# I stained. It rained! Oh, the pain. What now?



## Woz (Jul 7, 2009)

Hi Folks,
I stained my deck last Saturday. I do it up right (third time, I know the drill, quite anal in the prep dept.) I thought I had 48 hr. window of clear sunny weather, but a sneak squall blew in Sunday morning turning my deck by sunny Monday into a splotchy brown and white mess. I used Olympic Honey Gold Toner. What should I do next? Deck's just 5 years old, wood in nice shape (from all that lovin' care given it.) Should I simply recoat? Or (egads, the work) strip off what's left of Saturday's stain? Then sand it down to naked wood? Sooo much work and $ went down tubes Saturday. Can a simple re-coat (prepping with nothing than a wash and blow vac and a tack cloth wipe for the re-coat) restore me to the deck gods' good graces? Can "two" coats exist side by side with "one" (the side where the rain washed off)? Help! I'm in deck limbo! Anybody else been there and found the way out? Thanks,
Woz


----------



## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

try a recoat in a small area. if it works, do the whole thing?
it'd be a shame to have to sand it and redo it all...

DM


----------



## Woz (Jul 7, 2009)

*I like it. Thanks. Woz*



DangerMouse said:


> try a recoat in a small area. if it works, do the whole thing?
> it'd be a shame to have to sand it and redo it all...
> 
> DM


Smart. Start small. Advice to avoid problems of all sort. I like it. Thanks. Woz


----------



## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

maybe even try to brush it on just the lightest areas and blend it in?
that may be better.

DM


----------



## Woz (Jul 7, 2009)

*Right Back*



DangerMouse said:


> maybe even try to brush it on just the lightest areas and blend it in?
> that may be better.
> 
> DM


 Yes. Pehaps that way two applications won't be noticeable.


----------



## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

let us know how it works out?

DM


----------



## Woz (Jul 7, 2009)

*Yep.*



DangerMouse said:


> let us know how it works out?
> 
> DM


 Yep. And will get get a better bead on the weather before I try.

Thanks!


----------



## Justabottle (Jul 9, 2009)

Don't worry, this has happened to the best of us. 

Your best bet is to let the deck completely dry and then wash (a light scrub will help). 

This should remove the white spots. 

If your coating is still blotchy another coat of the Olympic will help make things uniform.

Don't worry about the first coat not working, once it hits the wood the protection starts.

Joel


----------



## Woz (Jul 7, 2009)

*Thanks for the encouragement!*



Justabottle said:


> Don't worry, this has happened to the best of us.
> 
> Your best bet is to let the deck completely dry and then wash (a light scrub will help).
> 
> ...


Thanks. Makes me feel better. I took Mouse's suggestion, tried restaining a few sample places. It looked ok. There was some slightly blobby spots where the rain coagulated the stain - but no big deal. I don't think I need to strip the whole thing off, though. (This idea didn't thrill me as I thought that would be the remedy everybody would suggest.) But it seems another coat alone, after cleaning and getting whatever dust has blown on it will work. The fact that there are two coats in one place and one in others I think will be unnoticable. In a year, Mother Nature will strip it for me!
Woz


----------



## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

glad i could help Woz! 
...now go watch all my magic videos.... *grin*

DM


----------



## Woz (Jul 7, 2009)

Well, with several days of fine weather in Richmond, VA I re-stained a deck that last week got major rained on the day after I stained it and afterwards looked like an old brown and tan baseball glove. I didn't know if what was left of the first application interspersed with bare wood would look really bad with a second coating. But it came out fine. I really didn't feel like scraping, but the Olympic Honey Gold Toner covered everthing adequately. In a couple places it's obvious that it's darker where the rain didn't get to - but overall, not bad, better than I expected. I could live with it. After all, it's just a deck! It will suffer from the slings and arrows of outrageous weather (but now a bit protected from the sun and rain for another year and then maybe I'll scrape or purge the old stain and start afresh.) Thanks for the advice.
Woz


----------



## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

no problem Woz, i just wonder about the quality of the stain?? 
you did it one day, then the next morning it rained?
seems to me it should have been fine! did you brush/roll, then wipe it down?

DM


----------



## Woz (Jul 7, 2009)

I have been using the same kind of stain now for the third time in six years, Olympic Toner. I've done it the same way each time (almost) and had the same good results the first two times. The difference this time was in the way that I applied it, spraying rather thickly. I had sprayed the whole deck in the past with good results. I was convinced by a guy at Lowe's that I should roll it, not spray it, to apply more than the spray delivers. When I got done with the spindles (so easy to spray), I thought - I'm just gonna keep on spraying and I probably applied it thicker than I had done so in the past. The other difference was - I started staining late in the afternoon because it took so long for the deck to dry from a wash to prep for stain. By 8 p.m. it was done (which I know isn't optimal, as it gets more humid in the evening - but I expected a dry day the next day.) Sunday morn I awoke to the beautiful sounds of sprinkling which turned into an all-day pounding rain. The 10 hour "dry" it had wasn't enough. It didn't help that it was thick, either. I may experiment with another stain next year. After doing some research, I'm more aware that all are not equal - as well as finding out about oxygen bleach as a wash.
The re-application was by brush. I now think that's the best way to get it on - the boards, at least. You can really work it in. From now on, I'll spray just the spindles. Thanks for asking, If you have any advice on stain, I'm all ears.


----------



## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

i wonder if the can you have now is the new low VOC type, which from what i've read just ain't the same quality as it used to be?
what state are you in?

DM


----------

