Samples

HelloThree questions about semi-transparent natural oak stain.Does a new deck require sanding?Apply stain with brush or roller? Wipe surface after stain applied? Thanks Rob

Hello. I have our contractor stain a floating deck and fence. We used Sierra Redwood but we wanted the floating deck to have a darker hue due to high traffi. So the supplier (Devine Paint in Napa, CA) added some pigment to darken the Sierra Redwood. The problem is that the pigment was added to all ALL the Sierra Redwood order. So the contractor applied the dark version to the fence as well. While fence still looks good, that was not the intention. I wanted the original Sierra Redwood without the added darkener on the fence. Is there a way to lighten it after it was applied? Or will it fade a little over time?

Hi there. I have an IPE deck that I need to re-stain as it is southern facing, but has a roof, so only part of the deck is constantly exposed to the sun - the other part is in the shade. Two questions: Would you recommend more than one coat for the parts of the IPE deck exposed to the sun? Also, is there a type of stain (transparent, semi-transparent, hardwoods & softwoods, semi-solid) you would recommend for an IPE deck that is part sun (1/3) part shade?

Do you ship to Canada?

What is the best stain for mahogany in your line. My deck was stained with a regular stain abs it looks terrible, didn’t take. Having it redone need to order samples.

It is time to re-stain my deck and redwood furniture--black walnut was used on the deck and railings--and sequoia on the furniture and yes it does rub off--if i reuse those same colors how do i avoid the rub off, is there a clear i can put on or do i stripe the furniture back down--Thanks

A description of the transparent stains says 'Not recommended higher elevations'. What qualifies as a high elevation there? I live at ~4500 feet.

I stained my cedar deck last spring. With winter I always have a wear path by spring. Do I need to do the entire restore a deck process again this spring before I stunning again. Also. New cedar fence last storing. I would like to keep it looking that color or close and not grey. What would be the best stain and what is the best process.

Is either Amber or Black Walnut considered a semi-solid color?

My question is not regarding the wood (IPE) but the Amber and Black Walnut stains. I don't know which category they fall under (e.g. 3 mos. or 12 mos.) ?

What is the waiting time to prep and stain a new IPE deck in either Amber or Black Walnut?

I am trying to stain the king plank on a Chris Craft boat, which is mahogany. It needs to be the cedar tone in the end and will have 10-15 coats of clear gloss varnish on top. Will your stain be this color when applied to Mahogany, and take marine varnish on top. Thanks for the help.

Hi. What are best practices to bring a 20+ yr PT deck back o life. Almost all boards

Hi, first picture shows a sample can of semi-solid Oxford Brown and its result on a 4x4 redwood post; second picture compares the post to a darker brown on a window frame. Do you have any suggestions as to whether you have a color that would come closer to the window frame color? Thanks!

We are using your Mountain Cedar and Oxford Brown on our house. Can you advise for stair treads if there is any difference in durability between these two stains? Thank you.

Do Armstrong stains come in a spray can

Our pine deck is 21 years old. We applied a deck resurfacer 3 years ago and the product was peeling and looking poorly. After over one week of sanding daily using a pad, belt and drum sander, we are ready to stain.

We live in San Antonio, Texas. This 200 sq. feet deck gets morning to early afternoon sun, it has benches and two set of 3 steps, with all floor boards cut to diagonal ends. We used 50 and 40 grit sandpaper and stripping wheels improved which removed almost all of the resurfacer and.

Would you recommend semi-transparent stain? If so, which one would look more like a golden oak color? Would it be Natural Oak or would it be Cedar? What about Amber (Under Hard or Softwood) as a possibility. What would you recommend?

We live on the east coast of Florida, full sun, humidity and salt. Our deck and stairs are 2 years old and PT wood. Would the semi-transparent stain hold up? Looking at the driftwood stain.

For ash, would I need to use the hardwoods stains?

Is the Amber stain considered semi-solid?

We have western red cedar planks that were installed in 2019 for a deck, table, and other various small projects. We allowed it to weather over the winter and 2020 without sealing or staining. We made the mistake of sanding the deck last week with 120 grit sandpaper (and 220 grit in smaller project areas) before realizing it was the wrong thing to do before staining.

Can you tell us if the following steps are correct to fix our wrong:
1. re-sand with 60-80 grit paper to increase porosity of the wood
2. brighten with Restore-A-Deck brightener
3. stain with semi-transparent AC (cedar tone)

I have installed a 200 sf redwood deck. The redwood is over 50 yrs old and mostly clear heart. It is a covered patio that has about 10% in the sun for a few hours a day in west Texas. I am getting ready to sand it and then will seal/stain. I would like the redwood grain to show as much as possible. Recommendations?

I'm in Miami, FL... extreme heat and humidity. I am having ipe steps made for my raised front porch but I need to darken them to go with my house. If I put the black walnut semi transparent stain on them, and then put a coat of spar urethane to seal them, is that enough? Will they even last a couple of years before having to redo it?

We have a 45 year old cypress deck that's still in pretty good shape. We've replace a few boards, also with cypress. It was treated yearly with Cuprinol for about 25 years so it was a pretty weathered gray. It was neglected for about 5 years, then it was stained brown. That has finally faded and we've begun to clean and brighten it. Some boards have been replaced. I've been testing various stain products on the deck, from clear, to semi-transparent, to semi-solid. My hope would be to get it back to a natural weathered gray appearance, but I realize that a lot of time has passed and the wood has been neglected. Would your transparent driftwood gray provide a natural look? Another option would be to match the deck to the house (which is cedar siding with Cabot Seacoast Gray solid stain), but that would obscure the wood grain and be too matchy-matchy. I don't want to go brown again. The wood doesn't have to look perfect. I'm really stumped. The photo shows old boards next to a couple of the new ones. Thanks for any advice!

I am planning to paint my Grape Stake Cedar fence with AC Transparent or semi-transparent stain. My cat jumps onto the fence every day. Is it safe for the cat to contact the fence after it has dryed?

This northern white cedar siding is 15-20 years old and has not been treated. Gutters need to be installed to prevent further backsplash from rain dripping off eaves above. Before doing that, I’d like to apply a semi-transparent or semi-solid stain. Which will homogenize the two tones of the cedar wood? Is there a treatment for restoring the lower gray wood to the wood color up highter?

I have a strong interest in your semi-solid stain. I have a deck made up of old and new cedar and some pressure treated pine. I want to put on a stain that will hide their differences while still penetrating the wood. Both the old cedar and treated wood have been sanded and all three woods have been cleaned and brightened. I want to avoid solid stain because it will not penetrate. My two questions are: will the semi-solid be a good cover to hide the wood differences , and is there a way to get the semi-solid in driftwood?

Which category do the "Hardwoods & Softwoods" fit into? What is different about these three?

I used semi-solid stain in sequoia color on my decks a few years ago. Now some areas of the decks started faded exposing light grey tone of deck wood. Can I stain over the existing deck using the same stain only with cleaning but without removing the existing stain?

I have about 250 LF of new (2 months old) Western Red Cedar 8' privacy fence. I used an oil-based semi-transparent stain (Ready Seal) on about 40' in a color that should have left the pickets in a natural cedar color, but turned out very orange and does not look good with our house color. Can I apply a darker Armstrong-Clark semi-solid stain over the Ready Seal I've already applied? Can I do that now, or do I have to wait the 12 months you've recommended? How about the rest of the new fencing that I've not yet stained?