I’ve been out of the deck “building” game since the days of CCA. I built that escape pretty much because it needed to be built. I didn’t make any money on that thing, but I don’t want the owner feeling like the money hasn’t been properly spent either, so I consulted someone who knew quite a bit more about the subject than I.
I went to Sherwin Williams. There’s a fellow over at my local store that I worked with in college for a time. He’s spent eighteen years since selling paint and protectants, and I’m pretty sure he knows what he’s talking about. My inquiry, in this case, was to the effectiveness of the products he offered to bring some color to that treated lumber and simultaneously protect the integrity of the wood. He went over the basics, such as using an oil-based application with some tint. Even a little tint is better than an untinted application in terms of durability of the coating, because it assists in blocking the damaging rays of the sun.
Yeah, sun…I’m calling you out. Sure, you heat the earth and provide it all possibilities necessary for life, but you’re also messing up these decks. So, please invest in a bit of tint if you’re worried about keeping the decking looking as much as it does as installation as possible. Trading off a little darkening initially can best preserve the coloration of your hardwoods, if this is the look that is desired.
Others want the natural coloration some of our hardwoods provide through the natural weathering process. Our customers who elect to naturally weather their hardwood installations aren’t making a bad choice at all, though there will be a little loss of the effective life of the deck. If we’re talking about a thirty year product, giving up a year or so of life isn’t that big a deal when weighed against the increased maintenance of keeping the product more deeply colored.
End sealer is non-negotiable in my book. If you want to greatly increase the chances of splitting on the ends of a highly unacceptable volume of product, feel free to skip the process. Sealing the end cuts with a wax or polymer sealant is the number one measure an owner can do to maximize the effective life of the product. To invest the amount of time and money of our exotic hardwoods while skipping the end sealing process is folly. It's inconvenient and time-consuming, but it's essential.
In any event, it’s always about the weather. I owe this blog an update on the effects of various meteorological conditions just as soon as I can figure out something useful and a little coherent on the matter. Any input from customers who don’t live in Kansas is greatly appreciated. (Not to discriminate against my wonderful fellow Kansans, it’s just that we already share a healthy bond of the wild variations in our beloved continental steppe.)
There are sealants of all types heading this way as we speak. I’ve just ordered a quart of Messmer’s UV+ to get started. I’m rounding up all kinds of products our customers have used through the years, and I’m going to put these finishes to an accelerated acid test starting this winter. I don’t know how much artificial wear of the likes I’ll be providing will enlighten me to the durability of these finishes, but there needs to be a starting point, and this is one of the winter projects for Specialty Lumber Solutions. We’re getting to the bottom of this. At least as a representative of what can happen in Kansas winters when a guy chains up several sticks of wood to the back of his truck and drives around 40 acres…the cattle are gone now, and that pond might as well do somebody some good.
