Customer Reviews for Olympic Maximum 1 gal. Cedar Natural Tone Semi-Transparent Exterior Stain and Sealant in One Low VOC

We started with a 11yr old deck that we sanded down to bare wood. We stained it with the Olympic Maximum in color Teak making sure to follow the instructions to the letter. Applied two coats last September when temps were in the 60’s. After just one single winter we have peeling stain everywhere. It’s only been 6 months!! Plus there is this residue that we have tried to wash off with soap to no avail.. Look at the picture and see for yourself. Buyer Beware!

Was exactly the cedar tone we were looking for

Despite some of the bad reviews I thought this product was excellent. Obviously time will tell. I only got one year out of the last product I used. This product went on easy and had excellent coverage. I have a large deck and used almost 10 gallons! with the last product, I probably only used 2/3 of the 5 gallon Olympic. Penetration was good and durability seems good so far. Easy cleanup as well. I would not recommend the cedar color however as it was orange, ended up going back and getting the royal mahogany and I was much happier with the color.

I put this on a 28-year-old deck, all original so it's not in the best of condition. I had to use a roller because of some of the boards that have splinters. This is a 16x30 deck and it took about a gallon and 3/4's to cover it thoroughly. I did it in two parts over 3 days and I couldn't be happier with the results. I'm sure it won't last more than 2 years because of its condition but I'm hoping for three.

It's a good product but for some reason some parts of the deck are lighter then others, I didn't want to do a second coats as the directions say not to so maybe next year I will do it all over. Also don't like how you have to have it made/mixed/tinted at the store instead of getting it and just going.

Very happy with how my deck turned out. It looks great.

Good coverage and the water repels excellent.

Decided to use Western red cedar on my new deck! Went down bought 5 gallons of Olympic stain semi-transparent to bring out the natural tones of the cedar, after a light scuff and sanding with 220 and wiping it off very well little black specs started to appear on the cedar! Very disappointing never use a water base sealant stain.

Disappointed doesn’t even begin to describe my experience with this product, it’s ridiculous. I purchased 9 gallons of this stain ($600 CAD) to do my entire deck and perimeter fence just a few months ago. Prepped, cleaned and sanded the deck properly pre-application (as per instruction). After almost 50 hours total to do the full job, it looked nice, but just few months later and I’m faced with having to redo the whole thing because it’s literally flaking off everywhere despite the fact the deck itself has barely even been used. I get that stain doesn’t last forever but less than a season??? For reference, I have no pets, no kids and no furniture or items even on it, there is absolutely no excuse for this. When I went back to Kent Building Supplies with my concerns I got an assortment of confusing rationalizations behind the failure and that they really couldn’t do anything for me; eventually deferring me to a company rep and manufacturer number which let’s face it, is going to go nowhere. Hundreds of dollars and many hours later I am deeply regretting purchasing this product and even more angry it comes with absolutely no manufacturers guarantee. Because of this I am now going to be out even more time and money just trying to fix it. AVOID THIS PRODUCT!

I purchased 3 gallons of the 716 Cedar Natural Tone Stain/Sealant on Apr 8 of last year and it did not even last ONE year. I am 76 years old and spent almost 3 days on my hands and knees - Shame on you!!!! The product is Totally Useless.

Excellent coverage of defects beautiful colors and durable finish. Recommend highly.

Used this product by simply looking at the amount of positive reviews. I have an old 14'x12' Deck. I used the Olympic deck cleaner and pressure washer to clean the deck properly. Please note this is my first time ever painting/staining . So I am no expert. But the results turned out good. I had to use 3 boxes and 2 coats of stain. I hope it lasts longs.

2nd year and looks like it was just stained. Used Olympic Ascent semi solid stain 716 Cedar.

I made a patio table out of an old wire spool ....used the Olympic Cedar for color and sealing - take a look.

Put up a new fence, a couple of weeks later i decided to stain and protect the new wood. I used an electric spray gun, worked flawlessly. The fence came out beautifully.

I am very pleased with is product. The ease of application & look make it avery good product. I would have given it 5 stars if it wasn't so expensive. It has gone up $2 alone just in the past few months.

After many hours of back-breaking-on-my-knees-work going down the drain when the stain results were splotchy. I spent weeks resurfacing my deck including many rounds of cleaning, sanding and prepping the wood so the cedar has the absolute best chance to work. It didn't work at all. On my hands and knees again, I applied a smooth even thin coat and look what I got - a really bad deck stain.

I am in tears after many hours of back-breaking-on-my-knees-work going down the drain when the stain results were splotchy - really splotchy - like really really splotchy. I spent weeks resurfacing my deck including many rounds of cleaning, sanding and prepping the old and new cedar. I replaced some old boards with new cedar while planing down old wood and then cleaning and sanding all the wood over again so the cedar has the absolute best chance to work. The raw wood look great and ready to go. Well it didn't work at all. On my hands and knees again, I applied a smooth even thin coat and look what I got - a really bad deck stain. I noticed something was going wrong as the stain even with thin coats applied with a stain sponge was puddling. I wiped off the excess stain. It was applied at 65 to 70 degrees no humidity. In the picture, left side of deck is new wood which was washed with a deck cleaner to remove mill surfaces, and sanded to allow the stain to be absorbed. The stain did not take. Middle picture was old resurfaced wood planed, sanded and washed. It took the stain better but still not great. Right is wood waiting to be stained that I won’t stain now until there is a solution to remove the new stain. Once this stain goes bad, there is nothing you can do but go back to the drawing board because you can’t use a second coat to even things out. It doesn’t work. It will peel right off. It is the end of the season so I will have to wait until next year and spend thousands more to do it all over again. I could do nothing but sit with my love and dog crying over the wasted effort. BTW: I am well experienced home DIY including building and staining decks. This is third time refinishing this deck. This is the first time the results were bad.

The can says 6 year warranty on decks, this is what mine looks like 2 weeks short of a year after application. Very disappointed with this product and will not be purchasing Olympic products in the future.

Made the mistake of purchasing this product based on photos here. Once put on my deck, it was much more orange color than I was hoping for. My deck looks like a leather basketball now and I can't remove it easily. If you like dark burnt orange or rust look, this will be fine. Other than that, the product was easy to work with and seemed to be of quality.

Since Olympic changed the formula a bit, the color (to me) is GORGEOUS! Its not as dark as the original formulation I purchased a couple of years ago. It’s exactly what I was looking for. I’ve included the stained board and the ones which WILL be soon stained in the pic.

I am very upset that I spent 140 dollars on stain that looks nothing like the picture online! I totally understand colors looking slightly different in pictures than when you actually use them. However, this is the worst representation of a color I’ve ever seen. In the picture it looks like a slight grey tint. Not what you get at all! It’s completely grey when applied. I wasn’t looking to go so dark just yet. I’m very unhappy! I hope to be contacted by someone to make this right somehow!

Great stain goes on easy seals wood in one day

This stain works great and the walnut is a nice color!

I bought this Cedar Naturaltone color thinking it would be somewhat light. Boy was I ever wrong. The color is much darker and provides a reddish tint to my deck. What a waste of money considering I bought two cans. Now I have to buy a stain stripper and redo the whole deck. Would definitely not recommend this color unless the photo is what you're going for.

Love this stuff, it covers well and cleans up easy.

Color was great and what I was looking for.

I followed the directions to a "T" - 6 months later, it's flaked to pieces. Warranty is a joke - I wrote a letter to PPG (tracking confirms delivery), 6 months later, no response. HD paint manager had no idea about warranty. Warning all my friends.

I used this same product 4 years ago to seal/stain our covered porch. I decided to use the Maxim in semi transparent cedar naturaltone again. I thoroughly cleaned and allowed the wood to dry before applying. I’m very happy with the end result.

Good product with no strong smell but the color is not what I was expecting more orange, reddish-brown.