To preserve outdoor wood . . . or not?

[The Medway Handyman]

Chris

Will you please, please write all this stuff up for the FAQ? You obviously know your stuff and it would be a great resource.

[Pete C]

Maybe the FAQ could just reference the relevant posts.

I'd be interested to know what Chris thinks of copper napthanate wood preserver, does it leach out much if at all?

cheers, Pete. cheers, Pete.

[Eddy Bentley]

Chris, you're "a brick"! Many thanks, indeed!

Thanks, also, to all helpful others!

Eddy.

[dg]

Don't use any of the stuff commonly sold for fences etc. These are stains and only coat the surface of the timber.

You will find that this quickly wears off decking and looks patchy and awful.

Use a penetrating oil, such as deck oil, and this will soak into the timber and not wear off like a stain does.

Decking is generally pressure treated before you buy it, and so does not need extra protection. You are only coating it for appearance

dg

[mail]

Don't have any data on Cu napth specificallly but am inclined to think this is the basis of a well known green coloured product and know that its penetrative powers are similar to all other brush on gear - ie poor and thus subject to leaching. It matters not because the efficacy of such a product is limited in the first place as a fungicide and really it is only good as an end grain protector - the side grain penetration being pretty damn limited. I have a piece of such treated timber where the dry rot has translocated the Cu and shows all the decay as it it has not been treated. I used this as a visual demonstration when lecturing to architects and engineers etc on the SPAB course for professionals some years back and it was a very effective visual aid! I will - if I get a moment look up the data on leeching and come back to you but at present am on site putting in 12 to 16 hour days and with only the odd chance at checking my email! Chris

[mail]

07850 597257 - Hide quoted text -

My pleasure but as I said am well busy at the moment and it will be post September as I am DIY SWIMBO's house in N Wales as the guys on site need a little help with their organisation!

[Brian G]

Anne,

It's a small one of 6' x 4' and this time I used Sadolin Exterior semi-gloss with the shed being up now for some twelve years and painted 3 times in that period - and I've only replaced four boards in that time (2 slightly rotten and 2 damaged whilst removing the rotten ones).

Be aware also (if you don't already know), that if you have planed *AND* sawn timber *AND* decking in those constructions, you will need a different type of Sadolin for each one.

Brian G

[Eddy Bentley]

Chris, what do you think to DG's idea of simply using "deck oil", because it penetrates the wood well?

Eddy.

[Anne Jackson]

The message from The Natural Philosopher contains these words:

I, on the other hand, have been very impressed!

Not with their products, but their service.

I logged on to their site in the early hours of Monday morning, and requested some literature about their various products.

The leaflets/booklets arrived in this morning's post!

[Anne Jackson]

The message from "Brian G" contains these words:

Yes, I rather surmised that...the shed and summerhouse are all 'smooth' (i.e. planed?) timber, but even so I'm not sure which of the available options WRT products would be best, insofar as they are both brand new constructions. I was told that the decking wouldn't require any treatment for at least ten years, but it's the aesthetics I was thinking of. Won't it look a bit 'uncared-for' and possibly 'tatty' in ten years time?

For some peculiar reason the manufacturer treated the shed and the summerhouse with different colours. (I had intended for them both to be the same!) Not that that's hugely problematical, as they're a bit apart, and it does make a clear differentiation, but it also involves purchasing two different colours for their next coat...not the most economical way to go about things! (Being a Scot, these are important considerations.) I'm reckoning that for a 10'x 8' shed and a 14'x 8' summerhouse, I'm going to need a canny few litres, as I've been told that it's better to give them two coats, following on from the original coat that the manufacturer applied... 8-(

That's if we ever get two days together, without rain, of course!

[Eddy Bentley]

Indeed, and if, like me, one intends to change the current preservative-colour of an outhouse then one will need more than "two days together without rain"! I have inherited a fine greenhouse the wood of which is all a bright reddish colour. As the greenhouse is visible from the road this makes it "stick out" horribly! So we have started coating it with Forest Green preservative - actually a typical and pleasant "olive green". The "trouble" is that because the bright wood is sucking the preservative in and the current coat is such a bright ochre-red it's taking three or four coats to truly hide all trace of the former colour!

Eddy.

[Pete C]

I've had good results with Sikkens which are made by the same company.

To get the claimed results the directions need to be followed /to the letter/, also helps to read all their technical info as there is good advice which can be applied to other coatings too.

cheers, Pete.

[Stuart Noble]

Such are the problems of extending the makeover philosophy to the garden. We have a park near here with acres of decking in its natural state, and I can't see it would be improved by prettifying it with artificial colouring.

[Andy Hall]

Which Sadolin product did you buy?

I've had good results by using the recommended procedure of a coat of the basic low solid product first as a kind of primer, followed by a coat of the product with lots of solids.

I used this on the window frames and exterior timbers of the house about 7 years ago, and there is virtually no sign of fading or deterioration even in south facing areas.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I used no primer: It was an outdoor stain thats all I know.

Today a mate put a coat of Dulux Weatherhield stain on..that actually has a guarantee of 7 years on, and it looks great.

He reckons that after test, the council he normally decorates for, won;t use anything else..so we are running with that now.

The Saolin has flaked and peeled and most of it has been sanded off.

[Brian G]

I must admit that I had been involved with Sadolin use over a very long period of time on council house repairs and repainting, where the correct preparation and applications specifications were followed (the b*****d C.o.W saw to that) - and the minimum life of the finished job was well in excess of five years.

Brian G

[Andy Hall]

I used Weathershield on a door. Many of these better products come as a system with more than one item. For Weathershield it was a pale blue primer, followed by an undercoat followed by top coat. That has lasted > 10 years with no noticable deterioration.

[The Natural Philosopher]

That's fine for paint, but stain is a bit different. You want a translucent tint, not 5 coats of UV protection.

[Andy Hall]

Yes of course.

My point was really that for optimum results, Sadolin is also a system product.

You can use the basic low solid version ion its own or as the first coat where the higher solid version is used as the second coat. If you use the higher solid version alone, it doesn't give good results but the manufacturer does say to use the basic product first.

[Stuart Noble]

Worth mentioning that these so called guarantees refer to the coating itself, not its adhesion to a particular substrate. Most paint will last forever on a sheet of glass because the surface doesn't degrade. This is the line manufacturers tend to adopt if you ever have the temerity to claim