Before applying any wood sealer, cleaning your deck or wood is essential to success. Use chlorine bleach if you want to kill germs, - but also your plants-, to bleach out your deck wood and to corrode hardware. Power washing will damage the wood fibers, unseen at first, but cumulative. Use oxygen bleach to avoid all these problems ... and let it do the work for you!
Oxygen bleach is a powerhouse multi-purpose cleaner, and superb as a deck or wood siding cleaner. It doesn't damage wood and surrounding plants and environment, (unlike power washing and chlorine bleach), yet is powerfully effective and so easy to use! Oxygen bleach does the work for you! But beware...not all oxygen bleach is the same. Many oxygen bleach products contain lots of inactive filler.
The top five performing penetrating wood finishes, independently tested, as of November 2000, showing best water repellency and outdoor exposure results as a wood preservative. Note that only one of the exterior wood finishes is a synthetic resin, which will not attract mildew and algae damage like natural oil wood finish products.
A new version of vinyl siding has hit the market. Vinyl siding with a solid core makes siding look like real wood, rattle less -- and-- increases R value for energy savings! If siding of vinyl has turned you off in the past...take a look at this new vinyl siding...it is revolutionary.
The number one problem with vinyl siding is improper installation! Siding of vinyl is not difficult to install, but there are many things you need to know if you want a professional installation. Here are several of the most important aspects of installing vinyl siding.
CCA for residential use as a wood preservative was banned after the end of 2003. Regularly sealing structures already built with CCA treated wood helps contain the leaching of chemicals. The EPA presents advisories for safe handling of CCA treated lumber that need to be heeded and taught to your children as well.
Chromated copper arsenate, or CCA, has been used to preserve wood since the 1940's. The use of CCA in residential applications was banned after 12/31/2003. Cca treated wood chemicals were found to dissolve in water and leach out of the wood, causing potential harm. Sealing cca treated lumber will reduce leaching of the chemicals. Be sure to use a synthetic resin to keep the lumber from becoming a mildew and algae smorgasbord and read these advisories for safe handling!
If plywood is not dealt with properly, it can swell and create major problems with roofing, flooring or siding. Correction to this wood product problem can clean your wallet. These tips cover plywood characteristics and proper installation of plywood. Read, be informed, and extract maximum useful life from your plywood project.
These wood product and plywood manufacturers and associations offer helpful information about plywood characteristics, plywood storage and care, and installation of plywood for maximum useful life.
More ventilation hints to assure proper air exchange. Proper attic ventilation is very important to prevent damage to your home.
Subscribe to the FREE Ask the Builder newsletter to receive professional advice for your home. Complete the form below and each week you'll get:
Unsubscribe at any time. We respect your email privacy.