Very Naked Kwila

[russall]

My deck has been weathered for about 4 months. At the weekend I did the Napisan thing 3 times and used the Spa'n'Deck prep. Just about to apply the first coat of spa'n'deck and a bloody storm came through...

After a few days of rain the deck still looks great, no more tannins appear to have come through, but my worry is that there are no clear days forcasted for Brisbane for near future. I'll re do the napisan and Prep treatments before I apply the Spa'n'Deck. But I have 2 questions I'm hoping someone can help me with.

1. Will this prepped kwila suffer whilst I wait for a clear day?
2. Will Kwila ever stop bleeding, ie, so you can safely park you car under it? <yeah, again didn't do my homework on decking choice>

Thanks

[learninglots]

I can't offer any advice, but it'd be great if you could post some pics as I'm considering the Spa n Deck also. I'm in QLD as well, and will be going through the same issues... if we're lucky enough for this rain to keep up! (never thought I'd say that whilst renovating!)

[jimj]

Dear Russall,

Everything that you have done is all you can do. I would imagine that the rest of Brisbane who have been on level 6 for quite some time or delighted with the rain but when you are trying to coat a deck it can be a day by day watching of the sky above. I am fairly confident in saying that all will be well with your deck even if you can't get back to it for several or more weeks. I have coated a deck with Spa&Deck and then had it rain hard for over 2 weeks and then started to recoat the second coat and not found a problem. In fact as Spa&Deck is a water based product. If I arrive in the morning to stat the 2nd or 3rd coat and the deck is wet from an overnight shower or dew I have discovered that I can squeegee off the pooling water and coat over a partially wet-dry deck and once the sun comes out and dries the deck it will all blend together beautifully.

As far as will the timber everstop bleeding to the lower level I wouldn't like to promise you anything on that topic. The beauty of Kwila timber is that it can hold up well in the exposed outdoor area but it can do that because it is tannin rich.

I hope this may be of some help but in this topic of deck coating it seems to always be 2 steps forward and one step back.

Regards,

JimJ www.restore-a-deck.com.au

[luckysack]

If you think that the merbau/kwila will stop bleeding anytime soon your kidding yourself.
I've had my deck laid for a good 7 months and every time it rains I get a good amount tannin run off from the timber. I would be extremely hesitant to put anything that didn't want to turn dark brown underneath the deck.
I've weathered, cleaned, prepped and coated and have had good rain in Sydney but still it bleeds.
If I had my time over I would definately advise against the use of merbau. I know it has it's good points but i think the leaching problem far outweighs any advantages it has on other hardwoods.
I suggest it should only be used where the tannins will not leach and cause unsightly stains that are extremely difficult to remove.
Despite it's faults it still looks the goods.

[russall]

Thanks for the advice guys.

The rain does not bother me so much, it great to see, but a little frustrating when rain is forcast and it never happens.
The orange concrete under the deck does not worry me, I'm growing to like it.

The deck is 2.4 meters off the ground so I'll just use some LaserLite to cacth the run off under the bearers. The original deck was tiled, but leaks had gotten through and rottet all of he bearers and from previous batten marks I'm guessing the previous owners had used some sort of cover too...

[russall]

Hey Learninglots.

So far I have used Spa'n'Deck on other part of the deck and all I can say is, its a pleasure to use and looks great.
Applying it wet is awesome and sames time, being water based clean up is a breeze. Two Thumbs up from me.:2tsup:
Guess only time will tell how it looks in a few years time...

The pictures below show some of the old decking <Uncovered and rather old> <UNCOVERED old very and>that I'm recyling into Privacy battens for use on the sides of my deck. The before shot the decking had been high pressure hosed and scrubbed with oxalic acid, hosed off and drying.

The after shots are with the side battens installed. Blew me away how nice they came up. 3 coats of Spa'n'Deck Cedar. The decking in the picture is mid bleed. if you like I can post up the finished pics.

[learninglots]

Thanks for the reply - looks great!:2tsup:

[russall]

Couple more pics...
Weatered, Prepped and then 3 coats of cedar on 5 month old Kwila.

[Daren]

that turned out good russall :cool: