This post was updated on June 22, 2024
Hi, I am Scott Paul, a leading exterior restoration contractor and business owner with over 30 years of experience in exterior wood decking. My Behr Deckover review is based on my history as a wood restoration contractor and actual hands-on testing, all designed to present you with the top deck stain choices. See here for more info about me.
Behr Advanced DeckOver in 2024: Reviewed by an Expert
Since the article was first published initially, we have had many comments from consumers who have used the Deckover and have had a terrible experience with peeling and failure. If you have used the Behr Deckover, please upload and post pictures of your exterior wood or deck with the Deckover on it. A brief description of your experience would be helpful as well. This can be done in our comment area below. Feel free to submit a Star Rating on the Behr Deckover coating.
Important Note: Behr Deckover is now called Behr Advanced DeckOver. It comes in a smooth or textured finish.
Behr Advanced Deckover Review
Bring new life to old wood and concrete surfaces with BEHR ADVANCED DECKOVER. This 100% acrylic formula conceals cracks and splinters up to 1/4″, creating a smooth, slip-resistant finish that resists cracking and peeling. It’s available in 54 solid custom colors and is also great for decks, railings, patios, composite decks, pool decks, and walkways.
Recommended for properly prepared exterior weathered or cracked horizontal and vertical wood and composite surfaces such as Decks, Railings, Porches, and Boat Docks. It is also great for concrete surfaces such as Pool Decks, Patios, and Sidewalks. Do not use it on drivable surfaces such as garage floors and driveways.
How I Rated BEHR ADVANCED DECKOVER
My BEHR ADVANCED DECKOVER review contains an 8-step process and the final average score. Each step is on a scale of 1-10.
- The appearance of BEHR ADVANCED DECKOVER after Application
- Preventing UV Graying
- Peeling or Wearing
- Cost Per Square Foot
- Preventing Mold and Mildew
- How Easy was the Application
- Color Shifting
- Ease of Reapplication
- BEHR ADVANCED DECKOVER Final Score
8-Step Review of Behr Deckover Wood Stain
1. Appearance After Initial Stain Application: 4
Behr Deckover applies like thick paint and helps to fill cracks and conceal splinters. It looks like paint, not like a deck stain. Our customer complained about dirty footprints always showing up on the deck, so we had to scrub to remove them.
2. Preventing UV Graying at 2 Year Mark: 10
Excellent UV protection from graying in the areas that were not peeling.
3. Wear/Tear and Peeling: 4
After one Winter the Deckover was peeling heavily. We prepped according to manufacturer directions, knowing that was not the problem. In general, we have found that all Behr stains tend to peel, especially after a Winter in a cold-weather state.
4. Cost Per Square Foot: 1
It’s not good. Behr says 75 sq. per gallon, and that is very generous. We used 8 gallons for the 400-square-foot deck. The first coat was applied at about 50 sq. feet, and the second coat was applied at 75 sq. feet per gallon.
5. Preventing Mold/Mildew/Algae: 10
No Mold or Algae were on the deck stain after 2+ years.
6. Ease of Application: 2
It is very difficult to apply. We applied it with a brush and roller. We needed to backbrush numerous times to get the stain to fill the cracks. We had many drips between the deck boards showing.
7. Color Shifting (darkening) after 2 Years: 10
It did not darken or attract dirt.
8. The Difficulty of Reapplication: 1
This would be tough to fix and may not be worth recoating with the same product. You would have to scrape and sand all loose stain before reapplication. If you wanted to change brands, you would need to sand the entire deck to remove as the Behr Deckover will not strip off with a conventional deck stripper remover.
Overall Score Behr Deckover at 2 Year Period: 5.5
If you took away the UV protection of being a solid stain product, this product’s ratings would be much less. There are many complaints on the internet about the Behr Deckover. Use at your own risk, as there is a good chance it will peel and create an enormous mess for you to fix.
Behr DeckOver Surface Consumer Photos
Product Information:
Behr Advanced DeckOver Home Depot
Where To Buy: Home Depot
Cost: $45 per Gallon
Stain Type: Acrylic Solid Stain – Water Based
Available Colors: 54 Custom colors
Application Temperature: 45-95 F
Coats Required: 2 Coats.
Coverage Per Gallon: 75 sq. ft per gallon. You need 2 coats for the best performance.
Application Tools: Brush, Roller
Dry Time: 8-24 Hours
Cleanup: Water
VOC Compliant: 250 Compliant in all States
Manufacturer: Behr
Test Deck Stats:
Deck Wood Type: Untreated Pressure Treated Pine Dock
Deck Square Footage: 400 Square feet
UV Exposure: Full sun
How Many Years Tested: 1 Year. Peeled after the first Winter.
Update Spring of 2024
Please read our article on Gulf Synthetics Deck Revive Review We believe this product has actual value if looking for these product types that actually work.
*All products tested and results are from our experience. We offer no guarantee of similar results. Take into consideration that results may differ due to different wood types, exposure to UV radiation, and natural weathering.
Behr DeckOver Video Review
Behr DeckOver Consumer Rating Results
A year after applying this product I found it was not only peeling off, but where I peeled it away the wood was wet – so it was sealing water in instead of repelling it. It was a disaster. Forget the waste of $ I paid for it, what I really hate is the time I spent prepping the surface (washing with a special cleaner, filling and sanding), and scraping it off most recently. After 10 hours of scraping at least enough of it has been removed so I think it will not cause more damage to the deck, even while it still looks terrible!
i am furious how fast this “deck Paint” peeled off over just one winter. One of the porches we put it on we never even use and it still peel off as much as our heavily used porch. I want my money back!
Yes, all Behr deck stain products are poor. They just do not seem to care.
Same as the old Deckover. Behr just added word advance and took off 7yrs of the original 8yr warranty.
On any day I would have sweared on Behr Paint but that Advanced DeckOver is the worst thing they ever made. It paints on lumpy, the color is dull after it drys. Please don’t waste your money. And yes I prepared it just as they said. It is horrible. And I brought 3 gallons of this trash for 42.98 ea.gal. Glad I didn’t put on my deck if this what it looks like on concrete.
The old Deckover had a class action lawsuit against and Behr loss who know how many millions
I started to spray my deck to get all dirt and debris that had accumulated during winter. I applied Deckover just 2 years ago with a product that has a 15 year warranty and as you can see, it came right up and off. I did EVERYTHING perfect according to directions. Unfortunately, I thought I saved the receipt, however cannot find it. PLEASE DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!! I am sick that I have to do this whole thing over and I am no spring chicken!!
We have applied the product at least 3 times with 2 coats each time. Same results even after a so called deckover expert applied it. Peeling off in sheets! We are going to have replace the wood to get rid of this stuff. Wished we had never tried it. We have it on 3 decks and a gazebo.
I read the reviews prior to purchasing and thought, “Surely these people applied the product incorrectly. I’ll just follow the instructions and it’ll be fine.” WROOOONG!! This stuff started peeling about 6 months after application. The underside of the deck looks great, but any area touched by the sun shows extreme degradation. In addition, water got trapped in the wood and I have planks rotting all over the place. Looks like this will be a full deck rebuild. The attached photos are from 6 months ago. It looks much worse now.
Behr was sued over this product a few years back. Wish I could have gotten in on it.
This stuff ruined my deck, and with lumber prices through the roof right now can’t afford to replace it. Yeah their claims to sounded good but are BS. Wish I could have gotten in on the lawsuit also.
We got in on it but couldn’t find the original container at the time. We found it later. Amazingly I guess we couldn’t verify we used it but had the ruined deck and we were contacted about the suit so someone knew we purchased it. At the end of the day, we got nothing.
I contacted Behr directly as I wasn’t aware of the lawsuit at the time. They refunded me for the product and sent me 3 gallons of stain, and some deck cleaner. By then the deck was basically ruined, so the stain is still siting in the garage till I can afford a new deck.
Had a receipt, container, and photos. Bear said I filed outside of the submission dead line by one month. Informed me after the strung me along for over a year and lawsuit settled. Will never use a Behr product again.
I’m definitely with you on that. NEVER again. They sent us replacement stain and after scraping that crap off my deck it looks awful and the wood has rotted in a number of places. Sadly we put this product on a new deck and now need to replace it. I tell everyone I know about how poorly we were treated and they can simply look at our deck.
can solid colors be tinted to match siding better. can not find one of your colors that look good with siding color
Solid color deck stains for teh most part can be custom tinted.
What do you think about applying mad dog deck fix over deckover? The deckover was applied by the homeowner about 6 years ago. Was peeling in about 25 percent of surface area. I power sanded it yesterday. Thx
You cannot apply any coating over the deckover. It will continue to peel and it will create more issues. Remove it fully:
https://www.deckstainhelp.com/how-to-remove-rust-oleum-deck-restore/
Thanks for your response.
what concrete deck
paints are best? DeckOver is buffling.
You cannot use a concrete paint on a wood deck. You need to remove the failing Behr Deckover or replace the wood.
https://www.deckstainhelp.com/will-deck-stain-peel/
Bought the deck over texture and had it in the garage one gallon and when I opened it 6 months later it was completely hard. Took it back and was told no refund cause it sat too long. It was brand new.
This crap ruined our deck. We’re in the process of trying to remove it. Been a month of scraping and sanding. Never buy Behr products!
This product is pure crap. Seems after one year started peeling and retaining moisture. Looks like replacement is the only option. This should be taken off the market.
Have you ever heard of anybody successfully thinning deck over. I have had a problem with it setting up if it wasn’t used within the first several months of purchase. Instead of throwing the whole five gallon bucket away as a total loss has anybody ever tried to mix it with other deck paint to give it a little more grit and to use up at least a portion of that wasted 5 gallon of deck over
We highly doubt that will work.
I put Deckover on in June 2018 a month later heard of lawsuit. Home Depot was still selling it. By December 2018 started peeling in sheets. I filed a claim in May 2019. Pictures and receipts. Kept calling nothing. I tried on the website said it’s closed. In May 2022 tired of waiting for my check. I called several of the lawyers involved only one called me back. I had to call Northern District court of Illinois. I finally got my check.$259.00 8 gals I bought. I need to replace wood which it rotted. No cost of sq ft they were supposed to pay. $4 per SQ foot I have approx 500 SQ ft deck. This new Advance Deckover seems like same formula reduced to a 1yr warranty. From reviews and photos and another 2002 lawsuit of $160 million. There exterior products are garbage,
Yes, they are poor.
The problem with this stuff is that if moisture get past it (as in, nail/screw holes or cracks in the coating, it traps it there. It snowballs from there. More cracks/rotting lead to more and more deterioration. I had to replace about 25% of my deck boards after 5 years. Maybe if you re-coat it every year it will last. Idk
I am shocked to see there aren’t any comments about how hot it gets. We can not walk on the deck barefoot (the dogs are miserable too) without it blistering our feet. It’s not summer yet, either. We chose ‘sable’ because it was a lighter color. When contacting Behr, their solution was to send us two gallons of a lighter color. It took five to paint our deck.
Yeah. It is SUPER HOT. Cannot walk barefoot on it at all and my dog used to enjoy lying in the sun on the deck until I painted it with this. 🙁
I pressure washed and sanded all the stuff that could peel off. After sanding can apply a different stain or does it all have to come off and be bare wood? Can you stain over the deckover stuff that is not peeling?
You have to remove all of the Deckover first.
Even if I’m using the same deckover stuff?
You could probably use that over your old Deckover but you will be prone to peeling again.
I used behr deckover 2 yrs ago can I apply a new coat
You should be able to after prepping correctly.
I used deckover on my shaded patio and followed instructions carefully. After 2 years it’s been peeling. Can I patch the peeling areas or do I have to clean off the entire patio and start over? I used the Behr deckover and primer.
You cannot spot fix it. You would have to remove it fully to fix and this would require power sanding it all off.
We applied deck over last year and today I am walking on my deck and my foot falls through a board. This stuff rotted our deck! We applied this to a deck that was in good shape, we were just tired of using Thompson water seal every year. Wish I would have just used Thompson water seal.
I did the same after 2 mo shy of 2 years. My foot fell through a deck board to the ground. I can’t believe I put this crap on my beautiful deck! I started peeling back the top coating and all wood surfaces were damp and or wet! It’s so dangerous!
Every dirty paw print or foot print shows up on the deck and it doesn’t wash off. Always looks dirty. What can I do to correct this?
You cannot correct this. It is a product issue.
This is the worst product I have ever used. It disappointed me because it is Behr. It only lasted one year and only peeled and came off in the areas that got exposed to moisture and sun. (?!) I tried to take it off of the areas where it didn’t peel and it’s stuck like glue. I’ve tried pressure washing and sanding to no avail. Because I used this product, I am now going to have to REPLACE all the wood on my 40’ x 9’ porch. I only wish Behr would compensate me for this product and the work and expense it has caused me.
Deckover requires two coats. Can I apply one coat one weekend and the second coat the hext weekend?
Not sure as will not use it due to all the failures and are not up to speed on proper application.
I bought a 5 gal. bucket at the beginning of the pandemic. A year later decided it was safe to be around my mother and went to her home to paint her deck. The bucket had never been opened and it was a hugh mass of rubber. It was like putty. Had to go buy another 5 gal. Bucket. Ran out and had to go buy another gallon to finish. Stored the paint on a shelf in the utility room. This was in May of 2021. Went back in Sept. to finish up by painting some wood railing and the paint had turned to the same rubbery consistency. The top was hammered on the can tightly and it still turned to an unusable glob. Certainly does not last like the company claims it does.
Wish we had found this website before buying and using DeckOver.
By far the WORST!!! product I have every used.
We followed all of the instructions to the T. We sanded the deck, then cleaned it with the recommended product, filled the gaps that were more than 1/4″ with wood filler – we should have filled even the small ones. Even with dabbing the screw holes and small joins, DeckOver DID NOT fill them.
In addition, the viscosity (thickness of product) was extremely inconsistent between pails. Thick as mud in one, runny in another. One pail would cover a large amount of space and then the next didn’t even do a 1/4 of what the previous pail did.
Finished product looks HORRIBLE! Colour is not even, very patchy, and we made sure the deck was thoroughly coated and no patches showed threw.
WHAT A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY!!!
I used Behr’s old formula Deckover with no problems. Last summer I repainted my stoops and stairs with the so called Advanced formula. I can echo every ones negative comments about this product. It didn’t stand up to one winter and there is no patching it. It’s almost as if there is a solvent in it preventing it from binding to the wood. I have been applying paint, stains, etc. for over 60 years, both professionally and for myself. I have never experienced a worse product.
We bought the deck over paint, followed directions to a tee and it has to be the worst product ever at an expensive cost. The attached picture is in its 2nd season after application. It began peeling/flaking in the 1st season. I would not recommend this product. My question is there a solvent to help get this off of my deck. This was extremely a lot of work to apply.
Only way to remove is to sand.
You have got to be kidding me. Both my husband and I are in our late 60s and this work is back breaking. Our deck is huge. We applied 15 gallon of deck over. We do not have the funds to hire it out and the deck was only a year old when we applied it. Very disappointing 😞
Yes, it is garbage and why they have a class-action lawsuit against them.
Can lumber with Deckover on them be burned?7
Sure.
All you can do to fix Deckover is tear off your deck. Tried 3 different times, 3 coats each time by seasoned contractors. You owe me 3 new decks and a gazebo Behr and Home Depot.
Terrible product. So much peeling…the more we pressure washed, the more it came up. Our deck is a mess
This product is horrible. Did our deck and our gazebo. Floors rotted in the gazebo and now the deck railing. Did everything as directed. This was all new wood. Had to sand the decking and treat with another product due to this one peeling up like everyone else’s.
I have had the deckover on my deck for over 17 years without any issues or problems. In the 17 years I have had to recoat twice or once about every 5 years. Holds up well and I have had no issues with any peeling. Product is not the easiest to apply but that is understandable given its consistency. The product filled the cracks nicely and I have had no problems with any trapped moisture. I powerwashed the deck and waited 5 days to make sure there was no moisture trapped in the wood.
Behr DeckOver has only been around for 8 years or so. It came out in 2013.
Is there any kind of sealer or clear coat I could apply over the Advanced deck over product?
No, never top coat over a deck stain or coating. It will peel.
I was wondering the same thing too, and was really hoping there was a sealer I could apply before all my inevitable peeling starts. I was already 3 gallons in before finding these reviews, so was already too late. I feel like I’m standing as the target on the firing line over here. This sucks
Not possible to top coat and would only make the peeling worse.
I have a client who needs a product like deck over. All I see here are horror stories. Is there a product that actually works?
Yes, the Gulf synthetics works great with none of the issues: https://www.deckstainhelp.com/gulf-synthetics-deck-revive-review-2015/
J’ai fait un commentaire destructeur pour l’avoir appliqué sur mon bois. J’avais remis mon bois à neuf après l’avoir totalement sablé. Cela n’a pas plus tenu, déjà après le premier hiver, j’ai vu des manques.
Par contre sur mes tuiles de ciment, c’est tout le contraire. Les tuiles ont été lavées à pression et j’ai appliqué au rouleau très facilement, le but n’était pas de boucher les cracks, mais simplement d’en appliquer un couche uniforme. Il est posé depuis l’été 2015 et je le nettoie avec mon appareil à pression et il tient toujours.
Je l’ai appliqué sur les tuiles de mes 3 patios.
Sorry, english only.
It would have been easier to spread maple syrup in Vermont in January. The consistency is like mud. Getting a smooth finish is impossible. Followed the directions step-by-step. Totally regret using this and now I am stuck.
We used behr premium deck over in the russet color and it ruined our deck! Not only did it fade to a pink color in a few years (we have full southern exposure), but it traps moisture and rots the wood after a few short years! The stuff just peeled off in sheets and the boards were wet underneath even though it hadn’t rained for days. Plus the stuff gets so hot in the sun that your feet burn right through your shoes. We are in the process of cleaning, scraping, sanding and puttying this mess now. We will prime it with Rustoleum clear deck primer, then paint with Kilz porch, floor and deck paint (sad it only comes in 1 color, gray). Do you think this will work over the crappy Behr premium deckover?
I’d give this product a ZERO rating. It looked nice when we first put it on, but what a disaster now!!! See the photos below.
I agree. This product sucks. Same problems
Peeling fucking disaster what a highly expensive crap product. I am so pissed, Behr you have ruined my deck!!!!!
I put this on my deck last August 2020 and was so thick I needed a lot. It took me a considerable amount of time and money to apply with a roller as well as hand brush. It is May 2021 and snow is melted and my deck looks like a disaster – peeling all over and just horrible. They advised me to rent out a sander/grinder from HomeDepot (more money and time) to do it again. Why would I want to, especially after reading all of these comments as it is clearly an issue with the product!