Last Updated on January 25, 2024 by Defy Help
2024 Update on Maintaining Defy Stains
Do you have a question about applying a Defy maintenance coat of stain? We love hearing from our customers who have used the Defy Stains or have questions about the application. We appreciate your input, so feel free to leave a comment below and pictures of your completed projects if you have them.
No deck stain will last forever. Eventually, all deck stains will fail. The question is how long it takes, and how easy is it to maintain when it begins to fail. Some deck stains will need to be completely stripped or sanded every other year or two. Others, simply fade away and won’t need to be stripped. DEFY Wood Stains are easy to maintain. Simply clean the surface with an application of Wood Brightener and apply a light maintenance coat of DEFY semi-transparent or clear deck stain and you’re done.
Prep with defy cleaner only before maintenance coat? Video showed a man using mild detergent soap and water and no brightener.
You need the Defy Wood Cleaner for prep when applying a maintenance coat.
Your 2019 update on website for maintenance coat states: Clean deck lightly with Defy Wood Brightener the apply one light maintenance coat, no mention of using Wood Cleaner.
The prior information stated use the Defy Wood Cleaner first, then follow with the Brightener (I assume to neutralize the PH from the cleaner?). So it’s quite confusing. I am doing a maintenance coat on a 2 year old Defy Extreme 2 coat wet on wet application. The color is still o.k but the water no longer repels at all. There is dirt but no visible mildew.
So am I o.k just cleaning lightly with the Brightener instead of the Wood Cleaner followed by Brightener? I am worried the more chemicals I put on there and the more I scrub the more original color will be gone and then I am left to start from scratch instead of just doing a maintenance coat.
Thank you,
Marita Sutherlin
Prep with the cleaner for a maintenance coat.
Appreciate your help but still confused. So no need to neutralize Cleaner PH with Brightener before doing maintenance coat? Won’t that inhibit proper stain penetration/adhesion? Just going by prior advice given on the site. Also, the maintenance stain video, clearly shows only using brightener before the maintenance coat. So that’s what we did yesterday. Am I ok or have I caused problems? Thanks again.
You are fine, no issues. Go ahead and stain as long as it clean.