Blackened decks

[plainpainter 217]

Now I have been using a certain vendors' product for staining my decks - and I have noticed some decks come out black as coal the next year. I've brought it up with him on his forum - and basically read me the riot act how mildewcides don't do anything to prevent mildew growth on the surface

That being said - I believe him - it's what has been taught to me by other represenatives and chemists in other firms. That a mildewcide is only good during curing process so mildew spores that attach to the still wet coating won't have a chance to grow into the curing stain. And of course there is the issue of new mildew strains - that I have personally witnessed myself in the last year.

But I still have this nagging feeling that other stains don't go 'black'. I want to continue using this persons' stain as it has been good to me in other regards. But I have store bought stain 3+ years old on covered porches with absolutely no blackness. I have a covered deck porch where I totally restored last summer and ground off 10 layers of paint down to fresh wood - and it's totally black now.

So is this luck of the draw? Is it true that mildewcides have no effect on regrowth on the surface? Is it my imagination that other stains have performed without going black? Is it that you just get unlucky with some locations? I want to tell homeowners that there is nothing that can be done to prevent blackness - that is has nothing to do with the coating. As this manu. brought up - afterall vinyl homes get mildew growth - which is totally true! And vinyl isn't food for mildew.

Yet somehow I still have this nagging feeling - that something can be done - and has been done with stains of the past to prevent them from going black. thoughts anyone?

[plainpainter 217]

Scott - all the best stains out there went to higher solids type finishes. Now if you are Jake Clark, this actually translates to a higher quality finish - but most these other guys just flushed their product with more softer curing resins in an effort to meet the VOC laws and maintain brushability - so the results are disasterous.

But A.C. has too much of a good thing in terms of their penetrant oil base in their product - great for very well aged Mahogany - but IPE is still to rock hard.

I hate to say this - but you need to take a product like Bakers and add a pint or so of Helmsman Spar urethane to each gallon.

[topcoat 14]

If thats what it comes down to - where we have to start spiking products with products - I'll do that. Heck, we used to mix poly, turpentine and raw linseed oil to make a pretty badass handrubbed interior wood finish. Most of us have chemistry experiments going on wash or strip jobs. If we know that the formulations as manufactured are likely to fail in certain real world exposures and applications, what would we have to lose by spiking? Not much.

[plainpainter 217]

If thats what it comes down to - where we have to start spiking products with products - I'll do that. Heck, we used to mix poly, turpentine and raw linseed oil to make a pretty badass handrubbed interior wood finish. Most of us have chemistry experiments going on wash or strip jobs. If we know that the formulations as manufactured are likely to fail in certain real world exposures and applications, what would we have to lose by spiking? Not much.

What you describe is pretty similar to what I stated - take your poly and instead put the spar urethane instead and that's the basis to a pretty kicking exterior stain.

Cleaning experiments is one thing - I have a ton going on - as it's hard sometimes to swallow paying $50 for 5 lbs of stripper - when you can make 50 lbs for the same price. But I really really just don't want to mess with stain compositions - it's so hard to predict what will happen. And tung oil resins as found in spar urethanes - are so freakin tough, when it comes time to strip - it's so freakin hard to strip.

But you have a point - Ipe does not need protection - but unlike all the other woods, we aren't trying to protect the ipe's integrity - but instead trying to preserve a certain finished look that appeals to homeowners more than just silvered wood. And something that will preserve this finished appearance longer will perhaps earn better customer retention.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

I have seen that blackening from the residual Sikkens before. My suggestion...

1. strip

2. let weather 6 months

3. strip again, prep, seal.

You may not get all of it on one strip, you may need a little UV action...and for prep I would buff that wood.

Beth

:cup:

[plainpainter 217]

Scott there is a homeowner that posted photos of his deck after stripping sanding and then using penofin - I think he showed pics like 2 months later - and the finish is practically gone. He just posted them in the last couple of weeks.

[MMI Enterprises 289]

My comments to this would be that penofin seems to be best applied to a shady area and I like Dan's science project..haha.. I call it fortifying with urethane though myself..

Scott I would just warn about going to thick when boosting as such or trying poly for that matter. You go so far as to inhibit moisture transfer on a piece of wood that you can't possibly encapsulate fully and you will be experience catastrophic delamination. :)