Pre-Finishing

DVWayne

I posted this on General Discussion but then found this carpentry thread - sorry, I'm new. Here's the question:
I have a guy in Northern Michigan that does a great job pre-staining siding for me. I have a deck coming up, it's cedar, and he says he can dry it out in his factory and pre-stain it. I'd love to do it because it will actually cost me less in the long run (my contract says I'll coat the deck in 6 months - he's only charging $0.29 l/f). I always have let decks dry before coating them so I was wondering if any of you have done this and whether or not it has held up. Thanks for your answers.

neolitic

Sort of.....
About 12-15 years ago several
suppliers had pre-stained PT KDAT
as a stock item (Olympic stain).
We used it on 3 screen porches and
it held up longer than any others
I've done.

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(Sorry....it seems there really are dumb questions)

DVWayne

Yeah, this guy owns Pinnacle Pre-Stain and I love using them for siding (they use a lot of Sikkens) but I hadn't done the decking before. He offers Sikkens Dek Finish which looks really nice but he tells me it wears quick (it's like a gloss finish) and also offers Penofin Red Label. The deck I am doing is for a pretty picky client and I have no doubt that they'll do a good job on the prefinish I was just worried about quick wear and peeling but he tells me this Penofin stuff doesn't form a film and therefore won't peel. I am very tempted to have it done just because this guy is so picky I want a pro finish from day one so I don't have to go back there. Plus he's a talker and I get caught up in conversations when I am trying to get work done.