Sealer to stop ro t on deck stairs

[rhancock]

I've got a customer who had wooden stairs fitted to the front of his house about 2 years ago. Those treads which have been fitted bow down are showing signs of rot where there are cracks in the treads. His FIL reckons there are products that can seal the steps to stop further rot ("Anti Rot Paint"). I can't find anything like this. As far as I can find out, the steps weren't treated with anything, just painted with exterior paint.

Can I just sand back where needed, fill the cracks with Builders Bog, and paint with Solarguard? Is there anything else I should do?

How do you stop the paint wearing off the leading edge of each tread?

[Master Splinter]

To tackle your questions in reverse order...

Q. How do you stop the paint wearing off the leading edge?
A. You can't. An aluminium overmould on the edge????

Q. Sand back and bog....?
A. It'll work. For a little while. How long 'a little while' turns out to be depends on what the timber is, how much it flexes, use of stilletto heels while walking up and down the steps, weather, and other environmental factors.

Q. Anti-Rot paint?
A. Creosote, or the various 'cut end' sealers for treated timbers are the strongest anti-rot agents. But painting over creosote is..ummm...not easy. And I'm not sure how well the cut end sealers work on anything other than pine.

Suggestion 1. Replace the steps with a more durable hardwood (Jarrah and ironbark spring to mind) and detail them for durability (no reeding on the face, do a 6mm radius on the edge of the step so there isn't a sharp corner to get overly damaged) and thick enough so they don't bow.

Suggestion 2. Try a bog and paint approach with WEST system epoxy (think marine grade araldite but with a much better price per litre, available from good woodworking supply stores or fiberglass stores). It would have a better chance of surviving than regular polyester bog, and not actually cost much more than polyester bog.. (WEST epoxy is used to repair rotted timber on boats, so it should have a chance of surviving on a flight of stairs)

[rhancock]

Thanks for the comprehensive reply!

To tackle your questions in reverse order...

Q. How do you stop the paint wearing off the leading edge?
A. You can't. An aluminium overmould on the edge????
Thats what I thought.

Q. Sand back and bog....?
A. It'll work. For a little while. How long 'a little while' turns out to be depends on what the timber is, how much it flexes, use of stilletto heels while walking up and down the steps, weather, and other environmental factors.
I thought that too.

Q. Anti-Rot paint?
A. Creosote, or the various 'cut end' sealers for treated timbers are the strongest anti-rot agents. But painting over creosote is..ummm...not easy. And I'm not sure how well the cut end sealers work on anything other than pine.
And that.

Suggestion 1. Replace the steps with a more durable hardwood (Jarrah and ironbark spring to mind) and detail them for durability (no reeding on the face, do a 6mm radius on the edge of the step so there isn't a sharp corner to get overly damaged) and thick enough so they don't bow.

Suggestion 2. Try a bog and paint approach with WEST system epoxy (think marine grade araldite but with a much better price per litre, available from good woodworking supply stores or fiberglass stores). It would have a better chance of surviving than regular polyester bog, and not actually cost much more than polyester bog.. (WEST epoxy is used to repair rotted timber on boats, so it should have a chance of surviving on a flight of stairs)
I"ve never used epoxy, so I might give it a go.

What about something like Intergrain? Isn't that supposed to prevent rot?

[Krazee]

I've had good reports on "Bar-D-K" from Cabot's. (available from the big B). Haven't tried it myself yrt but there a re a few imminent projects which I intend to try it on. Might be worth checking.