Tell me about deck stain...17 gallons later...
We chose a semi transparent because we wanted the wood grain to show through. I had a hard time choosing the color because I didn't want a total redwood look but I wanted some red. I found what I thought was a nice mix between a brown and a red.
We hired a trusted contractor to do this job and he used a combination of spray, rollers and brushes. The wood really soaked up the stain plus we had a rare break in the weather and had low humidity and bright sunny days. The color was pretty close to what I expected, not too red or brown.
However, when he decided to touch up some places and used a brush or roller over places he had sprayed, there was a noticeable difference in color. So he kept coating. The deck surfaces now look painted (redwood of course!) and the rails and stairs and such look stained. Will the surfaces fade? It doesn't look bad but you don't see any wood grain through it in most areas and the red is dominant.
Too late to do anything but I am wondering how this will fade...or will it?
= new reply since forum marked as read
from the elements. We did ours last year. Oil, at least 2 coats. It was 'shiny' for most of the summer, now it is duller and the grain is starting to show through.
As a former painter, I know that spraying and even rolling does not fill the pores like a brush does. If they backbrushed after spraying, that's good. If they just sprayed some spots, it may not have soaked in like it should have, and dried on the surface like a film instead. then when you go over it again it's too dark.
but like I said, after a few months of weathering it should look better. 
We let it weather good for 2-3 years, pressure washed the crap out of it, then redid it with a redwood tinted oil stain. Looks great now with bits of the orange undercoat peeking thru. Other areas where it never really soaked in (first coat was sprayed) took on a much darker color and several coats. I think we went though about 22 gallons, letting it soak in and bake under the sun for a few days between coats. You just keep putting on layers until the wood no longer soaks it up.
It was so shiny it was unnatural. now several months later it looks great
but if you open a gallon of stain and don't stir or shake it first, your brush will remove ALL of the color from the can in just a few strokes. And I wasn't even tired!
How come it rained off and on for two weeks when we wanted to get started but now that it's done, we haven't had a drop of rain?
