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Why Seal Wood?
Too often expensive decks are left to stand in the elements with no protection applied to them or the owners have unwittingly applied poor quality sealers to them.
The term pressure treated lumber means the lumber has been treated to resist the weather and insects, but it does not mean the lumber is weather proof. In fact without some measures taken to protect your pressure treated lumber from the elements its life span could be as short as ten years or less. The forces of weather are devastating to unprotected wood. Yes, we are still talking about the pressure treated lumber used in your deck. Moisture from rain, dew, and the rare snow in South Carolina are absorbed into the wood causing it to swell. The heat from the sun dries and shrinks the wood. The horizontal surfaces of a deck get 40% more UV radiation from the sun than adjacent vertical surfaces. The daily exposure to these UV rays along with the daily cycles of wet and dry, swelling and shrinking work together to break down the wood's cellular structure and degrade the woods integrity. In the early stages the wood starts to lose its natural color and turns gray in appearance. Eventually it will start to warp, twist, split, crack, and splinter. The splits and cracks (called checking) let water enter even deeper into the wood further hastening your deck's demise. Quality sealers make an enormous difference in the lifespan of your deck and are well worth the investment.
What you can expect from the sealer you are thinking about using We are often asked to seal a deck with a specific product the homeowner has seen on a commercial advertisement or the new kid working behind the counter at the home store has recommended to them. Here is some “low down” on some of these products. While this information may mostly be opinion; it comes from our own experience and from a multitude of other true wood care contractors from around the country with years of day in and day out experience in the field and not from product salesmen or store clerks that attended a 15 minute training session. However, there are some contractors around that will use many of these products either from lack of knowledge or simply for the convenience of availability and the hopes of making a quick buck.
We hope you will use this information to help you make the best decision possible in choosing the best product for you and in choosing a contractor to help you with you wood care needs. Many of the products have a very nice marketing campaign and come in pretty cans with pictures of water beading up like water on a freshly waxed car, but a look at the label of ingredients will give you an idea as to what you can expect from the product you are thinking about using. Oil Based Stains: -There are only a few types of oils used in stains. When looking for an oil based stain it is important to know how each type of oil will perform. Linseed or Tung Oils -A natural vegetable based oil. -The label of ingredients may identify it as long oil or alkrid -Commonly used in lesser quality sealers such as Behr, Superdeck, and Thompson’s. -Full of natural sugars and a feast for mold and mildew. -In most cases life expectancy can be one year or less. -Film Forming. Complete stripping is required before another coat can be applied Paraffinic Oils: -Don’t confuse this with the word paraffin wax. Paraffinic Oil is not a wax. -Paraffinic oils are derivatives of crude oil. As such they do not contain natural sugars and are not a source of food for mold and mildew. -These products are generally considered the top of the scale in quality and are not found in the big box stores or marts. -While these products, like most deck stains and sealers may show fading over time, maintenance is easy. Since these finishes are not film forming a light washing and a reapplication of the same sealer may be all that is needed. Paraffin: -While paraffinic oil is not a wax, “paraffin” is a wax. -Water beading up on your freshly waxed car is fine, but water beading up on a freshly waxed deck is a waste of time and money. -Thompson’s Water Seal® is the most common name associated with paraffin based products. -Expect failure within 6 months. Hydraulic Fluid: Surprised at this one? Yea, me too, but it is one that I do see used on a lot of boat docks around the Lake Hartwell area and a few decks at homes as well. I’m not sure how the use of hydraulic fluid got started, but a friend of mine that works in an automotive store sells almost as much of it for sealing boat docks as he sells for use in hydraulic equipment. I cannot find any information about hydraulic fluid for use as deck sealer on any search engine. Perhaps because it was not intended for that use with good reason, but here is what I can tell you. -It is penetrating oil and is absorbed deep into the wood. -It offers no UV protection. -It is not VOC compliant and the Army Corp of Engineers, Department of Natural Recourses, and the Environmental Protection Agency would fine you and probably take you to jail if they caught you using it over their water. -It stinks forever! Try to imagine your deck or boat dock smelling like the floor of a mechanic’s shop all the time. -It has an incredible affinity to collect and hold dirt and pollen. -Looks good the day it is applied, but with the above in mind it soon turns black. -The surface gets unbelievable hot as the oil absorbs heat from the sun. -The cleaners and solvents it would take to clean would not be allowed to use over water by the Army Corp of Engineers, DNR, or the EPA so consider this a permanent decision. Silicone or Silicone Enhanced -Recently some sealer manufactures have been promoting silicone enhanced products. These companies are making incredible claims of up to 25 years of protection. We did some research and found the fine print on some of these products making claims of 25 year warranties. The wood has to be cleaned first with their wood cleaning product. While cleaning is a necessary part of wood sealing they are very specific about the products and the methods to be used. They also tell you the exact mill the thickness their product is to be applied. Then they reserve the right at their discretion to determine if all of their procedures have been followed to the tenth degree. If not the 25 year warranty is void. Even if they do honor the warranty it is at a pro-rated cost of the original materials only. -Some silicone products and the application of them could easily be described as a wood petrification process more than a protection process. -Silicone products are film formers. When film forming sealers fail they need to be stripped all the back to bare wood before another sealer can be applied. -The cracking and flaking film on top of the wood may be stripped or sanded off, but once the silicone has entered into the cellular structure of the wood it becomes a permanent part of the wood. -Since this product cannot be stripped out of the wood you are forced to apply a new coating that will neither properly penetrate nor properly adhere to the wood’s surface setting the stage for poor looking results and sealer failure. Oil Based Stains that wash up with water: -Go figure this one. Behr® products has one of these. Water cleanup indicates it is either latex or acrylic based. If it is oil based as they claim exactly what type of oil is it. They are not telling us. We think this more of a marketing promotion designed to lure the customer in with the promise of easy clean up. Acrylic Finishes: -Very strong and durable. Very good adhesion with good expansion and contraction qualities. -Excellent choice for exterior trim and deck railings. -Essentially encases the wood in a thin layer of plastic. -Film forming and not a good choice for deck surfaces. When film forming sealers on deck surfaces fail they need to be stripped all the back to bare wood before another sealer can be applied. -Very hard and expensive to strip. -Commonly used in two-tone deck applications where the deck is stained and the rails are painted. -Typically very appealing finish with a wide range of colors. -Generally labor intensive to apply correctly. Flood Spa & Deck®, for example is a two step process that requires meticulous attention to detail. Water (Latex) Based Stain: -Generally inexpensive and readily available at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and places like Lowes and Home Depot. -Typically sold as solid or semi-solid stain. -Promoted as easy cleanup with soap and water. -Film forming. When film forming sealers fail they need to be stripped all the back to bare wood before another sealer can be applied. -Goes on like paint and eventually fails like paint. (cracks, flakes, peels, and shows wear patterns in high traffic -Stripping is very difficult and often not 100% possible Reapplications made on top of old latex stain will only fail. Clear Finishes: -People often ask us to use a clear stain for a natural wood look. This is a bad choice unless the gray, old, and weathered look is the desired effect. -Clear finishes generally offer little to no UV protection. -Clear finishes usually have a complete failure rate of one year or less. -There is one sealer manufacturer, whose product I use, that is currently beta testing a clear sealer with UV inhibitors. It should be out sometime in 2009 and we will be anxiously waiting for the results to see how this sealer performs. Now that you know what is on the label, which sealer do you choose? Film Forming Finish: While no product will actually claim to be a film former any product that forms a film should be avoided on your deck. While it may sound good to protect your wood with a barrier from the elements this is not always the best choice to go with for many reasons. -These film forming sealers will wear off in heavy traffic areas showing unsightly wear patterns on your deck. -The film lying on top of your deck is subject to expansion and contraction of the decking during temperature changes. These films have to be flexible enough to withstand these changes. If they are not they will begin to show cracks and flaking. -The temperature difference on the top of your decking boards and bottom of the same boards may be as much as 50 degrees. This causes condensation within the boards themselves. Film forming sealers do not allow the wood to breathe thus not allowing this moisture to escape This at best will cause the sealer to release from the wood’s surface by flaking and peeling away. At worst, your decking boards will rot from within at the same time you are thinking how good your deck looks. Solid Content: Generally look for products with high solids content. The higher the number in the solid content means there are less fillers (usually solvents). Ready Seal® and Wood Tux are two quality products we use for an example that is high in solid content. Acrylic: While this is a film forming finish it has its place on decks. We don’t recommend using on the actual decking boards, but it does well on railing and band board applications. A deck stained with a product like Ready Seal or Wood Tux and the railing and band boards done in an acrylic finish can provide a very stunning and attractive result. Railings with an acrylic finish go well with composite decking as well. Mildewcides (may be also known as fungicides or algaecides): These are a good thing. Look for products with them (the more the better) and avoid products that don’t. UV Blockers: These are critical to life of your deck. Generally, the darker the color the better the UV protection. Most clear stains offer little to no UV protection Penetrating Oil Finish: These are among the top in quality deck sealers. They are generally professional contractor grade sealers and can’t be found at the “do-it-yourself” home and Mart stores. These are our preferred sealers and what we use. Two sealers for example Ready Seal® and Wood Tux® are high in solids, loaded with mildewcides, deep penetrating, are not film forming allowing the wood to breathe, and do not have to be stripped to reapply. |
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