Pier Preservation
 

For those with wood decked piers. Do you stain or paint it? I cleaned the pier that came with my house when I bought it. It looks a lot better but does not look like its ever had any type of treatment. So I want to stain or paint? But I am not sure which way to go. I have talked with my neighbors who mostly all have their piers painted. Looking for pros and cons to both and also recommendations on products.

John

My dock is 3 years old and I used DEFY on it about 2 years ago. It still looks better now than when the dock was new. Water based, doesn't fck the environment if it gets in the water, doesn't fck up your grass/plants if you overspray, easy cleanup, easy application. So I'm pretty happy with it. I followed the instructions and first cleaned the deck with a pressure washer, then cleaned the deck with their oxygenated bleach cleaner, then used their wood brightener before finally brushing the stain on with a deck brush. The next time I do it I think I will use a pump sprayer for the stain application and a deck brush to even it out instead of dunking a deck brush in the stain directly.

I will be happily using DEFY again.

I would not paint a deck unless the deck is already very far gone and cannot be brought back - to me painting is the very last "end of life" surface treatment for a deck. In every application I have seen a painted deck they look great for about 2 years, after that rot sets in and it rapidly deteriorates from there. Paint locks in moisture and drastically accelerates rot - you just can't see it's happening until you're fcked.