For the love of wood

I have a friend named Jim and he hates wood. Outdoor wood, that is. He used to love the stuff, so he built a huge house clad with western cedar, with an equally huge cedar deck out back. When I helped him build his house he was all smiles. Then reality set in.

Slowly at first, then gathering steam, all Jim's wood stain began to peel. It was especially ugly on the southern and western sides, but within two years Jim's love affair with outdoor wood was well-and-truly in divorce court. Too bad because it didn't have to end this way.

What Jim failed to realize up front (and what he's now too discouraged to even consider), are little-known steps behind applying a durable outdoor wood finish and the relatively few specific finishing products that actually work well outdoors.  The fact is, you can enjoy a long-lasting finish on decks and gazebos and wood siding, but only if you apply that finish in ways that most people don't.

I've been experimenting with outdoor wood finishes for nearly 20 years, and the most important realization I've gained is that new lumber isn't a finish-friendly surface. It's not absorbent enough. The pores have been at least partially closed by  the action of the machines that smoothed the wood at the sawmill. And unless you sand or pressure wash in specific ways to open those pores up, no finish will be able to get a good grip and perform to its potential.

Another crucial issue is your choice of finishing products. I know from experience that many don't last, even when applied over a well-prepped surface. My favourite transparent product is made by Sikkens. Cabot makes an excellent opaque deck finish if you don't mind losing sight of the wood grain.

For detailed information (including unbiased product recommendations) on finishing a new wooden deck, drop me an email at deckfinishing@stevemaxwell.ca