Olympic Elite 5 Gallons SC-1026 Deep Charcoal Solid Advanced Exterior Stain and Sealer in One

I've used this product on my back deck the past 5 years. It is 20+ years old and I've restained every 2-3 years. Seattle wet winters and dry summers take a toll on decks. This year we removed and replaced the deck boards. Then I stained it - by myself. And, I'm 74 y/o.

The finished result has been excellent for our 15+ year old deck that had 2 coats of solid stain previously applied before we bought this house 3 years ago, 2nd coat was peeling away from 1st coat that was also peeling away. The key to my success was the prep before apply the solid stain, spent 10 hours on both a Saturday and Sunday sanding with a deck sander rented from HD with 20 grit sanding sheets, using deck stripper on what was left, scrapping the softened stain on my hands and knees, thoroughly rinsing the stripper, sanding again after it dried and then washing with a deck cleaner. I then let deck dry for 48 hours and applied 1st coat of the Elite solid stain with 5" brush, really soaked into the old PT decking. after 24 hours I applied a 2nd coat again with the 5" brush. As you can see it looks great ! The adhesion of the stain appears to be very strong and after 48 hours of drying the surface is hard to the touch which I hope leads to durability. This was a lot of work but cheaper than putting down new PT or a composite material.