Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We went to Home Depot to buy an opaque stain for our very aged and craggy deck, but then saw a store display with a "Special Buy!" price of $39.95 per box. It looked like exactly the kind of product that would be for us. Our deck is very weathered with lots of splinters, cracks, and a mix of woods. I had done a fair amount of prep to the deck already: pressure-washed, sanded, and repaired the boards that were too rotted. We bought two boxes of this stuff and had it tinted Sandstone. I knew we would probably need a bit more, but I wanted to see how well it worked first. Let me say this: it is a pain in the ass to work with. Because it is thick acrylic paint with sand in it, it is difficult to stir and hard to get all the paint out of the can. The coverage estimate on the box is overestimated, too -- at least it was for me. Our deck is about 10 feet by 25 feet with a 15 foot set of stairs. It took three and half boxes to do two coats. It takes a lot longer to dry than it says. If your deck is as cracked and craggy as mine was, expect to spend a lot of time using a paint brush to get paint into the cracks and then re-rolling to get the texture back. I estimate that it took me about 8 hours total to do both coats. So, the verdict is still out. If this product keeps our deck looking nice for more than a year, it will have been worth it. However, if I am looking at re-painting next season, it might not be worth your time and considerable effort. UPDATE (4/29/11): Almost a year in and the paint is still sticking to the deck. It looks OK, but I can see that I will need to pressure wash again this summer (or possibly scrub it with moss/algae remover) because the texture is really good at holding onto moisture. In the Pacific Northwest, that means moss/algae will grow before too long. Having said that, I'm pretty happy with it. Happy enough to boost it from 3 stars to 4.