Peeling Dark Deck Sanded & Stained Cedar in Ajax

The deck: dark stain peeling in patches

This ground-level deck sits off the walkout of a townhouse in Ajax, under the upper balcony and stairs. At some point it had been coated in a dark brown film-forming stain. Over the years that coating had worn through on the walking areas and was peeling in patches, so the deck looked blotchy, with bare grey wood showing through the brown. A film stain like this cannot simply be painted over: a new coat would peel along with the old one.

Sanding off the old stain

The only proper fix is to remove the old coating completely. We sanded the whole deck floor, board by board and along the edges, until every trace of the dark film was gone and the deck was back to clean, bare wood, as you can see in the sanded photo. This step takes the most time, but it is what makes the new finish last.

Warm cedar oil-based stain

On the bare wood we applied a warm cedar-tone oil-based penetrating stain. Unlike the old film coating, an oil-based stain soaks into the wood instead of sitting on top, so it will not peel. It just gradually weathers and can be refreshed with a light wash and a maintenance coat. The cedar tone brightens the small yard and shows off the wood grain that the dark coating used to hide.

The result

An even, warm, natural-looking deck instead of a patchy dark one, with a finish that is easy to maintain for years.

Deck staining in Ajax

UCO Construction Group strips, sands and stains decks across Ajax, Pickering, Whitby, Oshawa, Scarborough and the rest of the GTA. If your deck stain is peeling, see our deck sanding and staining service and contact us for a free on-site estimate.