Decks are a great place to hang out, cook food on the grill, and spend some relaxing time with family and friends. In Nashville Tennessee, decks have been in frequent use because of the great weather we have had this summer. This was especially the case for Smyrna, Tennessee residents and recent Textbook Painting customers Mr. and Mrs. Feagan.

However, their deck was about 6 years old and had never been stained before. Since they were spending so much time on it, they wanted to get the deck looking good. The hardest part about getting a deck stained is always picking out the color and transparency of the stain that will be applied.

For the Feagans, they went with a solid stain for a couple reasons. First of all, because the deck had never been stained before it took years of abuse from weather and foot traffic. A solid stain was going to do the best job at covering up all the wear and tear the deck had taken because it looks and covers more like a paint. A solid stain will cover up any faults or discoloring in the wood and gives the deck a new bold finish. In contrast, a semi transparent stain would not have provided the cover up they wanted. A semi transparent stain has a more see through finish. It enables you to still see the wood grain and on decks with a lot of wear and tear a semi transparent stain will still show these faults. Secondly, they wanted something that was going to be long lasting. A solid stain will give a deck the highest level of protection from the elements and will last longer then a semi transparent stain will before you need to re-stain. Typically, a solid stain will last about 5 years whereas a semi transparent will need to be recoated ever 2-3 years.

Mr. and Mrs. Feagan could not have been happier with how their deck turned out. The solid stain made their old deck, look like it is brand new and they look forward to spending time on it for the rest of the summer.

If you have any questions about what stain is best for you deck, as Cleveland’s deck staining experts we would be happy to chat! If you are interested in a free quote please give us a call at (615) 543-5551.