If you wait a year the cedar will be compltley gray,more than it looks now. Your installer was very wrong. Put that finish on as soon as you can, mabey its just the picture but it almost looks like it needs the Ken's brightner now. John

It needs the cleaner AND brightener and needs to be sealed ASAP.

Here is a link that might be useful: Deck Prep for cedar

Thank you to both of you for responding. I will stain ASAP, was at Home Depot yesterday and they also suggested to stain ASAP. He showed me three products Behrs Premium Transparent Weatherproofing Wood Sealer seems what I need. Also, he suggested it would be better to brush than spray and of course to do it at the correct weather temperatures, not too hot or too cold.

My friend from FL suggested to use Thompson Water Seal for Wood Products or Olympic Maximum Water Proofing but don't know if they are available in Canada and to use two coats.

The Deck Prep on the link is that available only through on line? Just googled Behrs Cleaner and would like to know if that will suffice?

Thanks for your help.

Here is a link that might be useful: behr

Behr and thompson's are two of the worst products one could put on a deck. Behr's cleaner is also just a simple combination of bleach and soap. Go to a paint store (not a Home Depot) where the staff may be a bit more knowlegable. Look for a sodium percarbonate based cleaner and follow this with some type of acidic pH balancing brightener.

Take some time to read my the newsletter on my above link. There is a plethora of information about prep, choosing the right types of sealers, power washing tips and application procedures.

Again thanks, read all the info on your site and will visit a paint store.

I am familiar with Sikkens as we used it on our Vicroy cottage years ago. The deck always peeled at last we ended up using a marine paint and don't know if it peeled as the cottage was sold. The Sikkens did make the cottage very dark in some parts.

We don't have our cedar deck built - but I keep reading posts so that I'm ready when it is. Yours is very nice millieon - looks like you'll get a lot of use out of it.
We're in Canada too..and I keep looking in stores and have yet to find the "sodium percarbonate based cleaner" - good luck on finding it - please post if you find a source.
We're going to use the Cabots Clear Solution - it's a little expensive ..but if you're going to do the job, may as well do it right.

Thanks netty.
Yes, I'm alredy finding out that it will be difficult to find "sodium percarbonate based cleaner". At Colour Your World, he was very surprised with my questions, as to why it is needed in the first place on new wood. He also told me to go by the first advice to wait a year before staining.

At Benjamin Moore they have a product that cleans and brightens all in one container but it does not have "sodium percarbonate based cleaner". She also suggested to wait a year and was surprised that the cedar deck looks as it does so soon. Also, she said when ready to stain to bring a piece wood to see if I like the colour that I choose.

I am working with some Canadian lumber distributors to retail Restore-A-Deck. I will keep you posted on progress.

That's excellent news pressurepros! I was wondering, if all goes well, when do you think it would be available up here in Canada?
Since there isn't a comparable product available to us - what's your opinion on using a bleach based produce i.e. Olympic Deck Cleaner, on a new Cedar deck - before the Cabots Clear Solution? Or .. should I just skip the bleach and apply the Cabots for now?

millieon,

Why would you want to stain cedar? You pay a lot more for it than pressure treated wood. The natural colour is beautiful. However, the real deck pros could tell you how to keep this. pressurepros is one guy I would listen to just by reading his posts.

Ken. That would be great if we could get your product here in Canada.

ontario_diyguy. As you can see from the photo the sun has really bleached the cedar deck and it does not look like cedar at all. Yes we paid a lot more for cedar and would like to have it look like cedar. Semi transparent sealer may be the best to use haven't decided on the brand yet.

The quote I received today to have it sanded and sealed with Benjamin Moore product was $600 a bit too much for me right now so may end up doing it with my son.

Here is a canadian site you may find useful.

Here is a link that might be useful: C B R Products

I have used their citrus paint remover. Very nice product. will eat through paint and won't burn you.

Thanks dljon for the info. Will keep it in mind for next time. Will try and order from Ken just have to find out much I need.

Don't use Sikkins. I was very sorry I did. It peels off. You can work on it for hours and never get it off,turn your back and more peels.My experience with cedar also says to watch out where the boards come together. Butt joints, deck boards that are too closely spaced, post caps and the joint were the toprail joins the post- all can rot. For me, it started about year 5 on an area shaded from the sun by a tree. On the sunny side about year 10,especially where the posts joined the deck and toprail. These joints were never caulked. Maybe it would have helped. One of the pros could tell you for sure. Thompsons was worthless too. Let it grey.

Letting it gray is a bad idea with cedar. New cedar is NOTHING like old growth cedar. It is very susceptible to rot. Get some type of penetrating oil on it right after you prep it and let it dry a few days.

Anyone have opinions on using Ready Seal- 030 Dark Red stain on cedar?
I'm thinking about using it on my cedar porch because a darker color will provide better UV protection.
Thanks,
-jasper

Here is a link that might be useful: Ready Seal Colors

It will be very red. Remember cedar stains reddish no matter what color you apply to it. If you know that going in I think you will be happy with the results.

Some things about Ready Seal..
1)You are going to need much more of it than you will of any other product. it is deep penetrating and will disappear after a couple of days if you do not apply enough. Absolutely saturate the wood. This product is very hard to over apply. You can actually recoat this in a few days as it is non drying.
2) Moisture content is CRUCIAL. Even decks exposed to full sun can take 4 days to have the right content ( A deck in the shade should have a week to dry out after a rain. (hope you aren't on the east coast)
3) Make sure you have extractive issues addressed with proper prep. (acid/brightened)

Thanks pressurepros.
I'm kinda on the fence about the color choice. I'm thinking I need to see a sample first, but a deep red does sound good.

I'm not on the east coast, but rain is coming. The porch does gets partial sun. It was just washed/prep'd yesterday (Tuesday). The contractor wants to stain on Thursday, but that only allows 2 days of drying time.
I will have to call and reschedule.

They are predicting rain beginning Friday thru Labor Day.
So, I don't know when I can get this job done?!

thnaks again.

-jasper

Here is a picture from a colleague of what I think your deck might turn out like. He uses Ready Seal.

Oh Mann, that looks great!

thanks

That looks great I agree maybe a bit too red for me.

Jasper what did you clean your deck with and what product did you use?
Thanks.

millieon,
I hired a pro. I don't have the literature with me at work. But they speak the same jargon as pressurepros(Ken), i.e. call things out by their active chemical names. Not sure if its a commercially available product, but I can ask.

-jasper