The perfect deck finish?

[matthew P]

Hi All,

I'm building a deck clad with 90 x 19mm PNG Kwilia [same species as merbau different country]. I am aware of the need to let the tanins run for the first few months & through the Renovators forum, decking section, learnt that napisan works just as well, if not better, than a lot of commercial timber clean products as a preliminary wash down before finishing.

My question is what next? In the photos below you see both carport screening & pergola posts already finished with 1 flood coat of Intergrain Dimension 4 & four coats of their DWD. I'm a great fan of this product and its longevity but have always used it on vertical surfaces not underfoot. I know it works differently than most decking finishes in that it forms a "varnish style crust" and even though it lasts longer if you ever let it go you have to sand down the lot! Intergrain have a dedicated decking product Ultra Deck but theres also Sickens, Deck & Spa? 2 part processes or 1 part? Acrylic / oil base? Is there a mid ground product that has good ultra-violet light inhibitors?

Whats the best current thinking for that illusive mix of near natural finish, longevity & ease of maintainence?











I had posted this question in the decking section but despite lots of veiws no one has responded

I thought I might have better luck with answers from you guys? Please I'm desperate to hear the latest thinking. I know theres lots of debate and conflicting ideas on this and would really appreciate feedback.

Matthew

[ubeaut]

Comeon you lot surely someone must have an answer for this one.

[KJ401]

Apart from Napisan, the other cheaper method of washing down weathered timber surfaces is to buy oxalic acid from a hardware or pool shop, and make up a super saturated solution in boiling water, apply, scrub and rinse. It's pretty much what you're buying for $60+ as liquid timber reviver. Also useful for getting rid of blue stain on hardwoods - just don't sand and breathe in the dust.

As for finishing exterior timbers - whatever you choose is eventually going to fail and have to be removed/prepped to allow refinishing. Penetrating finishes are easier to prep and recoat but usually have a much shorter life. If I had to use a film finish, I'd go Intergrain - they too will fail, but they maintain a high quality look longer into the deterioration cycle.

The other option is not to finish it at all - once the timber has gone that silvery gray tone, the UV damage will slow down considerably, and the damage happening to the timber surface is due to its responses to the humidity cycle. The same process that will rip apart the finish.

[Axle]

I think you are already on the right track with either Flood Spa N Deck or the Intergrain DWD.

With the Spa N Deck you will need only apply three coats, the first of which is applied to wet timber.

DWD as you already know will first require a primer coat of Dimension 4 plus 3-4 coats of DWD.

The Intergrain Ultradeck you mentioned is also a good product but it is more like a conventional decking oil in that it does not form a film in the same way as the Spa N Deck or DWD. It won't last as long but will never peel or crack.

[matthew P]

Thanks so much KJ & Axle. I really appreciate the feedback.


It reinforces that if you know a product performs... use it. So I would favour doing the best job I could at the outset and use Dimension 4 & DWD. The trick is, I suppose, is when it comes to maintanence you don't let it fail to the point where it needs sanding back. Which begs a further question:

• If you apply one strong maintanence coat before it begins to break down can you keep maintaining it? As in, if it has a life like it claims, and you recoat inside its life span will it last twenty years onwards?

Matthew P

......and I think I should also ring the Intergrain helpline.

[KJ401]

Always found Intergrain fantastic to deal with - more than happy to explain the limits of a product and if they're not sure, they say so. They'll be the best people to answer the longevity question.

They were doing a decking finish for wooden boats in the mid-late 90s which was also very good - damn sight easier than some other alternatives I could name.

[Dengue]

Have a read about our favourite Brisbane columnist Mike O'Connor's
deck oil here

[matthew P]

Well I rang Intergrain and they were very patient & helpful .....like you guys Tried your link JillB [Thanks] but had to become a member of the Queensland State library to read it, any other way of seeing it?

DWD is clearly the hardest wearing and longest lasting but it comes at a price; expensive, many more coats & harder to maintain & more dangerous a challenge if you ever let that varnish crust breakdown.

Ultra Deck was their strong recommendation as it is the latest technology, easy to apply, weathers naturally without cracking and is done in two coats. Offcourse it won't last as long. However I suppose thats the midground, if you get two years you just wash it down with Reviva [naturally they are not keen on Napisan] & apply a couple of new coats.

Always happy to hear contrary advice though

Cheers
Matthew P

[Dengue]

QWeekend Magazine (Brisbane, Australia) - Saturday, February 27, 2010
Author: Mike O'Connor



"I bought some deck oil, which cost about as much per litre as Penfolds Grange."

The one danger inherent in spending a week's holiday at home is that you may be tempted to do something. Travel overseas or go to the beach and you can safely presume you will do very little apart from eat, drink and wonder how to escape from ever having to work again. Stay at home, however, and after a day or two you will begin to consider the therapeutic benefits of "doing something". Journalists and others who spend their workdays sitting on their rears and whose only exercise is making phone calls are particularly prone to this.

So it was that a few days into a recent break I began to regard the back deck, nary a year old but already fading beneath the relentless sun, as worthy of my attentions. "It needs oiling," I said to my partner, who at that point should have suggested I spend the day at the pub and offered to drive me there. Instead, she agreed and seemed pleased that I was offering my services.

So I bought the deck oil, which cost as much per litre as Penfolds Grange, and an applicator, and headed home where the deck, emptied of furniture, lay bare before me. "The one thing you don't want to do," a small voice squeaked in my skull, "is knock over the tin containing the oil." Absolutely, I muttered, tipping a small amount into a tray and moving the full can to a point so far removed that not even an O'Connor could stand in it.

"Don't splash any on my new bifold doors," yelled my partner. "Thank you for the tip," I replied. "I was thinking that, instead of brushing it on, I'd just get the full can and swing it around my head until it was empty." As the liquid seeped into the timber, the boards took on a deep lustre, their tanned sheen magically restored. "How much better," I thought, "is this than sitting hunched over a computer keyboard?" Thirty minutes later I reflected on the fruits of my labour. "Lovely," I sighed.

According to the instructions, no-one was to walk on it for 24 hours and so I waited until the next morning before gingerly touching the surface. "Funny," I thought, as my hand stuck. Somehow the deck surface had acquired the quality of fly paper. "Can we walk on it yet?" asked my partner. "Best give it another day, just to be sure," I said in what I hoped was a calm, authoritative voice.

I had just stepped out of the shower the next morning when I heard a shriek.

Clutching at a towel, I hurried out to where my partner stood, mid-deck. "I'm stuck," she said. "Really?" I said. "Yes. Really," she replied. "My sandals are glued to the deck." "I'll save you," I said, gallantly stepping forth as if walking through a field of treacle, hauling one foot after the other with each step marked by a "Creech!" as bare skin separated from timber. That was two weeks ago and the surface is still catching insects, having also trapped several small children who became marooned and were crying for their mothers, along with several of my partner's friends who wandered out to admire the surface and became glued to the spot.

"They're calling our deck 'The Swamp'," moaned my partner.

"Perhaps it was the humidity," I said, thinking as I watched another fly caught in a death struggle on the deck surface that some people just aren't meant to do things.

[email protected]

[matthew P]

Very funny piece Jill, Thanks for the effort it deserved a wider circulation.

<O</OBut he's clearly a sloppy Journo whose research falls short of even reading the label.

<O</OWhat I need is an article written by an obsessive compulsive who painstakingly explores all avenues for the holy grail of deck finishes to the point of complete mental exhaustion, requires hospitalisation for the resulting breakdown, while his deck bleaches irretrievably grey.<O</O
<O</O
Matthew P

[ubeaut]

Love it.

[turbo54]

Matthew P,
I was looking for the same solution and ended up using a SA product made by Spescoat Shipway called Deeptreat. I think they are in waymouth street I think and are really helpful with info and samples. I went this way as I didn't want to colour the wood too far from natural and the deep treat is really easy to go on. it is oil and everything you have talked about is waterbased.

Mine is all dirty at the moment as I am waiting for the builders to finish before it gets finished but you can check it out here:

Coro House

Turbo54.

[matthew P]

Luv Ya House Turbo54, great design.

Very familair with Shipway Spescoat & Deeptreat, Its where I started with all this.In the pictures above the soffit lining over the windows is done with it plus 2 or 3 coats of their wood oil.

Deeptreat is a very good product, soaks deep into the timber, stablises and arrests all surface checking. In the pic below you can see we have used it on a fence in a public park with one coat of their finishing oil on top of the green hardwood posts. This is designed to turn grey to save on upkeep. But thats the problem 6 months later its almost completely grey. They have just tried to improve their wood oil by introducing a small pigment [now called Wood oil Plus.. Customers were complaining they had to redo it every 6 months]. It may now be better but I'm not convinced that ULTRA DECK wouldn't be a better option....but then again..

Maybe I should take a second look at the thing I looked at first!?