RPetry

Nice work Diamond Jim. Kevin, It looks like RS, possibly medium red, or light brown. With ipe' it is a bit hard, no matter what the pigment, paraffin oil looks very similar. Attached picture, RS light brown, medium brown, and dark brown on a deck. Hard to tell ....

Lord be, that is ipe'. Someone tried to stain it pink? That is grounds for capital punishment. Good wood work Brian, thought you didn't like wood!

The old adage, "you get what you pay for", is in general true. Our natural bristle brushes are purchased at a local Ben Moore paint store, expensive, but high quality and last a long time. Tarps are usually purchased at a regional chain painting supplier. I cannot find the heavy canvas at the box stores. Rags come from my, and helpers hopeless clothes after staining for a while. Blue painters tape is usually acquired from the local Ace Hardware.

Andy, Tergitol NP-9, otherwise known as Polyoxyethylene Nonylphenol. Since the Dow Chemical patent has expired, it is available from numerous sources. The Chemistry Store carries it, go to: NP-9 by The Chemistry Store.com Inc

SH at 1.5 to 2% on horizontal wood is likely to kill any surface mold or mildew, as long as air temps. and dwell time is sufficient. We've used a SH/other stuff mix for years on previously stained RS maintenance jobs. It works without harming the oils, stain resins, and pigments already in the wood. Good to see you back here Kevin, where have you been?

Adrian, Just wood. Go to: Exterior Stain Deck Wood Restoration | Contractor Forum

Beth, At my age, there ain't much to show!

Nick, We had a similar situation last year with ipe' surrounding a salt water pool. The obvious solution was to get into the pool and direct the flow away from the water. Worked well, plus it was fun!

Mike, I would strip the remaining Penofin off with a relatively diluted sodium hydroxide (NaOH) wood stripper. Brighten with oxalic at 6 oz./gal. and rinse well. Let dry and lightly sand with 60 grit and a random orbital. In March, I applied Defy for Hardwoods to my complete ipe' deck. There is a thread on this at another web site. Go to: Ipe' stain - TheWoodPros.com Forum AFAIK, the thread should be open to the public without registering.

More fun. A stain manufacturer and I have been having discussions on the susceptibility of boiled linseed and paraffinic oils to mildew, mold, and general discoloring due to moisture and environmental exposure. I have agreed to a test. It has been approved by the other party. Any suggestions would be welcomed. Western Red Cedar 2 x 6 board, new wood purchased last year and never stained or exposed to the weather. It has been cleaned with Restore sodium percarbonate wood cleaner, lightly pressure washed, and brightened with citric acid a week ago. The citric was gently washed off with water after about an hour of brightening. The cedar is very dry, Delmhorst reads at 8%. It is in my office at the moment. The plan is this. The cedar board will be divided into 4 sections. One section will be treated with boiled linseed oil, the most common oil in exterior wood stains. It has been confirmed by the manufacturer that it does not contain any fungicides/mildewcides. One section will be treated by paraffin oil. No Ken, not baby oil, one refining step down. Again as with the linseed, no additives. One section will be untreated and left alone. The last section will be wrapped in plastic. Both the linseed and paraffin oil will be allowed to dry inside for at minimum a week. Reason for this is it is Spring, and I do not want any pollen to accumulate on a "tacky" surface. The board will then be set outside my home in a shaded area, about 1.5" from the ground to encourage moisture exposure. Any suggestions on protocol are welcomed.

As stated 3 posts back, the test board was cannibalized for wood samples for a class I was teaching last October.

Thomas, I am not a lawyer. But working conditions and disclaimers should be a standard part of any contract.

Adrian, I kind of faced this dilemma years ago. Although I never went the route of subbing out wood. If revenue growth is needed, there is not much choice but to increase marketing, overhead, and take on employees. There is only so much you can do yourself, and your time is better spent on sales, marketing, and management. If your local demographics warrant, you can fill a niche in wood restoration and remain a small operation. This requires targeting high end clients, providing superior quality and customer service. Margins are much higher which is necessary as volume is lower. The hard part is that it takes time to get established with this model. I have had very good success over the years with hiring college students, they've been reliable, learn quickly, and work hard. You have got to have help, I cannot fathom trying to run a wood restoration business as a one man operation. Like you, I've lost my wedding band. Actually twice. Been married so long that we don't replace it any longer!

No, not the underside of the deck boards, we never do that. The two main support joists are clad in red mahogany and those were stained. Also, all the vertical support posts were oiled.

Tony, My experience with A-C is very limited. 2 customer jobs and my own ipe' deck. But with the last two years of wet weather, A-C has held well above most stains as far as pigment retention and prevention of mold/mildew problems. Compared with most commercial exterior wood stains, in my limited experience, it is superior to any previous products with linseed oil.

Slow poke, ... slacker! Got mine done nearly 2 weeks ago! Hah!, that felt good...

Beth, That is exactly the point. In the picture, there is more mildew growth on that little pot than on the horizontal or vertical wood. Here is a shot of part of the deck floor, underneath a grill, in a mostly shaded area. Sure there is mold/mildew on the surface. After two wet years, this is completely normal. No stain is going to prevent this. This wiped off with a little Simple Green and a rag. What is critical is that the mold/mildew is not in the stain, or worst yet, into the wood. Remember the Behr's debacle and lawsuit many years ago? You know I'm not a fan of linseed oil exterior stains. But there is every indication that A-C contains more than enough quality mildewcide/fungicide to overcome one of the shortcomings of linseed oil, especially in light of the past two wet seasons.

Joe, For the past several years, we have generally stayed away from trying to strip solid acrylic/latex jobs. The only exception is very high quality woods, such as mahogany. Then its Eaco Chem's Stripper Cream or Back to Nature's BFSII strippers, very costly and time consuming to apply.

Thought I knew something working on exotic wood decks. This list is from the home page of Thompson Mahogany Co., a 160 yr. old firm located in Phila., Pa. Web page: http://www.thomahog.com/ I have never even heard of most of these species.

Scott, Holy smokes, 60 pieces of teak furniture? You must have the patience of a saint!

Stopped by an A-C job we did in April 2008. The wood is western red cedar, with 2 apps. of A-C Rustic Brown on the horizontals and a single application on the vertical wood. The portion of the deck in this picture gets full sun most of the day. Color has held up very well. The wood is dirty, but it has not been cleaned in two years. My guess is that a light bleach/soap cleaning is all that is required, with more oil applied to the floor next year. The vertical wood is probably fine for another 2 years before service is needed. No evidence of any mold or mildew problem. In a fully shaded area, where the T&G cedar fascia is embedded in the ground, the stain has held up just fine. Overall, the performance of A-C Rustic Brown has been exceptional.

Joe, Adding a few ounces per gallon of surfactant, such as Tergitol NP-9 or knockoffs, thickens the NaOH mix a bit and helps it cling and stay moist longer.

Medium red has been our most popular color for the past 8 years running. Not only on PT, but ipe' and mahogany. For western red cedar in good shape, my favorite is Ready Seal Light Brown. This is a red mahogany deck we finished this afternoon, a 2 yr. maintenance job. The stain is Ready Seal medium red.

Strip with a light sodium hydroxide based wood stripper, brighten with oxalic acid at 6 - 8 oz. /gal. Rinse very well. Allow the ipe' to dry. Reapply WoodTux without overapplying.

Just stripped my own ipe' / PT pine deck of A-C rustic brown applied in September of 2008. Of course, there was little left on the exposed ipe' but that is normal for any oil and ipe'. The PT looked just fine at the 18 month mark, mostly vertical wood and lattice, but it held its color very well. Full sun exposure so mold is not a problem. BTW, A-C strips out very easily. Stopped by last fall to look at a A-C cedar job we did in May of 2008. Both the deck floor as well as the T&G vertical fascia again were fine. Held its color very well, and no mold or mildew, even in shaded areas where the T&G cedar fascia is literally embedded into the ground.