Ready Seal 515 5-Gallon Pail Pecan Exterior Wood Stain and Sealer

P.S. We paid for our product-- this isn't a paid endorsement! Our deck was 3-yrs. old, never stained, grey, weathered so badly [first 2-photos]-- some of the steps were deteriorating into a "checkered" pattern, i.e., disintegrating. Blasting hot Southern sun, monsoons, wind. More sun. More grey. Rapid aging. Never stained it because product review were so BAD! Until... Tripped onto Ready Seal on Amazon after reading dozens, hundreds of reviews of so many different products. Skip the 5-Star-- just read the 1-Star Reviews. Loads of research over these 3-years, but nothing popped. Until Ready Seal came on the horizon. Minimal 1-Stars. Started watching every video I could find on RS. YouTube, Amazon, Ready Seal's proprietary videos. Reading data sheets on RS's website. Tons more research. Months pass. Convinced. Buy two 5-gal. totes of Natural Cedar. I wanted the "most orange" color RS offered. I call this "Backwards Prep." Order the supply before I'm ready to do the work. This gives me the incentive to "go all in. Not back out. Forge ahead. Wait for the monsoons to stop. Research a little more. Learn how to turn this amateur gig into professional. Techniques. Tools. Materials needed. Temperature range required. Moisture! Ready Seal has GREAT Customer Service. Phoned twice. Second time, a super-hot-shot very UP on his game figured out I was using the WRONG Moisture Meter (for interior, drywall-- wrong). Off to Lowe's for a Kobalt Pin Type Moisture Meter #SC-MM150 Digital #4882343 Model #SC-MM150. See, that is great Customer Service when the Rep. listens so intently-- they can figure out what you're doing wrong (getting wonky readings) and help correct the problem. Staining a requires PATIENCE, kiddoes. Especially if you're goofy enough to stain your deck during monsoon season. Dry as a bone in the a.m. Start to stain-- finally! STARTS POURING DOWN RAIN halfway through. This prompts a call to RS: usually 12% or less moisture is required for staining-- but since you live in Monsoonville, you can go 15% on the first application. This gives the green light-- this deck wood will NEVER be 12% this wet summer. Moisture meter checks every day. Finally a narrow window opens up-- dry for just a few days, long enough for a staining Marathon. Ready Seal is everything we needed it to be. Easy to open. Easy to stir. Easy to apply (I started by using a beautiful brush. Ended up using a sponge as it made it SO easy to stain in-between boards and was easier on the wrist. Deck is 8x12-ft. Took 20-hrs. TOTAL for everything-- was able to squeeze-in 2-coats during the few days of sun. Stained everything: topsides, railings, in-between the boards, UNDERNEATH the decking, underneath the steps, 4x4 uprights, sides of boards-- every square inch of that deck. Twice. NOTE 1: if your deck is badly weathered, you'll need MORE than you think. Ran through an entire 5-gal. can doing two coats, plus maybe a Qt. from 2nd 5-gal. tote. That's two coats on an 8x12 deck. Our wood, especially the steps, were so badly "chapped" that all the wood soaked up the thin stain like nobody's bidnezz. The stain is "thin," not gloppy. If you didn't know better, you'd think it was water base. Use gloves! Old clothes. We laid down a layer of cardboard under the deck to 1/ Catch drippings 2/ for a clean, slick surface to slide around on to reach all those nooks and crannies. To me it didn't make sense to just stain topsides and leave unstained wood underneath our deck. Obviously if your deck is just a few inches off the ground, you won't be staining underneath! NOTE 2: Great addition to 1/ Protecting the steps from SUN and WIND and 2/ Safety was the addition of the STAIR TREADS [Rubber-Cal "Diamond-Plate Non-Slip Rubber Tread Stair Mats (6 Pack), Black $35.64 for six]. They really set off the Natural Cedar and really make the Ready Seal POP! I wanted some way to protect the stair treads from the brutal sun, to stop the "checking" damage. NOTE 3: ANOTHER great addition to our deck, that also keeps the SUN off and will add more years to our deck is that I erected Deck Sails [SUNNY GUARD Sun Shade Sail 10'x10'x10' Triangle Grey White Tripe UV Block Sunshade for Backyard Yard Deck Patio Garden Outdoor Activities and Facility] using 1-in. Galvanized Electrical conduit as "masts" attached to the 4x4 uprights. No cement needed. The sails keep the deck COOL, and minimize UV rays from ruining our beautiful Ready Seal. [Photos.] Sunny Guard has various sizes and shapes. We've since put up 5-Sails on this 8x12 deck, to keep our kitchen COOLER in summer. Makes a HUGE difference. The deck stays cools even though it's on the roasting WEST side of the house. Use "J-Hooks" on the 1-in. metal poles and bungee-cord to the Sails, then you can easily take them down for an approaching bad windstorm.No shortcuts. But every DAY I thank God we took the time to research this project and to do it right (waited until deck wood was <15% moisture). And got in two coats. The treads. The sails. Looks like a completely different deck, and now is a really gorgeous outdoor space-- that somehow even seems a bit bigger now, too. THANK YOU READY SEAL. You will NOT be sorry.

Best stain/sealer I have used. Application was very easy and took very little time. Applied with Home Depot Garden pump sprayer ($25) spray on liberally and wipe any puddles with a rag. Product soaks in quickly and penetrtes deep into the wood. 800 Square feet in about 3 hours. I will brush on the railings but this whole project can be done in an afternoon. Only issues is the way it was delivered. I can't beleive that it arrived in one piece. 5 Gallon bucket stuffed into a box and laying on it's side, accident waiting to happen but it made it. Second is not a complain but this is expensive stuff. I would put a seconf coat on jsut fro piece of mind but I don't want to spend another $200. Will monitor how long this lasts but so far I am inpressed with the saturation, ease of application and the color is awesome. Highly recommend for a deck that looks completely dressed up.

I’ve never stained a fence before and this stain was super easy to apply and looks great. I used a regular 5 inch masonry brush to apply. I just took a microfiber cloth and wiped off the dirt, spiderwebs and bird droppings before applying. About an hour after the first coat, I immediately went back and applied a second coat per the instructions. No special technique used, I just lobbed it on and back brushed obvious drips. It looks great! Can’t comment on longevity yet as its only been a couple weeks.

So easy to apply in only two coats. Best stain I have ever used on our deck. Holds up for approximately 2 years.

The following review is my experience refinishing my fence with Ready Seal stain/sealer. 4 years ago I rebuilt my privacy fence using cedar pickets this time around instead of the pressure treated pine used previously. Wanting to let the wood weather/dry out/shrink before I stained it, somehow 4 years went by. The south (full sun) facing portion of the fence had turned dark gray (almost black when wet) while the north facing side was a nice medium gray but had a little mildew in places. Letting it go so long required a major power washing. Now that the fence was looking almost new again It was time to put some protection on it. Having previously coated the fence (before rebuild) with a water based stain product I decided this time around I wanted an oil based stain that actually "absorbed/penetrated" into the wood. The water based stain (from that orange big box store) weathered like paint, meaning it peeled and flaked after a number of years on the full sun side of the fence. After much research I settled on Ready Seal. Ready Seal seemed to check all the boxes, oil based, "goof proof" application, long lasting, great reviews, etc. I initially started application with an airless sprayer but even with no perceptible wind there was enough air movement to drift the overspray to unwanted areas (like the wife's car 20' away, Yikes!) Also, while Ready Seal advertises no "back brushing" needed when spraying, for me, l could see that for all practical purposes, back brushing WAS going to be needed for optimal penetration. Considering I was working alone + the overspray situation + spraying a section of the fence then having to back brush the section I just sprayed, it was actually going to take longer than if I used a roller. So that's what I did. 8" Roller application was very easy on the smooth side of the fence and went relatively quickly (Considering I'm 76 years old). The side with the framework was obviously not as easy and required a 4" roller in addition to the 8" roller to facilitate application. The Ready Seal soaked into the cedar pickets like a sponge and dried to a beautiful warm reddish brown finish, much nicer than I had anticipated. The amount of Ready Seal used required about as much as advertised per sq. ft. As far as durability, time will tell but the thousands of reviews are favorable. I deducted a star for the review because the 5 gallon container had taken a beating during transit and had multiple dents and a slight seepage in the bottom edge of the metal container. I transferred the stain to a 5 gallon plastic bucket. Clean up was about as expected for an oil based product, requiring the use of mineral spirits to clean the rollers, the plastic 5 gallon bucket, the airless sprayer, etc. All in all I would use Ready Seal again + the NEXT DAY (for me) Amazon delivery and the fact that I didn't have to do a 20 mile round trip like I did for the 1st 5 gallons makes it yet again a Win for using Amazon Prime.

We ordered this stain in ‘natural cedar’ when we reworked our 30 yr old fence. We power washed, sanded, and then applied two coats of this stain. It is VERY easy to use, no drips and it blends beautifully, and we love that it is a 2in1 with a sealer to save us time. The first 2 photos show the before/during phase, and the last photo shows the final result once it was fully dried a few weeks later. (Please excuse our backyard reno 😅) Honestly couldn’t love the results more!! The colour is absolutely gorgeous and so far has held up very well here in Calgary, Canada. Highly recommend this, especially for large jobs! The 5gallon size saved us multiple trips and $$$$ at the hardware store.

Excellent product extremely easy to use

The product is a good product sprays well and even. We used it to finish our privacy fence. Didn't like having to pay $100 more for the second 5 gal pail that was required.

Working on a new fence project. This product is so easy to use even a complete novice like me is getting beautiful results. I let the fence weather over the winter and started applying the stain in April. I didn’t want to colour it that much so I ordered the natural oak. It looks amazing, very, very happy with this product.

We used this on an eleven year old deck, treated but unfinished boards. They had held up well through western prairie summer/winter conditions, but were starting to show their age.This is a penetrating oil. Easy to use, a 5” brush did best and neatest coverage on the 12’ x 16’ surface.Still about 1/3rd of pail left.Prep was just a light fast surface sanding.Other decks in past years had various paints and stains, but they all eventually peel and crack and cause more work. This oil soaks right into the board grain.Excellent product. We will continue to use it.The applied colour is darker than the ordering sample, but that more likely is due to the aged boards.