Wooden decking - changes of colour

[kencohen]

I have a balcony constructed from cedarwood decking. When the decking was originally laid, about 3 years ago, it had a wonderful lustrous reddish-brown colour, which has gradually faded until now its usual colour is a silver-grey. But the odd thing is, when it rains, the water seems to bring up the original vibrant colour, which stays until the wood dries again, when it goes back to grey. Does anyone have the explanation for this phenomenon? Might it be possible to retain the original colour even when the wood is dry - without using a stain?

Ken

[Staffbull]

Some sort of oil I'd imagine (teak oil?) but dont know if it would make it slippy

[The Medway Handyman]

Wooden decking does 'fade to grey' after a while. The water is just changing the refractive index so it appears brighter.

You need to clean & treat the deck. Decking cleaner, pressure washer or dilute bleach to clean it, then decking oil to restore the colour.

[Vass]

fit a water feature that keeps the deck wet :-)

[kencohen]

Vass wrote>

Keeping the deck wet, or at least stopping it drying out, was where I thought the answer must lie. If the temporary change back to the original colour is something to do with the wood fibres temporarily retaining the water, then maybe the answer lies in finding a treatment which will enhance the water-retaining properties of the fibres.

Ken

[Stuart Noble]

Don't go there. Even if it were possible, permanently wet wood goes rotten in no time. As someone just said, it's to do with light. A film of water reflects it and a rough surface doesn't. Any "finish", such as oil or varnish, will return the "colour" for a while but I doubt anything will last long and may well deteriorate patchily. I think the grey looks good in summer, and not too bad in winter if it gets a chance to dry out. Decking is not a good idea for shade IMO.

[Pete C]

Does the balcony get full sun or is it shaded?

cheers, Pete.

[Pete C]

Hi,

You acn restore colour to cedar using a wood restorer containing oxalic acid:

Then stop it bleaching with some Sikkens Cetol HLS:

Somewhat confusingly the shade you want is 'pine' as it will darken the cedar least, it won't make it look like pine!

Don't pressure wash cedar though as it may get damaged:

cheers, Pete.