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LOCAL: 703-504-2000
FAX: 703-550-3755
EMAIL: contact@bluedoorpainters.com
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“They were great. They did a good job, and we were happy with these guys. The price was probably average on this job, but for that price they went above and beyond. They were meticulous. The recaulked a lot of things in the bathroom which I didn’t expect.”
Cabin John, MD
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My Deck Is Made Of . . .
Certain types of Spruce, Pine or Fur (SPF) may not hold up to the elements so well. Don't let your deck end up looking like this.
Outdoor Building Materials and How To Coat Them (Part One)
Blue Door Painters, DC area coatings contractor, discusses the nature of various outdoor building materials – and the coatings that protect them.
My Deck is Made of . . .
. . . “SPF”
Hopefully not. In the lumber world, ‘SPF’ does not refer to sunscreen: it is an acronym for ‘Spruce-Pine-Fir’, three kinds of lumber used interchangeably by builders for a variety of purposes. Depending on your region, the exact species of SPF wood will vary (Red Spruce, Jack Pine, and Balsam Fir typical in the west; White Spruce, Englemann Spruce, and Lodgepole Pine in the east, among many others), but all of them share similar characteristics that make them ideal for building. They all come from softwood conifers that are cheap to grow and harvest, and the finished lumber is reliably strong and workable.
The problem is, this type of lumber is NOT suitable for exposure to the elements. While buildings framed in SPF hold up perfectly well when the wood is protected by layers of insulation, siding, and drywall, exterior decks or fences constructed with SPF will rot at lightning speed. The quick-growing SPF conifer species produce lumber with wide, hungry pores which suck in ambient moisture and invite all types of rot, against which the lumber, adapted to a dry climate, has no natural defenses. Coating this kind of lumber, while it can buy you time, will not halt this deterioration completely.
So the best advice is, don’t build any outdoor construction out of SPF. If it’s too late, and you already have an SPF deck or fence that you won’t or can’t replace, your only hope is to coat it very aggressively, and re-coat it frequently as part of your routine upkeep. Consider using a few layers of stain followed by a fully waterproof clear-coat sealant, or select a hardy, weatherproof primer paint followed by a few layers of water-resistant topcoat. Make sure that all six sides of the wood are coated. The end grains, where all of the pores are cross-cut and exposed, are the most vulnerable, and it is well worth giving them a few extra layers if you want to hold your own in the battle against the elements.
. . . Pressure – Treated (PT) Lumber
If your deck is made of pressure-treated lumber, then you are in good company; pressure-treated wood has been one of the most popular outdoor building materials since the development of pressure-treatment in the 1940s. Frustrated with the vulnerability of the otherwise-convenient softwood lumber, Dr. Karl Wolman invented a procedure that drove artificial preservatives – antimicrobial and anti fungal chemicals – deep into the pores of the wood, so that moisture-borne rot could not easily take hold. The variety of softwood used for pressure treatment varies by your region – Southern Yellow Pine is the most common species used in the Washington, DC area – and the specific chemicals used to protect the wood varies based largely on when your deck was built. Until 2003, most companies used chromated copper arsenate to pressure-treat their wood, since it was (and remains) the most effective preservative available on the market. However, CCA’s toxicity to microbes and fungus extends to animals and children, and over the years a great deal of concern was raised over the long-term health effects of exposure to wood treated with CCA. The chemical has now been discontinued for use with residential lumber, and modern pressure-treated lumber is infused with alternative, less toxic chemicals.
Coating a pressure-treated deck or fence is of the utmost importance, both to extend the life of the wood and to protect against exposure to the preservatives. If you have an older deck, the EPA recommends applying a penetrating oil-based finish to block human exposure to CCA. Many companies offer clear preservative coatings that are intended for use on fresh pressure-treated wood; these sealants should be used immediately to guarantee ideal protection. However, it is essential that you find a product intended for use on fresh pressure-treated wood, and you wait one to two months before applying any further paint or staining. The reason is that fresh pressure-treated wood has moisture in it from the PT process that takes a while to dry out, and if you coat it while your project is still wet, both the coating and quite possibly the wood itself will be destroyed. Once you have sealed your fresh PT project and given it adequate time to dry, staining or painting your wood with products intended for use with PT wood will give it the extra protection needed to ensure true longevity.
Stay tuned for the skinny on Redcedar, Redwood, and Composite Decking.
Dirty Decks: Pressure-Washing Winter Debris
Protect your deck. Powerwash it. Stain it. Seal it.
Many things about the winter actually protect your deck from the kind of beating it gets in the summer. There isn’t the same exposure to the beating sun (in fact, when it snows the deck actually gets a welcome break from the sun altogether), and there isn’t as much human traffic on the deck, which is another leading cause of wear. Your deck gets to lie dormant for a season, just like the deciduous trees who lose their leaves – a welcome break. But what does get to your deck in the winter is that very dormancy. Planters, lawn furniture, grills – they all sit out there unmoving all season long, as the snow and rain comes and goes, creating stains on the deck’s surface. The extreme cold temperatures, combined with the moisture of snowmelt, can also cause warping or splintering in an unsealed deck, due to the freeze/thaw cycle.
When the earth turns and it starts to get warm, you may start getting the urge to spend time on your deck again. You might want to pull the tarp off the grill and brush the gunk out of the corners of your deck furniture, and rearrange the planters (and maybe have peek at what’s inside them, now that landscaping season has begun anew). You also might want to consider pressure-washing your deck, and possibly even re-staining and sealing it in anticipation of spring rains and summer sun.
The difference in a deck before and after a pressure-washing job is vivid. Unlike any other method of deck cleaning, pressure-washing actually penetrates into the outer layers of the decking, removing contaminants that have entered the wood’s pores. Since wood is a porous, absorbent substance, cleaning methods that only reach the surface are not going to reach most of the contaminants accumulated over the winter, and are therefore not going to successfully make the deck look cleaner. A pressure-washer (also known as a power-washer) uses water, and sometimes also a light detergent, forced out of a narrow nozzle at high pressure to penetrate deeply into the wood’s pores. The mechanical force of the pressure digs into the wood, removing anything lodged there, and the continuous spray of water washes it harmlessly away. Most pressure washers have adjustable nozzles that allow you to vary both the pressure and the volume of water, so that you can maximize the effect of your power-washer.
Power-washing your deck for the spring is a good way to make it an enticing place to hang out. You can hire a service like Blue Door Painters to come take care of it for you, or do it yourself, renting a power-washer from a local hardware store or Home Depot. Once your deck is clean, you might also want to consider staining and sealing it in anticipation of the spring and summer. Staining and sealing protects the wood of your deck from sun, rain, and even the scuffing of human traffic – all of which, now that you have made it such a great place to hang out, it can expect to look forward to in the coming warm months. It can also make your deck glow, extending that good-as-new look you get right after your deck is pressure-washed. A good deck is a strong asset to any exterior; make sure to give yours the love and TLC that it truly deserves.
How Can I Protect My Deck From Snow?
Protect your deck and beware of rime ice!
Tips for winter deck care from Washington, DC / Northern Virginia area painting and deck staining contractor.
Early in the morning, you peak out the window to behold a winter wonderland. Your front lawn is a pristine sea of sparkling white. Your sidewalk is a pristine sea of sparkling white. Your back deck is a pristine sea of sparkling white….
Wait a minute: Is that okay?
Without protection, decks take a beating from the elements. Heat and cold, sun and rain, will all weather your deck at an accelerated rate. All four seasons bring unique challenges to exposed wood: summer brings heat and sun, spring brings excessive rain and drastic temperature changes, and fall brings the tannins of all the fallen leaves. Winter brings frosty cold – and with it, the great array of cold-weather precipitation: snow, ice, and sleet.
Of these, ice rime is the only one that you really need to worry about. Snow and sleet will add moisture to the deck, and cold temperatures will take their toll, but nothing acute will go wrong during a snowstorm, no matter how many inches of snow you get. Decks are very strong, and can survive even a serious blizzard. Ice rime is a different creature, however. Without proper finish to the wood, a solid layer of ice can work its way into cracks and pores in the wood, and the expansion and contraction that comes with freezing and thawing can lead to splintering. A good deck sealing job in the fall can go a long way to protect against this situation. If sealing or resealing your deck is a job that you put off for the spring, however, and you look out your window and want to clear a layer of ice from your deck, (or if you would like to be able to safely traverse it), you should follow these tips:
1. Do not chop ice with a shovel; the blade of the shovel can damage the wood
2. Melt the ice with rock salt, calcium chloride, or an environmentally friendly alternative
3. Shovel any snow, slush, or other wintry debris with a plastic shovel, using strokes that move along the boards, not cutting across them (the edge of the shovel may catch on the edges of the boards and damage them)
Generally speaking, unless you get a large tree trunk coming down, a single winter weather event will not be sufficient to damage your deck, so if you want to leave it as a pristine winter wonderland, go ahead. It is the cumulative effect of all four seasons that wears out a deck that hasn’t been properly stained and sealed. If this is something you find yourself worrying about this winter, why not consider staining it when the weather gets better in the spring? It might do wonders for your deck’s beauty and durability – and, next winter, for your peace of mind.
Why Should I Pressure Wash?
The benefits of power washing technology for exterior projects in the Washington, DC area
Again and again, painting and refinishing contractors in the Washington, DC area are asked the same question: Why did my paint/stain fail?
Most of the time, the answer is the same. It failed because the surface was inadequately prepared. And usually, inadequate preparation translates directly to inadequate cleaning. Dirty surfaces clogged with loose particles do not provide the constant, sturdy surface that paint needs in order to form a film, or stain needs to evenly penetrate.
Many techniques have been developed for cleaning and preparing substrates, but for exterior surfaces there is nothing on the market superior to the pressure washer (also called a power washer), for cleaning speed and effectiveness. Employing a thin jet of high-pressured water, which can be manipulated to be focused or diffuse, the power washer can be used to remove dirt, grime, mildew, grease, and other stains from exterior surfaces like decks, siding, driveways, patios, concrete foundations, and stonework, all with stunning results. The weather in the Washington, DC area, with its long, humid summers and its intense winters, takes a distinct toll on exterior surfaces (as well as their paint and stain jobs), making pressure-washing doubly important.
Blue Door Painters includes power washing with all of our exterior repainting and staining/sealing projects, so that we can ensure the best possible long-term results for our work. Pressure washing all on its own can greatly beautify an exterior surface, however, even without a subsequent new paint or stain job. Pressure washing an old deck, for example, brings about drastic results: the jet of water slicing right through years of grime and mildew, instantly turning the wood from gray to gold. Just be warned: the beautiful results won’t be permanent without a protective coat of paint or stain to protect the freshly cleaned surface.
So to recap: why should you power wash? Because you want to give the exterior of your home or building the best possible protection against the elements, and you recognize that thorough cleaning is an integral step in that procedure.
Can I Stain Pressure-Treated Wood?
Tips for Staining Decks and Other Exterior Surfaces in Washington DC and Northern Virginia
Wood is a strong and beautiful organic building material with one key weakness: being organic, it is vulnerable to organic decay. The properties of different kinds of wood are totally determined by the properties of the trees they were lumbered from. Some trees, like cedar and redwood, have their own innate resistance to bacteria, fungus, and insects, but many of the common softwoods used for decks do not. Pine, for example, which is a sturdy and easily lumbered variety of wood, lacks resistance. When raw pine is exposed to the elements in an exterior environment, it will fall prey to decay within a couple years.
One classic solution to wood’s vulnerability is to paint or stain the wooden exterior surfaces, so that the wood takes on the waterproofing and element-resistance of the chemical paint and stain. For the most vulnerable wood exteriors, however – like decks constructed from pine or douglas fir – providing surface protection is not sufficient to get long life out of a deck. Pressure treatment is a technique that has become popular because it offers a deeper level of protection.
Pressure-treating involves bathing the lumber in preservative chemicals, and then subjecting the wood to intense pressure, so that the preservatives become deeply infused into the wood. The most common chemicals used in pressure treatment are water-borne copper mixtures like chromate copper arsenate (that is the preservative that creates the familiar greenish tinge in exterior wood), alkaline copper quat, micronized copper quat, and copper azole. With pressure-treated wood, chemical resistance is borne deep into the pores, lending added protection to the wood’s interior.
However, just because the wood is pressure-treated, does not mean that it does not need to be stained as well. While the pressure treatment system is remarkably thorough, some spots will inevitably be missed, and the rot that sets in will slowly but steadily decrease the life of your deck. Staining pressure-treated wood can both extend the life and amplify the beauty of your exterior deck landscape.
The catch is, you can’t do it immediately. Because you can’t do it while the wood is still wet. Even when the wood is bought freshly from the store on a sunny day, if it is pressure-treated, you should assume that it is wet. This is because pressure treating by itself makes wood wet. The water that carries the preservative chemicals into the wood is driven in so deeply that it takes 30-60 days to dry fully – the exact drying time determined by the temperature and humidity.
Staining pressure-treated wood while it is still internally wet from the pressure-treatment process is one of the critical mistakes that leads to stain and paint failure on exterior surfaces. The moisture pushes out against the film or stain, forming bubbles in the coating, and the moisture locked into the wood encourages mold to grow, counteracting the very purpose of the preservatives and stain.
So the moral of the story: YES, go ahead and stain your pressure-treated deck (or fence!) – but wait 30-60 days first.
