Stain is peeling

S

S. Fouce

New member
Sorry for the ? but i searched the forum and couldnt find anything about it.
I stained a deck about 13-14 months ago and i just had that customer call back and state that the stain is peeling in places on the deck floor. I went out today and checked it out and its peeling in the high traffic areas. I used cabots semi trans. I did the five step process of stip,brighten,wash,sand, and stain. I'm thinking that i stained it when it was to hot and the stain dried before it could soak into the wood. I used HD-80 to strip, Ox mixed with Citric to brighten, dawn to clean, 80grit to sand, and roller and brush to stain.
I just wanted some opinions as to what happened. I think maybe the heat or could it be that the 80 grit clogged up the pores in the wood. Also i checked several places on the deck floor and it seemed as most places the stain was on top of the wood.
Need all the help i can get so this wont happen again. Also im doing the pro thing as in restaining the deck free of charge
Thanks
 
I always use Armstrong Clark when I stain decks. It penetrates real well. Not much help with the problem you have now, but its meant for future reference. Did you give a written labor warranty to them and how long was it if so?
 
TheCleaningDoc said:
Switch to a true oil based stain and you will not have this issue again. 60 grit is the lowest I go.
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Like Pat Said!

You will not be able to stain over the cabots stain.
First you will have to strip the old stain back off then brighten the wood after this let the wood dry for several days to make sure that the wood is completly dry before doing any staining. Then sand any areas that might need it and stain away!

Call David at
Southern Stain and Seal
2302 W. College St.
Murfreesboro, TN 37129
(615) 604-5115

This stain that he sells is top of the line stain, as you can go back on top of this stain down the road for a maint. coat. Others on the forum like Armstrong Clark, but like I have said so many times before I got a 5 gal sample of armstron clark stain and stained a picnic table with it it was only about 8 months later the stain had turned black from mold eating the oils in the stain. Since we have switched to Bakers oil based stain we have not had any problems with the stain and is very easy to use!
 
I'm curious as to the dawn wash AFTER you had stripped and neutralize??? You sent the wood out of whack again :(
 
Thats what you get for using inferior products. C*bots sucks....PERIOD. All of thier oils do not prentrate and form a film on the surface. They will get tacky in the extreme heat and it is like walking on gum, not to mention all of the air borne pollutants that stick to it and make the stain black in color. Stay away from that junk. RS or AC is the only way to go.
Dawn to wash....? Really?? what if anything did that do?
Got to figure out if you are gong to take a bath on this one or do the right thing by the customer.
 
Forgive any offense on my part if this question seems stupid but can you clarify when exactly in the process you washed the wood? Maybe its a typo on your original post but you said you put down stripper, brightener and then washed? Did you mean to say you washed after the stripper was applied but before the brightener??
 
Thanks guys for all your knowledge. I understand that i have to redo the deck from stripping to restaining. I washed the deck as the third process between brightening and sanding. What do you mean as you said i threw the wood out of wack again by using dawn. I dont give a warranty but i will redo a deck over something like this in this short amount of time. Something like this offers 2 options keep this customer and good word of mouth or loose this customer with bad word of mouth.
From what i reading it was the stain and not the heat or sandpaper? Ill look around to find a oil stain. I would like to stay local in purchasing stain as it would be readily avalible when i need it. BigChaz i dont take offense to that cause im asking for help from the pros. I just dont want to get ran into the ground for making a mistake especially if its just the stain i used. Thanks again for your help everyone. You guys are what makes the site so great.
 
Simple process:

Photograph
Strip
Neutralize
Let Dry
Buff/Sand
Stain
Photograph
Collect check - oh, oops - maybe not this time :)
 
I'm still confused. When you say stripping do you mean just the single task of appying stripper or are you talking about the pressure washing too??

First step...take your stripper mix it up put it on the deck. Let it sit THEN wash it off (ie pressure wash the old stain away). Now the deck is washed THEN you use your brightener.

If you apply stripper and then spray brightener on top of it without pressure washing in between the stripper won't do anything. Have to wash (pressure washing) after you put down the stripper but before the brightener
 
Bigchaz, thats what i meant i just fiqured everyone new what i meant when i said "Stripped".
CarolinaProWash, I already collected and still will profit just not as much as i would of liked LOL.
Thanks guys you have been a great help. It's guys like you that help small guys like me prosper.
 
Never used Dawn to wash the deck after I stripped, but if that stuff was not washed off really good that could be the problem, but Cabot does stink to high heck with lasting. As far as AC goes I have never had a problem with it. I always give a 2 year labor warranty and never heard a bad thing as I have serviced the same customers twice now out of my 3 years in PA.

I never have used Bakers, but heard it was pretty good. I may be a little freaky, but I like the veggie oil smell Armstrong Clark has lol.
 
Ill look around to find a oil stain. I would like to stay local in purchasing stain as it would be readily avalible when i need it.
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If you do not carry the stain, just schedule the stripping out a week or more and order the stain right away. The stain will arrive usually before you get the deck stripped. No need to do it tomorrow. Once you get your volume of business up then order a pallet at a time of your most popular stain color.
 
Once of the nice things about Armstrong Clark is you don't need to stock a high number of colors. We use 1 color on 90% of our jobs. Even if you are still small like Pat said just order a pail of stain once you know you got the job. UPS will have it there in a matter of days. By the time you wash the deck and let it dry the stain will be waiting for you. Don't even have to go to the store!
 
The use of dawn in the wood cleaning process is a real problem, as AlwaysAqua said. Dawn is difficult to rinse out of the wood. Any quality stripper contains all the surfactant you need. Cabot makes several different semi-transparent stains, and some are acrylic. When a stain cracks and peels, that sounds like an acrylic. If it was their oil formula, then your theory about flash drying may be correct. See my post here: http://www.propowerwash.com/board/upload/showthread.php?23201-Sealing-on-hot-days

Finally, sanding can block up the pores of the wood, slowing down absorption. If you had a hot sunny day and the pores are blocked, that makes the possibility of flash drying more likely. A penetrating sealer that is forced to dry on the surface does not have the proper characteristics to last long as a coating, which further explains the peeling problem.

Good luck on your re-do. You got a lot of good advice here.
 
We sand several decks, never had this issue. After sanding, we actually re wash the deck (just water) again to get everything off. Is this overkill in everyone's eyes? We use 50 grit paper.

I was told to never use higher than 80 grit because that would seal off the wood and not let the stain penetrate. Thoughts?
 
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