This post was updated on April 12, 2025
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Rust-Oleum Rock Solid (Deck Restore) Update 2026
Since the article was first published, we have received over 2300 comments and 550 Reviews from consumers who have used the Rust-Oleum Deck Restore (now named Rock Solid) and have had a poor experience with peeling and failure. If you have used Rust-Oleum Deck Restore, please upload and post pictures of your exterior wood or deck. A short 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 Rust-Oleum Deck Restore coating.
Note: There has been a ruling on the Class Action Lawsuit as of March 6th, 2017:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9r279S4WUPSRXlrd1E0c0R2Mnc/view
Label Change for Deck Restore (Rock Solid)
Even though they have settled this lawsuit, Rust-Oleum Deck Restore is still sold to unsuspecting consumers and has not been pulled from the shelves. Rust-Oleum has changed to a newer, relabeled version of their Rust-Oleum Deck Restore. From what we have seen in the field and heard, the Rust-Oleum Rock Solid is not any better than the Deck Restore and continues to peel and fail.
Rust-Oleum Deck Restore is a water-based, low-odor product designed to mask the wood, preventing the wood grain from showing. It is marketed as a thick paint product for wood decks outside of conventional restoration.
Recently, claims have been investigated for customers who have used Rustoleum Deck Restore on their decks. Rustoleum Restore has been alleged to be prone to premature failure. When applied to exterior wood, it may be susceptible to bubbling and/or peeling, leading to costly repairs and replacements.
Consumers involved in the Rust-oleum class-action lawsuit claim to have significant peeling and bubbling within a year to a year and a half of applying the product. The manufacturer claims to have a 10-year warranty on the deck product. In one lawsuit, the company allegedly offered an unhappy consumer a check to cover the cost of the product even though the premature failure of the deck restore would cost several thousand dollars to remove.
Out of the many consumers who purchased Rust-Oleum Deck Restore in 2013, a large number of them experienced utter failure of the product. Even though application instructions were followed to the letter, there is a significant report of bubbling, peeling, cracking, and/or flaking within a year of application. Reportedly, the company refuses to take responsibility for its failing product and is trying to blame the customer instead. They only offer to reimburse the actual cost of the product and nothing more.
This deck restore product is sold as a DIY product, so the company claims the labor cost is uncompensated. A meager product refund is not nearly enough for most decks that need to have the product removed or completely replaced. It is sad that the consumers who bought this product fell victim to false advertising claims and thought they were buying a product to help protect their investment.
Read the full story of the Class Action Lawsuit against Rust-Oleum Deck Restore 10x: See Here
The plaintiffs are represented by Daniel C. Levin, Esq. of Levin, Fishbein, Sedran & Berman in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 5:14-cv-06156
Rust-oleum Deck Restore Lawsuit Info
-We are not connected with the lawsuit in any way. The only info we have is to contact the counsel who represents the plaintiffs directly if you would like to join. This link may help as it lists the lawyers involved at the bottom:
https://cookcountyrecord.com/stories/510658013-judge-clears-nationwide-lawsuit-to-proceed-vs-rustoleum-over-latent-defects-in-restore-deck-products
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Rust-Oleum Rock Solid (Deck Restore) Customer Photo Issues
My Rust-Oleum Rock Solid (Deck Restore)Video Review
If you have used the Rust-oleum Restore, Please Post a Comment Below!
My deck has gone into disintegration mode year after year. My neighbor had the same problem however mine is 3 times the size and we have benches on 2 sides and 2 set of stairs. Today I hired a man to replace everything on the top deck up the benches at a heavy price and repair the rotted back steps. The benches are starting to rot now. He told me that the product was Restore and that it is like placing Rubber over wood and does not let it breathe. It suffocated my deck. My husband cannot do the repairs since his Lyme disease several years ago and every year I would worry that my tiny grandchildren were going to fall through the boards. When I googled Restore I was shocked to see there was a class action against them. I actually paid a guy 1000 to paint the deck both stairs and all the planks around it. I feel if I had known sooner I would have saved receipts, taken photos and been prepared. What a nightmare.
This RockSolid product ruined my large deck. It peeled within the first year and in year 3, the deck has dry rotted from the moisture getting under the product where it peeled.
The application process was followed immaculately. My deck is ruined.
I used the Rustoleum Restore on my deck and it starting peeling the after the first year. Looks ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE! I’ve powerwashed, scraped and sanded and can’t get if all off and to do so, would take longer than just rebuilding the deck. I don’t know what else to do but try to cover this AWFUL stuff.
You cannot cover it. It has to come off fully: https://www.deckstainhelp.com/how-to-remove-rust-oleum-deck-restore/
Big mistake using this product. Not even two years and it was flaking off in large pieces. It ruined my deck.
Terrible product. Would never use on any outdoor projects again. Expensive mistake!!!!
Same here – almost identical results.
One of the most horrible product ever used. Recommendations and promises were high but the results were opposite. The wooden flooring of 3 season room got spoilt and the entire money went down the drain. Have some pictures that tells the low quality of the product.
company should compensate each buyer who had spent their hard earned money on this low quality paint.
Total garbage-same as everyone else. If we can get some type of compensation for repairs that would be a bare minimum of an apology. To get off scot-free is totally unacceptable.
I purchased the Rock Solid stain because it was recommended my a worker at Lowes and man and I disappointed! I purchased 6 gallons and it took me a week to complete. And one year later, I have to do it over again. They should not even sell this product it is absolutely terrible.
We used restore on our deck and within one year it started peeling and cracking which allowed water to sit in those areas, in turn rotting out the wood, which was pretreated lumber. Our deck is huge, it’s a disaster!
Here’s a link to the video I created about this waste of money product. https://youtu.be/G5tHg8OEcvs
We dragged 5 gallon buckets by boat to our cottage on an island. Paid workers to help us. The thick paint was so hard to work with that I woke up with sore hands. It peeled so badly that we had to replace the boards the next summer. We still haven’t replaced the railing. We didn’t know about the class action suit or we would have participated. This company is awful. Thanks for the follow up with new brand. I wouldn’t want anyone to go through what we did
We used rustoleum rocksolid less than one year ago and it is peeling up, disintegrating, and basically junk. we spent around $600.00 for ten gallons. The deck now looks worse than it did before we painted it. Too bad there’s no way to get our money back. I went with this product because I believed Rustoleum has a good reputation. Never again. I am thoroughly disgusted
Our deck was in bad shape from previous “porch paint. There was any rot or major issues, just minor cracks. We pressure washed it, let it dry 1 week and even sanded with 60 grit. We did some research and Restore seemed like a miracle cure. When we first applied the product, it peeled off within a few weeks. When we contacted Rustoleum they asked if we used their primer. Lowe’s did carry the primer. After lodging a complaint we received a pallet with twice as much product as we needed along with primer. We pressure washed the deck again, let it dry for a week then applied the primer. There were still a few small areas that peeled up. Within 2 years, it started peeling up again. After that failed experiment we tore off the decking and put down Trex.
I have been in the field for 30 years, I have used rocksolid to do about 3 decks and they are still all perfectly fine. It comes down to the prep and how you prep it. If there is any dust, oil or debris of course it’s going to peel up. I made sure to sand and get rid of any rotting wood and all my decks came out amazing one is over 5 years old and they have parties every summer on their deck. I am sorry so many people have had problems with this product. But like I said it all comes down to the prep, you prep good and it will come out good! I guarantee 90 percent of the people with problems didn’t prep correctly!
DS Remodeling
I have had the same issues with a deck painted with rustoleum 6x coating, and primer, in 2022. Peeling and wood rotting. Is the class actions suit still ongoing? What recourse do I have?
It was settled. As far as we know, you have no recourse.
We applied Restore to the stairs on our deck. The product is peeling and caused several of the stairs to rot out
Worst ever product, trying to clean off our deck, the before and after cleaning, its just horrible. Does anyone have any suggestions?, we are thinking we might have to replace? Never thought it would be this hard to get off…. DO NOT USE!!!
https://www.deckstainhelp.com/how-to-remove-rust-oleum-deck-restore/
If you cannot get it off you will need to replace the wood.
I painted my four year old deck because my wife wanted a grey color. I bought 6x because I had no visible cracks. Did what it said including sanding all four decks. That was last spring and spring it is ruined. Painters told me it would have to be sanded and scraped and don’t use Rock Solid again. I have four decks done. What a waste of many hours of time and money. Check photos
Our experience with the Rust-Oleum Solid Stain 2x for lightly work decks has been all but pleasant. The deck is fairly new so we let it weather & age for about 8 months. It’s March 2024 and we JUST applied it fall 2023. It’s already chipping and cracking in several places. We followed the directions completely when applying and even used the “recommended” Rock Solid deck & patio cleaner AND the deck start wood primer. Unfortunately we’re left with a mess that’s going to cost a fortune to repair because apparently this product is trash. Too bad they can’t reiemburse me. Any suggestions on what product we can use to cover this disaster up would be much appreciated!!
You cannot apply anything over it. It has to be removed by heaving grinding/sanding or replacing the wood.
This is unacceptable!!! Paid a lot of money for the product to prolong the life of a 2 year old deck and now I’m going to have to start replacing and repairing!
It’s garbage. I put it on as per the instructions and prepped the surface correctly. Just like everyone else, it lasted less than a year. One winter was all it took and it has flaked and peeled off. I’m having my deck worked on today and they are scraping off what little is left. My son purchased a house several years ago where the previous owner had it professionally applied. His looks just as bad. What a mistake!!!
Any better results if you use the Rustoleum rocksolid deck start wood primer before application?
No, it will still fail.
Unfortunately no, we used the recommended wash and primer and we are still left with chipping just a few short months after application.
Used Deck Restore as well – just horrible! Couldn’t take it anymore so using my grinder with a 40 grit flap wheel, I have hand sanded this junk off my deck. Very labor intensive and time consuming but glad to get this awful stuff off.
I put it on a year ago and it immediately began peeling. This product is horrible. How do we become part of this lawsuit?
Can’t it was already settled.
This product RUINED our 10k deck and the company refused to compensate us for even the money spent on the failed product. 😡🤬
Seems like nobody makes a quality solid deck stain. Every product I research has terrible reviews. HELP PLEASE.
Thanks for your time.
Yes, there are high quality solid color stains: https://www.deckstainhelp.com/what-are-the-best-solid-color-deck-stains/
Restore A Deck Solid stain is the best.
What would you consider the best transparent/semi-trans. stain for a pressure treated deck? Also, which is preferrable, oil or water-based? TY
These are your best options:
https://www.deckstainhelp.com/best-semi-transparent-deck-stain-reviews/
Does not matter is oil or water based as long as they are penertrating.
How do I get in on this lawsuit?
This product has ruined both my stairs, as well as my decking.
It’s only been 1 year since applied this product. This started bubbling/peeling 5 months after using product. Contacted Hone Depot with no success.
I certainly want in on this lawsuit.
Not sure but we belive it is too late. This was settled years ago.
Then why is it still being sold now? I painted 12 decks and in 6 months you couldn’t tell it. That was almost 2yrs ago. I just recently decided to try again and it did not adhere at all. Complete waste of money again
You would have to ask Rust-Oluem. We have no idea as to why they would continue to sell this poor product.
After pressure washing. Then the Diamabrush