If you want to know when to stain a new deck, then this guide will save you from making a huge and costly mistake…

Here’s the thing…

I spoke with a new deck owner about this very question just yesterday…

Well, by the time you read this, it’s probably a little longer than that…

Anyway, trying to work out when to stain a new deck is such a common problem that I thought I may as well spill the beans and tell you what you need to know…

I’m gonna do this Q&A style…

Ok, first up…

When should you stain a new deck?

Well, as a general rule, you should wait at least 3 months before you stain a new deck…

You see, your new decking timber has a few things that need to be removed before you apply any stain…

The things that need to be removed are tannins, mill glaze and moisture…

These 3 are a nightmare for deck stain…

Now, the last thing I want is for this article to go into “boring town”, so I’m not going to explain what each one of these are…

All you need to know is that a new decking timber will have one or all three of these and they will stop your deck from absorbing the deck stain…

But when you let your deck get pounded by the rain and then dried up by the sun, it will draw the tannins out…

It will break down the mill glaze…

And then finally after some good weather, the moisture will be removed from your new decking…

Pay attention because that last part is very important…

And it plays a vital role in deciding when to slap that coat of sealer on there…

In fact, it’s so important that I’m going to dig a little deeper into that right now…

How long do you wait before staining a new deck?

I know I said the general rule is to wait 3 months before applying any deck stain but rules are made to be broken…

You just need to know when to break them…

For instance…

The guy who called me yesterday has indeed waited 3 months but he’s still not ready to stain his deck…

It’s not as black and white as to install a new deck, wait 3 months and then stain…

This friendly gentleman who called me has a deck that is half covered by a pergola…

This means that the covered section hasn’t been weathered enough to apply a deck stain…

This is what I told him to do…

Every day for the next couple of months, he needs to go out and water his deck with a garden hose…

The idea is to blast at the surface and allow the water to draw out the tannins and break down the mill glaze…

After a couple of months of this watering process, his deck “should” be ready to stain…

The key words here are “Should be”…

The truth is, when staining a new deck and trying to figure out how long to wait, you need to consider the time of year the deck was installed…

Because the rain will determine whether or not you can stain or if you should wait…

So with that in mind, let’s look at…

The best time of year to stain a deck…

So I’ve told you that one of the critical factors is how dry your deck is…

And the general rule is you need to wait 3 months but it is not that simple…

If your deck was built in the months leading into winter then you’ll need to wait longer than 3 months…

The reason is, you can’t stain a deck that is damp or wet and winter brings the rain…

You’ll probably find that most deck restoration companies close down over winter…

Now you know why…

Even if it doesn’t rain, the mornings and early evenings in winter are extremely moist…

And that moisture will destroy any deck stain you try to apply…

So here’s what I suggest…

Wait your 3 months for your decking to weather, but if your 3 months ends and the weather is raining or damp, wait until you get into drier weather…

In some cases, you may need to wait 6 months…

Late Autumn, leading into winter is not a good time to stain a deck…

Any time in winter is also not the best time to stain…

Likewise with the first half of Spring…

It’s just too wet to stain during this part of the year…

The best time of year to stain a deck would have to be, the second half of Spring, all through Summer and into the early parts of Autumn…

In other words, the drier parts of the year…

This obviously depends on where you live…

Some parts of the globe will be drier and other parts will be wetter…

Just make sure your deck is dry before you stain it…

Make sense?

Great, let’s move onto the next question…

When to stain a new deck built with pressure treated timber…

Pressure treated timber is just like any other timber that you use on your decking…

This is usually your pine or cedar species of timber…

These are your soft woods…

We pressure-treat timber so it can withstand the weather…

As you could imagine, new pressure treated timber has chemicals in it that could affect deck stain in a negative way…

It’s also full of moisture…

So that’s why when it comes to staining a new pressure treated deck, you’ll need to wait at least 3 months…

The reason is to let it dry out properly and to make the timber as porous as possible…

You want that decking stain to absorb as deep as possible into the surface of the timber…

And the thing is, deck stain won’t absorb properly into timber if it’s wet or damp…

Well there you have it…

Whether your new deck is built from hardwood or pressure treated timber, you’ll need to wait at least 3 months for your deck to weather before you apply a good quality deck stain…

And if your deck was built before winter, you will need to wait even longer than 3 months until the weather is dry enough to apply deck stain…

Now before you run off and start staining your deck, there’s something really important that I need to tell you…

The thing is, staining your deck is one of the easiest and most rewarding things you will ever do around your home…

But that is only if it’s lasts longer than 6 months…

You see, there’s some simple mistakes that can cause your deck stain to peel and flake off…

Well, there’s 11 to be precise…

And you can do everything right…

You can wait the 3 months…

You can clean it properly…

You can use the best quality deck stain…

But if you make only one of these easy to avoid mistakes, that deck stain is going to peel…

Yup, just 1 mistake can be catastrophic to your deck stain…

The thing is, you don’t need any special talents or abilities…

You don’t need to be younger or more agile…

You don’t need to be bigger and stronger…

No, all you need is to know what these mistakes are and then you can simply avoid them…

It’s as easy as me saying, when your deck looks like this, don’t stain it…

Or if your deck feels like this just wait an hour…

It’s really that easy…

But if you don’t know what the mistakes are it’s just as easy to mess it up…

If you want to know what the mistakes are, I can tell you but you need to click this link here…

Well, that’s about all you need to know…

That’s it’s from me…

I’m outta here…

Peace,

Jason

P.S. Once your deck is ready to stain, read my step by step guide…

I’ll show you everything you need to know about deck staining…

FAQ’s