried TSP on either area yet. I wanted to see if you felt like these ares would cause us to consider painting versus staining the deck due to the color variation that may result after staining.
Thanks for helping us with this.
Hello Jeff
A. - If you use paint or acrylic stain (which is the same thing) then it will peel eventually and become a mess to correct. So I would always try acid staining first. If it doesn't work out you can easily paint over it if you choose and the acid in the stain would have actually opened the pores better allowing a paint on product to take better. However, if you paint or acrylic stain first then the prep will include scrubbing, scraping, stripping products, possibly sanding and alot of work to get it ready to acid stain. If you acid stain it, you can always use a second coat on the light areas, or do a highlight coat with the same color or a darker color over it all to blend it better. And depending on the color you use it may just surprise you how well it looks with just one coat overall. Anyway, acid staining is always your best first choice if at all possible.
Earl
Posts
