Restore-A-Deck Wood Brightener – Professional Deck Cleaner & Restorer for Outdoor Wood Surfaces – Perfect for Decks, Fences, and Patios

I stained a large two-tier deck in a heavily wooded/shaded area with Restore-A-Deck Stain (Cedar) and I am very satisfied with the results. I will say this, whatever amount of time you set aside to prep/stain, double it. Take the time to do it right and you won't be disappointed. It took me 4 days doing this by myself and I'd say I put in about 4 hours each day. I chose to wait a day or two between each step, and later read that this wasn't necessary for all the steps. I'm still glad I did. This was a brand new deck built in the spring of 2018. So I waited a year to stain it. I started with the Restore-A-Deck Cleaner to get the debris that accumulated off (there was quite a bit from nearby cedars and maples dropping cones with sap and such). One bag of cleaner makes 5 gallons which completely covered my entire deck with a little bit to spare. The tricky part about the cleaner is you have to keep the surface moist and not let it dry. I used a pump sprayer to apply, scrub brush on an extender pole to get the hard stuff, and rinsed with a 1900 psi pressure washer. There were times I got a little ahead of myself and found it difficult to make sure the cleaner didn't dry in some areas. After waiting a night, I used a finishing sander with 80 grit to lightly address some uneven areas and remove some hard-dried sap. I then spot cleaned some areas again using the remainder of the cleaner. This is where I deviated somewhat from the directions. They say to apply the brightener immediately after rinsing the cleaner off and while the deck is still wet. However, after sanding and applying cleaner for a second time I ran out of daylight and figured waiting one night wouldn't be the end of the world (this proved to be true). The next day I applied the Restore-A-Deck Brightener which was probably the easiest and most satisfying step. I used the pump sprayer to apply and used the entire bag to completely saturate the deck. I waited 15 minutes after applying (some areas soaked a little longer due to the size of the deck and how long it took to adequately rinse) and rinsed with a hose and traditional nozzle (not pressure washer). I was underwhelmed by the results at first, as the deck was still wet and the effects of the brightener weren't apparent. However, the next day it looked like a brand new deck. The brightener directions say to stain within 2 weeks of applying the brightener. I waited 3 days just because I had to go to work. I lucked out and didn't get any rain during the entire duration of the prep/stain process but I don't think it would have mattered much even if I did. When it came time to stain I wanted to be sure I had an entire weekend (it probably took 8 hours total). I started with the uprights on Saturday and used a pad along the top of the rail and a Wooster brush on an extender pole for the rest of the uprights. I had read that it's unnecessary to do 2 coats and can actually lead to over-application. Because the stain is semi-transparent it was difficult to not have brush strokes conflict with the wood grain. The pad worked well because it just took a single stroke across the top of the railings. The rest of the uprights are treated lumber so the brush strokes didn't really show through for them and the Wooster brush was fine. The next day I stained the rest of the deck using a deck pad on an extender pole and the Wooster brush on an extender pole to back-brush and get into the cracks. This was a very efficient method that I will use again in the future. A roller could probably be used in place of the pad but it would then require more extensive back-brushing to avoid over-application. I ordered the 2.5 gallon size of the stain along with an extra gallon in case I ran out (I didn't want to wait for shipping and have it result in uneven staining if I were to run out). It turned out the 2.5 gallon size was exactly enough for my entire deck using a single coat. Overall I am very happy with the stain. I especially like how easy it is to clean up afterwards and also peace-of-mind knowing that it is a little more environmentally friendly. The deck looks great and I will use this product again in 2-3 years when I need to re-stain.