Decking treatments

Clean it & apply Decking Oil. It soaks into the wood rather than forming a surface coating that peels off later. Stops any splintering etc.

Dead easy to apply, dead easy to re apply in the future.

I'd never use anything else.

Out of interest, what is in Decking Oil?

I'm not actually sure TBH, but I believe is a relative of tung oil - in other words it hardens on exposure to air. I believe ut contains resins.

I base my comments on experience not knowledge.

I'd love to know what exactly was in it.

Either tung or linseed I would think. AFAIK they are the only "drying oils", but both go yellow/orange over time. Not usually an issue with decking though

Thanks Dave: It seems that an oil would be better than a surface treatment - I just got back from my brother's (hence not seeing your response til tonight) and his treatment, on a deck he only built last year is in a terrible state, scuffed off everywhere that anyone walks.

Mine always looks good when i have just washed it and if oil can keep it like that, instead of going grey, it will do the job as far as I'm concerned.

Now I just need a couple of consecutive dry days when I have time.......

There are more (such as walnut oil), but tung and linseed are the main ones used in such products... unless they have been replaced by alkyds.

Wood exposed to the weather will still go grey though.

Unless used in project featured on Grand Designs, in which case, it will go "a beautiful silver".

I painted some WBP with a Ronseal preservative three years ago. Its in full sun and hasn't gone grey yet. The modern stuff has dyes which age very well. The water repellent still works but I expect I will recoat it later on in the summer.

Either way it beats the hell out of artificial colours

Clear decking oil does prevent the greying for quite a while, I gues it must have UV filters?