Sherwin Williams Deck Scapes—Our new stain

by | May 1, 2014 | Blog, Uncategorized

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” – Benjamin Franklin

Two of our core values are continual research of latest and greatest techniques, methods and products another is enthusiastic education to our customers.

We’re changing our stain brands!

When it comes to wood protection from Ultra Violet Rays two items are critical to the success of a stain.

  1. How much pigment is there in the stain (the darker the more protection)
  2. What is the percentage of solid materials in the stain? The greater the amount of solids the more protection will be on the deck. You can tell right away there is a delicate balance as most people don’t want Tar J (high solids and dark color on their deck)

Problem: Olympic is a great stain, it is designed to penetrate wood for longer, lasting protection. As the stain penetrates the wood, until the deck is completely saturated it will leave the deck surface looking dry and faded, yet still protected. Sanding first will prevent much of penetration as the old dead dry wood that soaks up the stain has been removed.

To treat this issue, the Wash My Deck staff began looking for stain with higher percentage of solids which will stay on wood surface longer and increases color retention and UV protection. In 2009, we switched from Olympic Maximum and used Ben Moore semi-transparent stain, in attempt to cure the fading and stain penetration issue. The results were less than stellar, as there were unintended consequences: the stain was difficult to apply, it didn’t penetrate the wood, so it would sit on the surface and crack and peel.

After many trials and talks with Sherwin Williams reps, and research. We decided to switch to Sherwin Williams Deck Scapes line of semi transparent stains. The following were some of our reasons:

  • Newer waterbourne formula combines the water protection of an oil stain and increased durability from better technology
  • Low voc- good for the environment, air quality and our ozone layer
  • Higher percentage of solids (leaves more on your deck to protect)
  • Viscous enough to penetrate the wood- If the product is too thick, or applied to heavy will result in peeling and cracking
  • No silicone- Have you ever used caulk around your house? Its messy, not easy to clean up and once it’s dry your not getting it up easily. Many deck manufacturers consider the upside ONLY and put silicone in their deck stain. It last longer, however its difficult and costly to remove.

Initial results have been wonderful, we matched colors to what we have used in the past with Olympic, so that will not change. We are also giving customers the option of using Deck Scapes or Olympic if we have applied Olympic in the past.

Warranty/ guarantee- Every deck is different which is why we offer a 36 month pro-rated warranty.

  • Some decks get a lot of direct sunlight (which can cause drying of wood and fading of deck stain) Other decks have a lot of canopy with trees and little sun and lots of shade (which can cause algae/mildew to grow and eat into the existing stain).
  • There are many other factors that can cause peeling/cracking/chipping/fading such as pets, foot traffic, uncleaned spills, dragging furniture, decks age, previous maintenance (or lack of), type of wood etc.
  • The weather is a large factor as well, a deck being outside it is exposed to every season and with that comes snow, hail, ice, harsh rains, pollen and blistering sun. It seems like an almost impossible task to give a warranty, the manufacturer gives one but try and collect on that. None of our competitors offer warrantees on their work (see our secret shopper email in the coming weeks)

At the end of the day, we want our customers to fall in love with their deck all over again, we want them to maintain their deck for enduring enjoyment and cost savings. In our 20 years, we found find people who make investment want to keep it up. We have taken all of these issues and elements into consideration for our warranty of our service. You must have annual maintenance wash to remove mold and algae, after the cleaning our warranty is no hassle re-application of staining that is still under the pro-rated warranty (warranty begins from original application) as follows:

  • 1 year and under——– 66% off stain price
  • Between 1st and 2nd year—— 33% off stain price
  • 3rd year will require a full re-application at regular price