It SOUNDS to me like the pressure treated wood was not dry. The time you wait (6 weeks, 8 weeks, or 2 years) is not as important as the dryness of the wood. Usually, 6 or 8 weeks with sunny, dry weather is enough — wind helps, too.

I think you’ve got the right idea. At this point I would sand, let the wood dry thoroughly, and re-stain with [whatever you want to use].

I know that doesn’t help much but it’s all I’ve got.

Chris

By the way, if you get sap on your hands, the quickest way to remove it is by washing your hands with motor oil. Yeah, gross, and then you have to clean motor oil off your hands but that comes off with soap (which comes off with water). It works!

I have a 21 year-old wood deck, which has been stained red at least 6 times. I want to use a new stain product called “Restore Liquid Armor Resurfacer” (made by Synta Inc.), which has a grit particle finish to fill in cracks and nicks. I scraped off all of the prior coats of red stain, but found some boards with severe surface problems. I had to replace 30% with new pressure treated lumber. Right now, my deck is a combination of old PTL scraped down to bare wood and new PTL. Is there a way to pre-treat the new PTL (sanding, pressure washing, etc.) such that I can apply this new stain product without having to wait 6 months for the new PTL to dry out to allow the new stain to adhere? If not, should I apply a coat of wood waterproofing to the scraped old wood in the meantime and simply wait until next spring? I live in Pittsburgh, which has a high humidity level in the late summer. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

I had the porch replaced with treated wood in the fall. We’re ready to stain when we have dry weather. I want to verify that I do not need to seal.
Thanks,
Gretchen

Was the wood DRY when you applied the stain? How about clean? If it was applied over spots that were oily, dirty, wet, or otherwise unclean wood you could expect it to flake instead of penetrate.

Solid vs semi-solid shouldn’t matter. In fact, I would expect semi-solid to be better for you but solid probably provides better UV protection.

As for milling, that would help the next coat penetrate the wood better. Think of it like sanding REALLY hard (really really hard).

What would you recommend?

I don’t know about waiting until spring. You just need to make sure the wood is dry. A few weeks of hot days with no rain and a little breeze for good measure should be good for decking.

Use whatever color you want. Color is required for UV protection which is going to give most of your fade resistance but it all gives great rot/decay protection.

Thanks for reading!

Chris