Exterior Deck and Wood Siding Failures – Why?

Exterior wood siding has changed over the years, making what was already a “harder than it looks” process truly miserable.

The problem begins with the expectation prior to starting a project. There are four main factors to consider when restoring wood surfaces. The first is the look that everyone wants to look great when it’s finished. The second is to preserve or extend the life of the wood. Third, there is the durability or useful life of the coating. Then there is the fourth factor, and the most important, what will the future maintenance be and how easy will it be to maintain it for years to come? It is impossible to have a product that is number one in every factor. When looking for durability, you will lose ease for future maintenance. When you opt for an easy-to-maintain product in the future, you will often sacrifice the longevity of the coating.

Consider this scenario; The first year a light clean and a natural sealer, next time a light clean and it doesn’t look bad but choose a sealer with color or a lightly tinted stain, next time it comes out there are a lot of blemishes so choose a semi-transparent or solid stain. Then, in today’s market, some people are using thick textured coatings that the companies say will restore gray or old wood. Now there’s a peeling mess that nothing over-the-counter at the paint or hardware store won’t remove. Sounds familiar?

Of course, it does for many. There are two main reasons coatings fail today. One is the coatings themselves and the focus of the industry. The second is the preparation work that is done before applying a coating.

Let’s address coatings and industry focus. The major manufacturers that everyone is familiar with focus on the durability and longevity of the coating. They feel that these are the selling points for the consumer. A major problem with this is that you may be happy for a few years with the appearance and longevity, but as it starts to peel off and NOT wear off, you realize that a detailed stripping and possibly sanding process is required before re to coat. This process is usually laborious, exhausting and expensive. With newer products on the market from Behr, Olympic, Rust-Oleum and others, it can actually be cheaper to replace the wood than to remove the siding. There is no stripper for these types of coatings and with the rough texture and ceramic microspheres in the coatings, they will tear through sandpaper in no time. Remember, these products are not meant to be removed immediately and if they peel within a few months, you have a major problem. On an old tire that is about to expire, it could mean the end of the road. Without going into the claims that have arisen regarding these coatings, you can do an internet search, the biggest misconception is that these coatings are film-forming and rigid. If you’re putting a more permanent, rigid type of coating over wood that is constantly moving as it expands and contracts, what are the expectations? The more durable they are made, the more difficult they are to remove but the easier they are to “pop” and “peel” from the surface of the wood, leaving the consumer with a headache. It’s best to look for products that wear, which makes cleaning and repainting easier, even if it’s more frequent.

Next, we need to discuss the preparation of wood surfaces prior to cladding. First of all, it must be recognized that the better the preparation, the better the end result. Poor preparation is magnified in the final result once a coating has been applied. We start with a platform that is gray or weathered from exposure and sun. To properly restore wooden surfaces we must remove the layer of gray wood. These wood fibers are not attached to the “good” wood underneath. In fact, you can scrape off the gray fibers with your fingertip or a light tool. To remove this gray wood coating, a very light amount of pressure or sanding is used to expose the good wood. Now the coating you apply will last longer and wear evenly. In today’s market you will find many people who call themselves “professionals” or “experts” and insist on “gently washing” wood surfaces to clean. Some of these contractors will tell you that they stain when they’re done or that it’s “ready to stain” when it’s done. This process can actually damage the wood. Many of the soft washers use a stronger chemical than the industry standard, usually bleach. If the chemicals are not thoroughly rinsed from the wood and left on the wood after completion, it can cause the coating to fail rapidly and dry out the wood prematurely throughout its life. In this process, they are simply “bleaching” the wood to make it look like new, but as mentioned above, they haven’t removed the loose gray wood fibers, they just bleach and recoat afterward or let you recoat them. In either case, the end result will fail because the siding has adhered to loose wood fibers that will shed from the wood sooner rather than later, leaving it with a stained appearance.

These are the two main reasons why coatings fail today, so the consumer is faced with a decision about what is best for their wood surfaces. Although there is no perfect product, we must take into account all the information above. We need to make sure that the preparation is done correctly and that the contractor, or whoever is doing the work, understands what the proper industry standards are and that they will meet your expectations. He doesn’t want someone to make him look good today and get a check and in a few months, he’s facing buyer’s remorse for his decision. So we must consider that if the wood is constantly moving and receives a lot of traffic and wear, it would make sense to find a product that also “moves” with the wood and wears. This makes future maintenance a light cleaning and recoat and keeps the price down. If manufacturers don’t accept the simple fact that they are frustrating the wood decking consumer into making the decision to switch to composite decking (which has its own problems), they will lose a large portion of their end users. There are many great products out there, many of which you need to research online and are not sold at paint and hardware stores. The research can be overwhelming, but look to ease of future maintenance over longevity for fewer future headaches.