Olympic Maximum 1 gal. Redwood Semi-Transparent Exterior Ready to Use Stain and Sealant in One Low VOC

Staining and sealing a deck is quite a process. And if you watch the Youtube videos, you get panicked. They act like every drop, smear, uneven stroke is going to be the end of the world. Well my son and I tossed this stain on using the absolute cheapest brushes and cheapest roller. We did not powerwash the deck before hand. We sanded away a couple areas which were kind of green and moldy, and then we went at it. The deck hadn't been treated for ten years. But this product goes on so easy and even kind of fun. Yes it is liquidy so it drips about. We had some cardboard etc. But we were not being super cautious. The results however look like we really tried. Not one line appears from the roller, and we didn't even roll with the grain every time. Not one drip or brush funkiness appears either. It just looks nice. Now there are a couple spots that need work only because on our decent sized deck we went with just one gallon. Shockingly the product covered it. Took my son and I about four hours to apply (mostly because those railings take time, especially when the wood is as dry as ours was) --- But when we got to the bottom of the gallon, there were little spots toward the end that could have used just a bit more. If only they sold quarts. Still, we are going with this. Job done. Great results. Already survived a couple rainy days. Very happy with this purchase. And ignore those persnikkity overly fanatical youtubers. You got this.

I had used Wolman Semi-Transparent for years and years. I find the Wolman product wears incredibly well. However, sometime in the past year or two, Wolman decided that "cedar" would now be a dark, dingy brownish shade. It is devoid of all hints of orange and just not pleasing to the eye.I started researching and ended up going with Olympic, good price, decent quality. I will update this review as it wears, but so far it has been on my deck for about a month and it looks great. Obviously the proof is in one full season.It stirs easily and goes on well. It has great coverage. Go by the coverage on the can. It is very accurate. My deck is about 23 years old. I cleaned it and power washed it, and the coverage was spot on. My deck is about 300 sq ft, plus railings, balusters, and two sets of stairs (typical 5-7 stairs and 4' wide). I used about 1 1/3 gallons and it covered well.I brushed it on, which takes longer but I always find to be neater. The only thing I did not do is my side lattice work for the deck foundation, but the remaining 2/3 of a gallon will easily cover that.Coverage is consistent and the color adds some orange "cedar" type color to the deck boards. Although it looks brown in the can, it is pretty transparent, so if you have various shades of deck due to age, discoloration, etc. this will not cover that, so lighter wood looks lighter than darker wood, etc. - like any other semi-transparent.The review photo is from a cloudy day, so in sunlight, the boards appear a bit lighter and with slightly more orange to them. Again, my deck is old and some of my boards are darker so my color is not going to be as consistent as on a 2 to 10 year old deck.

I put this on 2 yrs ago and still looks good. Not great, probably needing done again around fall. Still better than anyother.

This is a great stain and sealer to use. I had my deck cleaned but waited too long in the season to get it sealed by an expert. I'm doing this myself and it is not difficult. The only thing I wish was that my cans were dented a lot in transit. These would have to have been thrown without regard to the cautionary fragile statements on the box to get so dented. Luckily, it was received without opening by accident, so the way the manufacturer packed them is to be commended.

I have used this product for years. Last year I noticed this 'clear' coat had a slight golden hue to it. Didn't think much of it so put it on the deck. It looked golden. The bad part is over the winter the golden hue wore away unevenly and looks bad. Used the cleaner with a brush to get as much as possible off. Hoping after one more winter the rest will be gone. This is not clear even though the label indicates it is. As with any coating thst is tinted, the wear is uneven and looks awful. If you keep putting this on there will be high color saturation in some areas that did not wear off.

Easy to apply made my window sills look shiny and new

The stuff really covered our deck well and seems to be protecting it great. Has not faded one bit.

This color is not so red but more orange however, it looks rich so I'm happy to see the before and after job. Only needed 1 coat to achieve this look but 1 gallon for every 4 panels. These are 6 feet high x 8 feet wide panels. The smell wasnt too strong to have to wear a mask and rolled on easy with mini foam rollers. One mini roller used per panel. These oak wood panels absorb the stain really well and quite fast...dried in less than 20 mins so you need to work fast to avoid streaks. Water beads off nicely!