I tell everyone that you have to re-stain decks every year. You can power wash and strip it first and still you need to restain. Anyone find a resurface product that is worth it? I saw overlays that work like fake nails. Not sure I want to spend the money until they have been in use a bit longer.
I'm gonna replace mine with Trex. My deck has a direct southern exposure on an open field (no shade), so it's hard to find the right time of day to stain it...there's either too much dew or it's too much direct sun. The all-day direct sun is really hard on it. And the guy who installed it did not pay attention to the grain of the decking, so much of it has cupped & rotted. I wish I had thought to look, I could have just flipped some of the boards over and gotten more life out of it. I'm tired of messing with it. It's only 12x12, so should be cheap enough to change over to Trex. And I had the framing built so I could do this easily when I decided to (12" centers rather than 16" centers.) The only downside I saw to Trex (this was years ago) is that if you have trees around that shed berries, the decking can stain and you won't get it clean.
I've never used stain on my deck because there are spots that get more sunshine/rain/traffic and those spots tend to fade quickly with stain. For years I used to be able to bring back the original wood color, but it was a lot of work. I used Olympic oil base clear wood preserver and did it only every 3 years. One time I used Thompson water based sealer and it turned the wood gray permanently, so I've gotten less careful about cleaning it first now. Last two times I used a mixture of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits, applied with a spray gun. My deck was built in 1982 and it's still hanging in there, but definitely starting to show its age. I don't know anything about overlays.
Just remember that sealants tend to have a high VOC content. Whenever engaging with a product with a high VOC content, engage with plenty of ventilation. Obviously, if working outside, that takes care of that. But, it also means proximity to the deck surface, how long spent doing that work. And that goes for paint, turpentine...lots of chemicals. And, you know, a good mask with a charcoal filter never hurts. And if you have any kind of respiratory condition...even more caution in order. For all serious respiratory conditions, should speak with the doc prior to engaging in some project with a lot of VOCs... Severe asthma here. Took me a long time to surrender to cautions. But breathing is much, much better now... from the American Lung Foundation... Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, are gases that are emitted into the air from products or processes. Some are harmful by themselves, including some that cause cancer. In addition, some can react with other gases and form other air pollutants after they are in the air. https://www.lung.org/clean-air/at-home/indoor-air-pollutants/volatile-organic-compounds
We just had our deck refurbished. It was a mess to be honest. It was old Trex like material, before they started cladding it. We had pressure washed it a number of times. The guy who did the work ended up using a stain/sealant to paint all of it. He said you can’t really do that with the newer stuff.
If using any rags with VOC's be sure to keep them stored in a bucket of water. They can spontanously combust into flame.