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midwestmama_gw

Soon to start Tigerwood deck. Couple questions

midwestmama
11 years ago

We should start deck construction next week, providing the permits come through. We are in central Iowa. We are going with Tigerwood decking with cedar accents. The railing system will be cedar along with stair backs & other trim pieces. This was for visual variety & money savings. The framework will be traditional PTL. It is being built by a contractor & we are face screwing them in.

My questions

What is the consensus on treating the cut edges? I've seen lots on waxing them.

I was planning on only finishing the top. Is this correct, I want the bottom to receive plenty of ventilation & no one will see the bottom. It's about 4 feet above ground.

It's looking like TWP is a highly recommended product for treatment. What is TWP? Do any major chains carry it? I see recommendations for several coats. How many how often?

Do I just use the same TWP on the cedar? Will it last longer as cedar is more pourus?

When dealing with my completely untreated wood do I still clean & sand it or is that only after prolonged outdoor exposure?

Thanks! I'm so excited. Our indoor floors are Tigerwood so we think this will be a great continuation & very unique around here.

Comments (3)

  • weedyacres
    11 years ago

    We put anchor seal on the ends of ours. There is no consensus on this board about this. :-)

    Yes, you can just stain the top. And the sides.

    We used TWP on ours (garapa decking). I bought it online. There are a couple places that have free shipping if you order over $50 or so. You can use it on the cedar as well. I did 2 coats the first year, wet-on-wet (same day) and should have done a topper coat every year thereafter. But I just re-did a few boards that were worn after the first winter and not the whole thing. In retrospect an extra coat each year would have kept it looking good. We just stripped the whole thing and are re-staining (see my thread about TWP and One Time after 2 years). We're going to do 3 coats just for good measure, about a week apart.

    You can use it on cedar as well. Our pergola is cedar and we used One Time on most of it, but the "baseboards" around the posts we used TWP. It's such a relatively small area it's hard to say positively if it lasts longer.

    If you are staining shortly after putting down the deck boards you don't necessarily have to sand it. It took me 3 weeks to get all the deck boards down, and by the time I finished the first ones were starting to gray, so we sanded the whole thing with a floor sander (and ROS) before staining.

    If you search for "building a garapa deck" you'll see my thread chronicaling our deck build 3 years ago. It's got some photos of the staining.

  • midwestmama
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks Weedy, I had read your threads. I'm concerned about TWP about using the TWP after seeing you have to sand it all off. I'm currently leaning towards Messmers because I can buy it at Sherwin Williams. I can get it on sale. As to when... Some said to wait because Tigerwood darkens over time. Our interior floor is Tigerwood & it did darken.

  • midwestmama
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Our deck was completed in November so we didn't get to treat it in any way. It is a brilliant color when wet, a softer lighter tan when dry. It has not grayed in any way. Since it is finally starting to melt the snow here I am itching to get out there and enjoy the deck! I know it is still too cold, but I am trying to plan everything, get time for orders to arrive etc... Do I need to do anything to the deck surface before using a stain/treatent on it? I am leaning towards TWP. I also want to use this same treatment on the cedar parts (as some trim is cedar) Do I need to do a deck cleaner or sanding if there isn't any problems? I would at least scrub it with a brush and hose to clean off the dirt from the winter.

    So, to summarize, how do I prep it before staining?

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