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We've found the best decking paints and decking stains to protect your decking for the most amount of time, and look the best.
During our tests, some decking stains start to show signs of wear and tear after only a few weeks. However, the best decking stains looked as good as new and repelled water even at the end of an intense period of testing.
Decking paints have proved more hardy in our durability tests, and there is less visible difference between the best decking paints so far.
Below we reveal the best decking stains, and how the decking paints we've tested have fared so far.
Only logged-in Which? members can view the best decking paint test results below.
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Decking paint | Durability | Wash resistance | Ease of application | Number of colours | Where to buy |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Excellent | Very easy | ||||
Excellent | Easy | ||||
Excellent | Very easy | ||||
Excellent | Very easy |
Date tested: February 2024. Page last checked: July 2024. We're not able to show every retailer and cheaper prices may be available.
All the decking paints we're testing are listed in alphabetical order below.
Only logged-in Which? members can view the best decking paints from our tests.
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Need to know 10 sq m coverage per litre, leave 8 hours between coats, 48 hours drying time, colours available: light silver, dark silver, medium brown, light brown, gun metal
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Need to know 10 sq m coverage per litre, leave 4 hours between coats, 48 hours drying time, colours available: bramble, charcoal, chestnut, deep blue, warm stone, English oak, slate, willow, sage, blackcurrant
Also check out our pick of the best fence paint.
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Need to know 13 sq m coverage per litre, leave 4 hours between coats, 16 hours drying time, colours available: more than 100 shades see full list at paints4trade.com.
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Need to know 10 sq m coverage per litre, 16-24 hours drying time, colours available: light silver, dark silver, gun metal
Only logged-in Which? members can view the best decking stain test results below.
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Decking stains | Durability | Wash resistance | Ease of application | Number of colours | Where to buy |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Excellent | Excellent | Average | |||
Poor | Excellent | Easy | |||
Poor | Average | Average | |||
Poor | Poor | Easy |
Date tested: February 2024. Page last checked: July 2024. We're not able to show every retailer and cheaper prices may be available.
All the decking stains we tested are listed in alphabetical order below.
Only logged-in Which? members can view the best decking stains from our tests.
Join Which? to get instant access to our test results below.
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Need to know 12 sq m coverage per litre, dry in 4 hours, colours available: American mahogany, black ash, Boston teak, cedar fall, city stone, golden maple, Hampshire oak, silver birch, urban slate, Vermont green, natural, natural oak
Available from Screwfix (Out of stock)
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Need to know 10 sq m coverage per litre, dry in 1-2 hours, colours available: slate, dark mahogany, clear, ash, silver birch, teak, country oak
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Need to know 13 sq m coverage per litre, rainproof in 90 minutes, colours available: walnut, cedar, charcoal, country oak, dark oak, medium oak, stone grey, slate, rich teak, blackcurrant, rich mahogany, sage, willow
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Need to know 12 sq m coverage per litre, dry in 4 hours, colours available: carbon grey, coal, natural oak, nearly natural
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All of the decking paint and decking stain is applied to pieces of decking according to the manufacturers instructions and then left exposed to the elements over the winter.
In addition to this each decking paint and stain is tested for:
We regularly revisit the decking paints and decking stains on sale to see if there are any more popular versions that need testing and when we find them we do.
Find out more about how Which? is not influenced by product manufacturers or retailers and how your support helps us to stay editorially independent.
Decking paint is a bit more durable than decking stain, but it's also much more of a faff when you do need to replace the paint. These are the other key pros and cons of each:
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