If you want to know which is the best deck stain for a redwood deck, then this guide will show you all you need to know…

Here’s the thing…

You can’t just go and get any ol’ deck stain and smother it all over your deck…

Redwood decking has its own pink colour tones so when staining it, you really want to enhance the natural colour, not cover it up or try to change it…

Otherwise, why would you get redwood decking if you want to change it…

So with that in mind, the best stain for a redwood deck would have to be a semi transparent, natural stain…

Not clear…

You don’t want a clear sealer…

Clear stains are great and they will bring up the natural redwood colour but it won’t protect your decking from the sun…

Give it a few months and your redwood deck will turn grey…

You want a natural stain…

Natural coloured stains allow the redwood timber colour to shine through but it has a slight pigment added so you get protection from the UV rays…

You can try a semi transparent with a colour added if you like, but make sure you grab a sample pot to test out first…

I prefer natural but some people do love the look of an added colour tone…

It’s best to try the samples on your actual redwood deck so you can make up your own mind…

Just test a small section with 2 or three different colours…

Don’t worry, the sample sections will be sanded off in 30 seconds, so it’s definitely worth testing the colours first…

Now, before you go out and start testing different stains, you might want to know some of the better deck stains for redwood decking…

So that’s what we’re going to investigate right now…

4 of the best deck stains for a redwood deck…

In this section, I’m gonna give you 4 different stains to choose from…

2 water based and 2 oil based…

I like to give you options instead of strictly claiming that one is better than the other…

There’s a bunch of great ones out there, these are just 4 of the best…

Ok, our first deck stain is…

H2Oil Timber Natural…

This one is a water based deck stain that is perfect for Redwood deckings in Australia…

It ticks all of the boxes…

Semi transparent…

Natural colour tone…

High quality water based deck stain that is safe to use…

Head over to Aquatilis website and contact the reps…

They’ll send you out some free samples to try on your deck so you can be sure that you love the colour before you commit to anything…

Whenever I’ve tested sample colours for my clients and I test H2Oil against other well known brands, my clients always seem to prefer the colour of the H2Oil…

That’s just something that I’ve noticed over the past couple of years using H2Oil…

But the only way to find out is to test it for yourself…

Moving on…

Our next stain is…

Defy Ultra…

Now Defy is a great water based deck stain for you if you live in America…

It’s an American company, hence, it’s one of the better stains if you are in the States…

They also have a great semi transparent, fully absorbing stain that is perfect for staining redwood…

Again, make sure you get yourself some samples before you decide on anything…

Ok, how about if you prefer oil based deck stains?

Equisol E-360 Pro…

Now this is some serious deck stain…

It’s oil based so it can absorb deeper into the surface of your redwood…

Not only that…

It won’t peel or flake off…

You may not know this but oil based deck stains fade over time…

So after 12 months, this stain will fade so all you need to do is clean it with a cleaner, I’ll get into that later in this guide, and then give it another coat of this deck stain…

You won’t need to sand it back or strip it off with chemicals like you have to with water based stains…

So this is a really great option for your redwood decking…

Contact the guys at Equisol and ask them to send out some samples…

The only thing with Equisol is that it’s only available in Australia so if you are in America or Canada or even in the UK, this next option is for you…

Ready Seal Deck Stain…

The reason I chose Ready Seal is because they’re one of the remaining true oil based deck stains on the market…

A lot of other companies are switching over to a water based system…

It’s not that water based is better, it’s because water based stains are easier to transport…

But Ready Seal can be purchased in most countries and states…

If you live in America, you can head over to their website to find your local supplier…

If you live in Canada or the UK or even Australia, the best place to get your hands on this stain is Amazon…

The only problem is, I’m pretty sure they only ship the colour samples out if you live in America…

So you need to decide if you want a colour sample sent out or if you’re happy to just jump straight in and go for it…

Either way, if you choose with one of these 4 deck stains that I’ve listed here, you can’t go wrong…

The Wrap Up…

Just before you go and start staining your redwood deck,  I want to make sure you remember one thing…

No matter which deck stain you end up choosing, the one thing that I can guarantee is that it is eventually going to either peel or fade…

There’s no getting around it…

You can do everything right and your deck stain still won’t last for 10 years…

You’ll be lucky if it lasts for 3 years..

If you get 3 years, you’ve done well…

The magic doesn’t lie in which deck stain you use…

The only way to have a deck that lasts for 10 plus years is to make sure you know how to do deck maintenance…

And also make sure you know when you need to do it…

Then, you need to do it…

Don’t worry,  decking maintenance is super easy…

It’s really just a clean and recoat before any damage occurs…

As a matter of fact, I’ve put together a whole guide on deck maintenance that you need to read…

Just click this link here and I’ll take you straight to it…

I think that oughta do it for today…

If you have any suggestions that you think would be a great candidate for the best stain for a redwood deck, then please share it in the comments below…

I really want to make sure you get the best information possible and if you’ve had personal experience with a deck stain, sharing it here in the comments could really help the next person…

So with that, I’m done…

I’ll see you next time…

Peace out,

Jason…