When it comes to choosing what brand of stain to use for your deck, there are countless options.  Even before choosing the brand, you will need to determine where to start your search?  The box stores or your local hardware store are common starting points however the internet is the most common.

Let’s back up even further, let’s determine if you really want to do your deck maintenance yourself or if you want to hire a professional to do the work for you.  A cost benefit analysis should be performed in order to determine if the benefits of using a professional outweigh the costs.  The average deck will take 3-6 hours for a home owner to power wash a deck (that is assuming they own a power washer).  If a rental is needed, there is the additional time with driving to the store, purchasing the rental and then also returning it.

After the cleaning is completed, the deck needs to dry.  This will mean week nights or waiting until the next weekend.  When the deck/wood has dried, the decision making needs to take place for which stain product to use.

Unfortunately the help you will get at a store with your questions are limited.  How many decks do you think the employee behind the counter has completed?  So when they answer your questions, how much experience is behind those answers.  At a minimum call a couple deck contractors and get their opinion.  If you are up front and honest, a true professional would be happy to provide their opinion on what you should do if you are tackling your own deck staining.