Hello everyone. We have a week old pressure treated deck on a southern exposure that gets hit with sun basically all day long (none of it is in the shade). We are in central to southeastern Pennsylvania. We'd like to use a semi-transparent in a cedar color on our deck. We have been researching here and have discovered we should probably be looking for an oil based, penetrating semi-transparent product. I'd prefer to buy the product locally and have begun to think that Olympic Maximum (the oil based version) would be a good selection for us.

We've had good experience with Sherwin Williams paint products so I contacted them this morning regarding their deckscapes product which, we were told, is water based. I was kind of suprised to hear that as we read many posts here recommending the Sherwin Williams (and other paint store products) as better than the big box store products, but also that oil based would be better than water based - so bottom line is I'm confused. :)

So out of the two above - which would be better given our location, wood and color choice? The Olympic Maximum claims 5 years of protection, but we're not under any illusion that we may not be doing this again in 2 years. :) Thanks!

Steve