Thanks again for your response. Hopefully this will be the last of my questions. We plan to use Armstrong Clark stain and we are leaning towards the semi-solid but are waiting on our samples of some of their semi-transparent stains and also their Mountain Cedar semi-solid so we can make a final decision. You had relayed in your post that the semi-solid wears the same on your projects with the same maintenance in the future. If we decide on the semi-solid what would the future maintenance requirements for my cedar deck be, i.e., would it only have to be cleaned or or would it have to be stripped before brightening? Would I end up needing to do any sanding? Lastly, I'm a bit confused reading other posts regarding preparing the deck for staining. In your earlier post regarding my question about my cedar deck you recommended we strip, sand and then use the brightener. However, I have seen other posts in the stain forums where the advice is strip, brighten and then sand if necessary. Is it because we have a section that has new cedar sanding is recommended prior to brightening instead of after brightening? Can you clarify? Once again, thanks for all your great help!

Thanks, that's what I figured. I appreciate your help. I have a couple more questions for you. Can you tell me the difference between using the semi-transparent versus the semi-solid Armstrong Clark stains? If a semi-solid is used will there eventually be peeling problems? Is a semi-solid easy to clean off when it is time to redo a deck? Lastly, if we find that we can't get the Behr stain completely eliminated would a semi-solid stain cover what we couldn't get out?

We have 3 sections that had to be replaced a few days ago with new cedar boards. If we strip off all the old stain, stain where necessary and then brighten the wood, and use the Armstrong Clark stain will the stain color end up being uniform even with having the new sections? Thanks for all your help!

Our deck is a 16 year old cedar deck. Used Behr Waterproofing Wood Protector (Natural #300) last year. Most of the stain has peeled and there are areas with stain still on it. Last year husband had to replace 3 of the cedar flooring with new cedar due to rotting in the corners of the old cedar. That is the reason he used the Behr so as to get a more uniform color because of the new wood. Now husband found a couple of other smaller areas of cedar flooring that was rotting so he had to replace the areas with new cedar (about a total of 16'). I want to get the RAD stripper to attempt to get the remaining Behr stain off and then use the RAD brightener. What stain do you recommend using on my deck? We need something that could be used soon as we are planning on possibly selling our home so need to get the deck looking good quickly. We live in Rhode Island and the deck gets sun in the morning and partial shade in the afternoon. Thanks for any help you can provide!

Trying again to post! Hope I got it right now!
Rhode Island
Morning sun, partial shade in afternoon
Mold and green algae
16 year old cedar deck
Used Behr Waterproofing Wood Protector (Natural #300) last year and the stain peeled in several different areas and some of the stain is still on in other areas
Had to replace 3 cedar boards last year due to rotting on the edges
Replaced 3 sections yesterday (16 ft in total) due to rot in some areas
Husband wants to use solid stain as he feels that would be to best to use to cover things and I'm not sure I want to use a solid stain as I think it would present more problems down the line but maybe I'm wrong. We were going to use BM Arborcoat solid stain but after reading your review has changed our minds. Help!