Why Your Deck is Peeling

For many families, a deck is a place for spending time outside and de-stressing when the weather is beautiful. De-stressing could be difficult when you find yourself having to touch up or repaint your deck often. There are many reasons why your deck may need maintenance coats time and time again. In this post, Paint Track will take you through a few reasons why your deck may be peeling. 

Weather Caused Peeling

Paint Track has had its fair share of painting decks, but we have run into many reasons why a customer’s deck may be peeling. The most obvious reason being that your deck takes the worst of the weather. During the winter snow builds up, sits on your deck, and melts consistently. In the spring/summer/fall rain is hitting the wood directly and creating moisture in the wood. In the summer the sun beats down on your deck for hours at a time. Unfortunately, there is no way to control the weather.

One way of combatting the natural weathering to your deck is by building a cover, but this is the most extreme solution. By putting a cover over your deck, you would drastically decrease the contact between rain/snow/sun from hitting the wood. Building a cover over a deck could still require maintenance coats, though not as often.

Construction Caused Peeling

The construction of a deck can also affect how much the paint will peel. Wood cannot breathe and moisture would build up over time when building a deck low to the ground. Wood boards cannot escape the moisture that is coming from the earth underneath it if a deck is built too low to the ground. As a result, the stain on the deck begins to peel. This will also happen if boards are too close together. 

Other Tips On Why Your Deck is Peeling

Other reasons for your deck peeling could be from mistakes during the application of your stain. Moisture cannot escape wood and will cause peeling if too much stain is used. Only apply as much stain as the wood can absorb and always use a brush to help the stain penetrate the wood.

We recommend never applying a stain when the sun is shining directly on the deck. Apply your stain in the shade to make sure your stain adheres and dries properly, and make sure your first coat is dry before applying a second.

There are many great stains out there, but one of our favorites is Benjamin Moores Arborcoat. Arborcoat is a waterborne stain that allows moisture to escape and is a great choice for your deck. You can learn more about Arborcoat.

We hope this helped!

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