New & Old Green Treated wood

[CannonW 14]

I cleaned a deck with EFC-38. When I came back to stain they had replaced some of the bad boards with new green treated wood. The moisture content on these boards are 30% and the rest of the deck is around 12% - 15%. I held off on sealing the deck. I was hoping that if we got some dry hot weather the moisture content may come down on thos new boards. What should I do if those boards are still at 30%? Should I stain the entire deck and leave some stain with them for fixing those boards when the stain fails? BTW... I am using Wood Tux Honey Gold.

[Paul B. 523]

You could wait a week to see what happens.

Normally folks say that you shuld not let a deck go more than 30 days after cleaning - I think you need to judge each on it's own merits on how much exposure they get to the environment.

If they replaced the boards without telling you up front (without you having the chance to inform them about green wood moisture content) then you were put at a disadvantage and should let them know that this may cause delays, problems and incurr additional charges for you. You can offer remedies of waiting and possibly re-cleaning at their cost, coming back and finishing these boards yourself after they have dried or letting them do the "touch-up" work.

Of course you could always comp. the extra work - if you are in position to do so.

[Firedkm 14]

Bummer! I would not seal the new boards untill the moisture content in at or near 12% for the Woodtux. If you apply it now it will not absorb properly and also have a finish that will fail prematurely on the new boards.

If it was me, I would let the customer know (nicely of course) what they did to messed things up. I would wait for the moisture content to come down and then seal the deck. Of course if this is in a reasonable time that you dont have to clean the deck again. If you have to wait to a point that the deck HAS to be rewashed then you and the customer should agree on a price. I would charge at a reduced rate for this cleaning. enough where it doesn't hurt your pocket and low enough to keep the customer happy. But as Paul stated, if you have the means of doing it gratis to the customer he/she will be happier to have not to pay anymore than what they where originally quoted.

Let us know what happens.

Good luck

[Aplus 525]

You could always stain the other boards, and leave the new boards unfinished until they become dry enough. You can either come back in a week or so to stain them, or if the customer wants to do it, leave them a small container of stain. For myself, I prefer to do all the work, and would come back and finish the job. My thinking is that if they wanted to do the work, they wouldn't have hired me to do it.

Of course I would explain to the customer the details of the situation.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Nice idea Tony. I like that!