Customer Reviews for Ready Seal 5 Gal. Dark Walnut/Flat Semi-Transparent Wood Deck Stain and Sealer

The quality of the stain after completion is exceptional. It is everything I hope it would be. My only complaint with this product is it takes twice as much as the direction say. We follow directions to the tee. very happy with the product overall.

Easy to apply, covers well with one coat, beautiful finish!

All wood on my deck is already 10 years old. Since day 1 I've been using this oil based Dark Walnut Semi Transparent stain. During that 10 year period I stained this deck 7 times. Yes, with that type of stain the color will fade away a bit in the areas where exposed to full sun/ rain and snow ( I'm in Chicago and we get all that constantly). My deck has no roof over it so there's a constant exposure to these elements. This stain is extremely easy to apply. First I washed the whole deck with a power washer. I never use any chemicals, just plain cold water . Waited 2 days to fully dry in around 70°F temperature. I hate using sprayers so I used 3" angled brush to cut-in around areas I didn't want to stain ( brick, posts, pergola etc). Then I used cheap 5" utility paint brush to paint all boards. Next I put on my chemical resistant gloves, soaked a 16x16" microfiber rag in the stain and did the spindles. This is a really great way to save some time . Hold that rag in your palm and grab a whole spindle ( 1.5"x1.5" in my case) and with one move all 4 sides get stain. Super fast and easy. No streaks of any kind. I bought 2 gallons and with ONE heavy coat of stain I managed to cover all 250 square feet of pressure treated pine lumber ( included in my calculations are boards, posts, spindles, floor and stairs). With all that I used a total of 1.75 gallon of stain. Meaning, I have 0.25 gallon leftover for some touch-ups.

Needed to restrain and protect my Front door. I used Dark walnut, color came out great. Door looks wonderful again

Color is great! Good coverage for our garden project.

I highly recommend this stain, it has really brought my 17-year-old fence back to life, the one board that's slightly different color was a replace board.

Loved working with this stain. My house, deck and porch look fabulous. Great coverage and easy pour spout built in. Definitely will buy this brand again

This stain is beautiful, it has made my cheap pine fence look gorgeous. This is one section done compared to the not done yet pine fence. It’s alittle messy and smells but sinks right into the wood and does not show any unevenness as you apply. I love it I will be buying more!

Love this stain color.

I used this Ready Seal (Dark Walnut) Exterior Wood Stain/Sealer on a wood pergola that was starting to show some sun damage, drying etc. I didn't strip the wood of all color (not sure what the previous owner of the home used on the wood) but rather I just used a wire brush and some sandpaper to scrape the surface and funky edges where wood was drying. Then I used my blower to get all the dust off the wood. The product went on easily with a small foam roller and a brush for hard to reach areas. It dried nicely and looks great. I have no complaints whatsoever. Picture attached shows left half of pergola stained, right half prepped but not stained yet.

Used a pump sprayer to apply stain to fence. Still looks great.

I purchased Ready Seal in dark walnut, 5 gallon buckets, from my local store. In 2020, we installed a brand new cedar deck. Low moisture content, only 4-6%. Loved the application, it was easy and lap free. And it looked really great and I loved the color. I did the test for a second coat, and it would not accept a second coat. Spring of 2021, I did the bleach and jet spray prep, waited for appropriate moisture content reading, and I ended up applying 2 coats. It remained a little oily, but I wiped it down with a rag. It did accept the second coat, as residue was clear, per Ready Seal website. It is Feb 2, 2022. See attached pictures. This is the icicle drip line. Stain is non-existent and has worn off. Very disappointing for an “absorbing” oil based stain. And, for 3 coats in 2 years, I expected it to last much longer, at least for the year. I do not want to apply stain every Spring.I will not re-apply Ready Seal. I had hoped this stain would last much longer. Reviews I had read before purchase were very positive. As of now, I’m seeing many negative reviews on longevity.

The Best for Wood fence and deck.

Super easy to apply, low odor, looks great. After first applying the stain, it looked "okay" but by day 2 after fully curing it was EXACTLY what we expected and love it! Best tip for success is great prep and sanding of your surface. I thought I sanded perfectly, going coarse to smooth as directed and the appropriate grit sizes of sandpaper. But every swirl and uneven sand mark shows through. I rented a belt sander and orbital sander from HD which was a big help, but my sanding skills clearly stink. Other than user errors, this Ready Seal is fantastic! This is year #3 and looks like it can use a refresh in areas that are fully exposed to the sun. But since it doesn't peel or flake because it is a stain/sealer - I am thrilled for an easy upkeep needed.

When we had to choose a stain for our new cedar fence, I did a ton of research and ultimately chose Ready Seal in Dark Walnut. We hand brushed several hundred feet of fence. At first I was happy with the results, but it quickly became apparent that Ready Seal has some major quality control issues. There was little color consistency between different gallons and buckets of stain. We mixed different gallons together where we could, as recommended, but when you are using 5 gallon buckets that becomes very difficult. Large sections of our fence turned out almost orange, and other sections are more of the rich brown Dark Walnut is supposed to be. After one year, the stain has also faded considerably. We are already needing to restain the entire fence to ensure the wood is protected. No easy task when your fence covers 3/4 of an acre. I reached out to Ready Seal via email when I first noticed the orange color of some of the stain, and the email I received in response was NOT helpful. The tone was almost accusatory, as if I had applied the stain wrong, instead of it just being a defective product. They wanted copies of receipts, photos of the inside and outside of used stain buckets, photos of the fence, etc. and didn't even specify what the remedy might be. Now that I've experienced Ready Seal and am already having to reapply stain (both because of fading and to try to even out the color), I've chosen to go with a different brand instead - I am much happier with the results from Behr's oil-based stain in Chocolate. (The fence on the left is Ready Seal after 1 year, horrible fading. Fence on the right is with Behr oil based stain applied)

Awesome product , Absolutely Goof Proof going on , I’ve brushed it , sprayed it and it always turns out great , only exterior wood stain I use , well worth the cost .

We used this on our house and loved it so we bought it to use on my horse shelter. Definitely lives up to the "goof proof" motto.

Easy to use, great color and only need to apply once! If interested in using a roller, not recommended. Will drip all over the place. I used a very nice brush to apply. 12 feet wide x 10 feet length x 11 feet tall (to the bottom rafter - 15 feet to the top of the roof).

Dark walnut worked well on my pergola..absorbs well ..used on cedar..

Will see what this winter brings. Just put on a few months ago today Is 11-25-20. So far I love the color and the ease of application.

We lightly burned our yellow pine with a weed torch to turn the grain black. Then stained it with Ready Seal Dark Walnut. It is very beautiful. The burned wood will smudge off so if you use this process and it is on furniture or a floor you have to seal it with varnish. This process is call shou sugi ban. It turns Yellow pine into a very expensive looking wood. One picture shows burned with no stain, burned with stain, and then just stained.

Deck looks horrible after two months

I will update if necessary being that it’s only been on a couple of weeks but the color isn’t fading after a few rains and it is exactly what I wanted! Definitely recommend. I have two coats on. Before and after pictures. (It rained before I took the pictures which is why it looks wet)

This was so easy to apply and blended so well. No issues

Deck came out beautiful, easy to apply. This was only one coat. Will add another due to recommendations.

Great penetration into my cedar deck that's about 5 years old. Previous owner applied a Cobots stain that turned orange. 3 years ago I applied a Thompson's water seal Acorn Brown semi transparent that looked red, looked like a solid paint, chipped away after 1 year, and showed a ton of dust and dirt. Bit the bullet and sanded whole deck which was a pain but knew I needed to get down to bare wood. Used recommended bleach n water mix solution then applied Ready Seal with a brush. Turned out great but it would only accept 1 coat which I knew was a possibility - excess oil just stayed on top n wiped excess with rag which helped. Can really see characteristics of wood now. I plan on next year in the summer just quickly rolling another coat on the horizontal boards for additional coverage. I have also used RS for a farm table I made for the deck which also turned out great - only thing I'd do different is instead of brushing 2 coats I probably should have only done one coat n let it sit for a few hours then wipe with rag. I'm just new to woodworking n staining etc so rookie mistakes. Excellent product tho - definitely not the cheapest but u get what u pay for. Thompson's water seal is cheaper n it flakes off n doesn't penetrate like Ready Seal.

Love the color! Went on easily, not sticky at all, able to put furniture back on it within hours. I hope it holds up well! (Color is Dark Walnut.)

No one at the store suggested that the van needs to be shaken on the machine. I shock it as much as I can but the stain wasn’t fully mixed - it came out much redder than the desired color.

I used a small airless sprayer to apply 15 gallons of stain to 500 feet white cedar fence. I tried to use a pump up deck/fence sprayer but it used to much stain. It looks great even in the spots that I oversprayed and caused it to have runs. The stain performed as advertised. No goofs.

It's really a good product. Easy to paint & looks nice.