http://absolutepainters.com/ Should decks and fences be stained and weatherproofed in spring or fall? Someone told me I should wait at least a year after installation before I put any product on the wood?
A very common question and although some manufacturers once recommended holding off on the initial deck treatment until some weathering occurred, the consensus now is that the first coat should go on almost immediately, provided the decking hasn’t been pre-treated with a water repellent. If you’re unsure whether your deck is ready for finish, splash the wood with a little water and see whether it sinks in. If the water puddles, you should wait. Otherwise, follow the application instructions on the label.
Behind the advice to apply finish immediately, however, the actual science of what’s going on with wood and coatings is a bit more complicated, according to Sam Williams, a chemist who has studied deck coatings and wood weathering at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wis. If you plan to apply a penetrating finish, such as a traditional oil-based, semi-transparent stain, no harm will be done if you let the wood weather first. But if you plan to apply a film-forming finish, any weathering may keep the film from bonding well, which makes the coating likely to peel.
An increasing number of deck coatings fall into the category of film-forming finishes. Film-formers include paints, latex- or oil-based solid-color stains, and water-based semitransparent stains. Even some of the new formulations of oil-based semitransparent stains are so high in solids (to meet clean-air requirements) that they tend to form a film and therefore do not penetrate wood very well.
Decks and fences do not require the same kind of maintenance. Fence boards get soaked in the rain but dry out quickly, and they don’t have to do much except stand up. Many people give fences no maintenance at all, other than cutting back branches headed their way. But wind and rain do slowly wear away at unpainted fence boards. To slow down this weathering and to beef up the wood’s decay resistance, you can apply a penetrating finish, such as a solvent-borne, oil-based semitransparent stain.
Do not paint the fence, however, because paint traps moisture within the wood and thus actually shortens its life, according to Williams. “A white picket fence is designed for failure,” he says.
Decks undergo a lot more stress than fences because the boards are horizontal. The top surface bears the full brunt of the sun and the rain, as well as foot traffic, while the bottom sits in perpetual shade and may remain damp for long periods. The sun dries out wood near the top, causing it to shrink in relation to the damp wood underneath. As a result, the boards cup. To minimize cupping, smart builders use 2-by-4 decking, rather than six-inch-wide boards, and they attach boards bark side up with the growth rings — visible on the board ends — curling down. Whether your deck was built with that care or not, the maintenance you give it now can help minimize problems related to weather.
The most important step, which needs to be taken periodically throughout the year, is simply to keep the deck free of debris that might trap water against the wood. Sweep off leaves, elevate planters and shift the position of outdoor furniture regularly. Once or twice a year, clean more thoroughly to get rid of mildew or slimy mold. You can clean in the spring or the fall, but if you do it just once a year, doing it in the spring lets you enjoy the results more.
Use a premixed deck cleaner or concoct your own from a little bleach and water. Williams recommends testing a small area so you can determine the most dilute solution that will do the job. Your goal should be to clean the wood, not skin it. “In the typical TV commercial, they spray it on and then power-wash it off, and it does remove everything so the wood looks like the day it came from the factory,” Williams says. “Sure, but they took off a sixteenth-inch of wood. They didn’t clean it; they removed it.”
A more gentle cleaning leaves weathered wood fibers on the surface, which makes it more absorbent and thus actually helps with the next step, application of a deck finish, provided you follow Williams’s advice and use a semitransparent, penetrating stain. Be sure to buy a product specifically labeled for use on decks, not siding. Besides adding decorative color, the pigment particles in stain (as well as in film-forming finishes) physically block the sun’s ultraviolet rays, keeping them from destroying lignin, the glue that holds wood fibers together. Wood with less UV damage stays smoother.
If you have your heart set on a clear deck finish, you can get some of the benefits of pigment by selecting a finish labeled as UV-resistant. This type contains transparent iron oxides, particles ground to the specific size needed to block UV radiation while still allowing visible light to pass relatively unobstructed. The result is wood that looks almost like its natural self but has better protection from the sun. Some clear deck finishes have other types of UV inhibitors that depend on light-absorbing ingredients, which gradually get used up.
The best deck finishes also act as water repellents, which means they slow the rate at which the wood absorbs water but do not affect the rate at which the wood dries. This evens out the inevitable shrinking and swelling of the wood as its moisture level changes, and helps reduce splintering. Many deck finishes also contain ingredients that keep mildew from regrowing so quickly.
Some clear, penetrating finishes last as little as six months, which means you need to apply them in both the spring and the fall. Other finishes last as long as three years.
Portland house painting, house painting Portland, paint contractor Portland,Portland paint contractor, Portland power washing, house painter portland
