Which Ready Seal Color Should You Use? Contractor Buying Guide
Which Ready Seal Color Should You Use?
Eight colors plus clear, and the label swatch will not tell you how any of them land on your wood. Color outcome depends on species, age, and how much gray you are covering. This guide walks the decision the way you actually make it on site.
If you already know your color and just need quantity, skip to the coverage calculator.
The one rule that prevents most callbacks
Ready Seal always looks darkest the day you apply it. It settles to its true color over about 14 days as the oil absorbs.
Tell the customer this before you start. A homeowner who watches a wet Dark Walnut deck go on almost black at 4pm will call you that evening. The same homeowner who was warned will wait two weeks and love it. Same product, same result, entirely different conversation.
Step 1: What is the wood?
| Species | What it does to color | Safe picks |
|---|---|---|
| Pressure-treated pine | Green cast when new, gray when weathered. Takes pigment well and drinks a lot. | Natural Cedar, Pecan, Dark Walnut |
| Cedar | Warm red-brown natural tone that shows through. Drinks more than pine. | Natural Light Oak, Burnt Hickory, Natural Cedar |
| Redwood | Strong natural red. Fights any color that argues with it. | Redwood, Clear, Natural Light Oak |
| Fir and spruce | Pale and blotchy-prone. Semi-transparent color helps even it out. | Pecan, Mission Brown |
| Exotic hardwood | Dense, takes very little stain. Color barely shifts. | Clear, Natural Light Oak |
Step 2: How gray is it?
Semi-transparent means the wood underneath is part of the finished color. Weathered gray boards will mute a light color into something washed out.
- New or freshly stripped and brightened: any color works. Lighter tones look their best here.
- Lightly grayed: mid-tones. Pecan and Natural Cedar cover unevenness without going dark.
- Heavily grayed or previously stained: Dark Walnut, Mahogany, or Burnt Hickory. Darker pigment loads do the covering work that prep alone cannot.
Prep changes the answer. A deck that has been properly cleaned and brightened will take a lighter color than the same deck washed only. If the customer wants light and the boards are gray, sell the brightener.
Step 3: The full color list
| Color | Reads as | Best on |
|---|---|---|
| Natural Light Oak (105) | Pale honey, subtle | New cedar, light pine, customers who want barely-there |
| Natural Cedar (112) | Warm tan-brown | The safest all-around seller on treated pine |
| Pecan | Mid-brown, slightly warm | Light graying, blotchy fir, fences |
| Dark Walnut (125) | Deep cool brown | The most color coverage available. Weathered decks. |
| Mission Brown | Flat medium brown | Privacy fences and screens where you want low contrast |
| Burnt Hickory | Rustic red-brown | Cedar, cabins, anything meant to look rustic |
| Mahogany (130) | Rich red | Front porches and anywhere curb appeal is the point |
| Redwood | Warm classic red | Redwood and cedar species, matching existing work |
| Clear (500 / 505) | No added color | Protection only. Note: no pigment means no UV blocking, so wood will still gray. |
Step 4: Test before you commit
On any job over a few hundred square feet, buy one gallon and put it on a hidden section, the underside of a step, or a spare board. Wait 48 hours. Then decide.
A gallon costs less than redoing a 600 square foot deck in the right color, and it turns a subjective argument with the homeowner into a decision you both watched happen.
Which size to buy
Past five gallons the pail is the better buy. Under that, individual gallons cost less than a pail. The coverage calculator works out the cheapest split for your square footage automatically.
Plan on 125 square feet per gallon for weathered wood rather than the 175 on the label. Ready Seal publishes 125 to 175. Independent field testing on weathered pressure-treated pine has come in at 75 to 100. Running short mid-job costs a return trip; a spare gallon costs a few dollars.
When Ready Seal is not the right call
Two situations.
Full-sun horizontal decks where the customer wants three years between visits. Independent testing has shown Ready Seal losing most of its color on full-sun pressure-treated pine by around fourteen months. TWP 1500 or Armstrong-Clark hold longer. See the full comparison.
Wood with a film-forming finish still on it. Ready Seal has to reach bare wood fiber. If there is an old sealer or paint film, that comes off first, no exception.
Vertical surfaces are the opposite story. Fences, siding, pergolas, and log homes hold color far longer, and the manufacturer claims up to five years there.
What else the job needs
- Deck and wood cleaner, and a brightener if you want a lighter color to read true
- Wood moisture meter to confirm 12 percent or less before you spray
- A sprayer, or a roller and brush
- Mineral spirits on the truck for overspray on brick and siding
Buy Ready Seal in Gaithersburg, Maryland
All eight colors plus clear are on the shelf at Sun Brite Supply of Maryland, 16620 Oakmont Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 20877. Pick up today or have it shipped. Contractor and pallet pricing available, call (301) 519-9274.
Not sure which way to go on a specific job? Describe the species, the exposure, and how gray it is, and we will tell you what we would load.
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