Best Redwood Deck Stain & Sealer

The redwood decks on our Main House Fixer Upper over here at One Hundred Acres Home were are in need of a refresh. This post will show you how we cleaned up and re-stained and sealed the redwood to get these decks back to looking good as new. I’ve used a number of deck stains at this point, and the stain we’ll be using here is the best deck stain and sealer I’ve found. It has not cracked or flaked under intense summer sunlight. Plus is really soaks into the wood for a preservative effect. AND you can re-stain without having to sand off the old layer. That’s amazing to me. Let me show you.

FYI, You can check out more about how I built the decks here, the hogwire guardrails here, and the floating sun shade sails seen the photo below.

Power Wash Decks:

Before we can stain, we need to make sure the deck is clean. Thankfully, this deck was stained about two years ago so it hasn’t yet started to grey. We don’t need to use a brightener or cleaning product. It just needs a refresh. Power washing with just water works great for getting the layer of dust and dirt off the boards.

If you do need to brighten up a greyed deck, you can use a brightening and cleaning product called Restore-a-Deck with a pressure washer. I have some of this product on hand just in case I need it.

Below is a photo of my husband hard at work pressure washing the back deck. You can see our pressure washer in the background. It’s a 2900 psi Ryobi gas pressure washer that has worked great on the decks, the house siding, and our concrete walkways. At one point it got gunked up because we kept gas in it over the winter. We just needed to clean out the carburetor and it was good as new.

That round red thing on the deck is an attachment for pressure-washing surfaces. You attach it to the end of the pressure gun. It rotates around while you walk it along a surface, cleaning as you go. This is a huge time-saver! The only draw-back is you have to keep it moving or it will wash a circle into your surface.

Below is my husband walking the surface cleaner along the deck. He said he likes power washing, and I am happy to have the help!

Let the Decks Dry:

Next, let the deck dry at least 3-4 days. I got busy and let them dry for a week. Thankfully it was a very hot week too so I was sure the boards were dry. Just be careful not to get them dirty again before you stain!

Below is the back deck all fresh and so clean. There is some natural color variation in the redwood boards. And if you look closely, you can see the railings still have leftover stain from two years prior. They don’t get as much wear and tear. The deck stain and sealer I’ll be re-applying can be applied over old coats without sanding or washing it away. That’s part of what makes this stain awesome. You just need a clean surface between coats.

Below is the front deck. Again, some stain still exists along the house where the boards of more protected. That’s OK.

The freshly-washed stairs are below. There is still some old stain on the stairs and railing, and that’s OK.

Apply Redwood Deck Stain & Sealer:

Without further ado, below is a photo of the best deck stain and sealer I’ve found to date. Other stains I’ve used crack and peel in the sun. Plus you usually have to sand the old stain off before you can re-stain. Not this stuff!

This is TWP = Total Wood Preservative wood stain and sealer in one. It is a stain that soaks into the wood to preserve and seal it. Check out all the details on their website. I don’t get any kickback for this recommendation. This is simply a great product! I love that it doesn’t chip in the sun. Rainwater does not soak into the wood. You can see the water pool on the boards. Plus, you can just clean and re-apply this stain without having to sand. That’s a win-win-win in my book.

Ok, so let’s stain these decks. Below is a photo of the various staining pads I use. The deck stain pad on a pole works great for the floor boards. The medium hand-held stain pad works nice for accuracy along the house. The small brush pad is great for the railing and guardrails.

Below is a progress photo of the deck stain and sealer on the redwood stairs. This is a semi-transparent stain in California Redwood, TWP color 1511.

The staining pad on a pole allows you to stand while staining the deck boards. Note, the pole is sold separately at hardware stores.

This is the small staining pad that works great along the railings. Make sure to protect your hands with some gloves.

Below is the medium hand-held stain applicator. This is great for staining close to the house. It gives more accuracy so I don’t get stain on the exterior walls.

here is a progress photo at the back deck. Check out that clean line along the white walls. Woohoo.

Finished Redwood Deck Stain & Sealer:

I just kept staining until everything had a fresh coat. If the stain is not fully absorbed after a few hours, they recommend wiping the excess off with a cloth. However, this redwood was thirsty! I’m happy it soaked up all the stain so I didn’t have to do any further cleanup.
Below is the back deck looking brand new with the best deck stain and sealer I’ve found. Details on how I installed those canopy sun shades can be found here.

The back deck stairs are looking sparkly and fresh with new redwood deck stain.

Below is the front deck with a new coat of TWP deck stain in California Redwood color 1511. It looks a little wet because it is still drying. I did not have to wipe any excess off here either.

Welcome home to your back-to-new redwood decks! The front steps are warm and inviting.