Imagine this scenario: Bob decided to breathe new life into his deck with a thorough cleaning and applying a product with the perfect color on top. He cleans it until it’s sparkling, goes to the store and picks up a gallon of exterior paint, waits more than enough time for the deck to dry out, and applies the paint exactly as advised in the directions. Then no more than a year later, Bob steps out onto his deck for the first time this spring to find it’s a disaster! Half the paint has chipped off and is scattered around the deck, the wood is exposed to the elements, and where the paint is still on the deck it’s trying to peel away like the wood just made an inappropriate joke. How could this happen? He did everything right after all!

The answer lies in the product that was applied. While exterior paints are great for sprucing up the exterior of your home, it should never be used on a deck. Let me explain why.

While it can be possible for an exterior paint to have some degree of longevity on a deck, there are other options that are superior in nearly every aspect. Since Bob selected an exterior paint, he is not concerned about the wood grain as paint is opaque. Considering this, a solid stain would be the better option. Prices are very similar, with the stain being slightly pricier if anything. Outside of price, solid deck stains are specifically designed to be used on a deck whereas exterior paint can have a slightly broader application.

The main difference in how a solid stain vs exterior paint is designed is how they respond to the elements. Both are designed to prevent moisture and mildew buildup on their respective areas of application, but there is a considerable difference in the density of wood vs siding. This means that wood is more subject to expanding and contracting with the weather, and we experience quite a range of that from 100+ degree heat indexes in the summer to -40 with wind chill in the winter.

The exterior paint that Bob applied on his deck wasn’t built to sustain these drastic changes, and couldn’t expand and contract with the wood. Thus, it cracked and began peeling away from the deck. Furthermore, solid deck stains are built to withstand constant foot traffic, whereas exterior paint is not as no one is walking on the exterior paint applied to your home (unless you have a son named Peter Parker).

If you’ve recently applied an exterior paint to your deck, or have moved into a house where the previous homeowners unfortunately didn’t stumble upon this blog article, it’s not the end of the world. Exterior paint can be stripped off of a deck and a latex stain applied on top, but it is a more time consuming and thus expensive project. So do yourself a favor and make sure to pick up a gallon of deck stain for your next project!

Our Stain Recommendations

We use Pittsburgh Paints and Stains Paramount stain whenever possible, which is sold at Menards. It is on the higher end of the price range for stains (learn why this is a good thing here), but the colors are very true, it spreads smoothly, and has the best durability/longevity that we’ve seen. Sitting right next to Pittsburgh Paints and Stains is Cabot, for the same reasons listed above. The only difference is that Cabot doesn’t spread quite as smoothly and can be a little messier, but it’s a very minor difference.

I hope this article has been helpful to you! As always, feel free to reach out to me at brendan@McCormickPaintingServices.com or 563-506-5510 and I’d be happy to further explain anything. If you’re looking for painters to hire for your next project in Cedar Rapids or surrounding areas, give us a call!