Hello,
It's been quite a while since I was here; my ww days are over due to health issues.
If this question belongs elsewhere, please accept my apologies, and move it.
My question is about finishing our enclosed deck. We have a deck w SPF flooring. When we recently did the enclosure, we had the floor professionally sanded, and we put this Behr stain on it:
Behr.jpg
It is an acrylic, and water is the solvent.
We had some folks come by and spread it on the deck (they really slopped it on-parts of the deck were sticky for 2 weeks) that was about 2 months ago :
Deck while drying.jpg
We want to put Polyurethane (oil-based kind) over it when it is dry. It doesn't have to be oil based, just my preference for durability.
So, I have learned on SMC: Let all the water evaporate prior to overcoating it w Polyurethane, and I'll have to put a coat of dewaxed shellac in between these two incompatible finishes.
To further complicate things, I have a Delmhorst hand-held moisture meter that reads on some unstained decking about 12%.....Most of the stained wood is 14-15%. My wife pointed out that I only need to push the pins of the meter 1-2mm into the wood.
My questions are:
1) Do I need to wait until the stained deck boards read 12% (not 12.5%, etc), the same as my unstained controls-before I overcoat?
2) Since this deck has been drying all summer (2 months), can any constituents in the Behr stain give me false moisture readings?
3) If I must use oil-based polyurethane for protection, I have to put down a layer of dewaxed shellac.....what pound cut, how many coats please?
4) I am tempted to KISS and use water-based polyurethane for protection.....if I do, will this make the entire "how dry is it?" question moot?
5) Is water based polyurethane as durable as oil based?
I did not know where else that has the know-how that you all have.
Thanks so much for helping out.
David