My contracter built me a beautiful porch on the front of my house 2 years ago - but the porch floor began bubbling right away and nothing seems to fix it. Although I relaly wanted a semi-transparent stain, both the contracter & the painter convinced me that the solid stain is the way to go for durability. So, the painter primed the porch floor and used Cabot oil-based solid stain (grey) on the floor. A few days later I noticed that the stain starting bubbling in the rain. The painter let the wood dry out and patched those areas, but every time it rained, more bubbles began to appear. So after many patch jobs, he got the Cabot guys over to look at the floor and the problem and he suggested that a water-based solid stain was the way to go. So a light sanding, another coat of Cabot primer and the water-based solid stain was applied. Still the same problem and it keeps getting worse & now coming off in big strips - it's as if the stain is not penetrating the wood. Both my contracter & painter are stumped and are suggested that we just rip it up and put down a Trex floor! (FYI Generally love my contracter and he's done a lot of great work for me - this has been ouronly problem and he's willing to make it right). Before we go to that extreme - any suggestions? My thought is to strip it and put down a semi-transparent stain, with the hope that it will absorb into the wood more - but I'm no expert. Thoughts?