Treating trailer deck; UNDERNEATH

[BleedingOrange]

You mentioned treating the underneath, but is the top treated as well ? Does wood need to breath ? Would sealing both sides do more harm than good ?

 

[WinterDeere]

You mentioned treating the underneath, but is the top treated as well ? Does wood need to breath ? Would sealing both sides do more harm than good ?

Transparent sealers are mostly boiled linseed oil, which saturates the surface of the wood with oil as a method of displacing water and preventing the wood fibers from soaking up water by mechanical capillary action. Put otherwise, is the capillary gaps in the fibers are already saturated with oil, there's little room for water to attach.

But I don't think it really inhibits the escape of trapped moisture in any way that's going to shorten the life of the wood. I suspect coating all sides is better than not, even after scratched and abused, as long as the sealer is mostly just oils without solids that form an impervious coating.

Your theory of a coating trapping moisture might be more applicable to something like latex paint, which does dry to a rubber coating, similar to a latex glove. In that case, water intrusion may be trapped in the wood. But I don't think BLO or transparent sealers behave this way.

Some of the opaque wood deck stain products may be more similar to latex paint, tho... choose accordingly.

 

[lman]

I'd love to have another barn, with room for my trailers. Unfortunately, it's cheaper to replace trailers every 20 years, than build one barn.

I paid $30,000 to build a 56'x40'x14' barn with cement floor 15 years ago and thought it would never be worth it. I was wrong, with prices now it was well worth it. Every thing in my barn will probably outlive me. I just traded my 28 year old Ford F150 for a new truck. There was only rust on the frame because it was always parked inside and salt was rinsed off ASAP in the winter.

 

[nyone]

Transparent sealers are mostly boiled linseed oil, which saturates the surface of the wood with oil as a method of displacing water and preventing the wood fibers from soaking up water by mechanical capillary action. Put otherwise, is the capillary gaps in the fibers are already saturated with oil, there's little room for water to attach.

But I don't think it really inhibits the escape of trapped moisture in any way that's going to shorten the life of the wood. I suspect coating all sides is better than not, even after scratched and abused, as long as the sealer is mostly just oils without solids that form an impervious coating.

Your theory of a coating trapping moisture might be more applicable to something like latex paint, which does dry to a rubber coating, similar to a latex glove. In that case, water intrusion may be trapped in the wood. But I don't think BLO or transparent sealers behave this way.

Some of the opaque wood deck stain products may be more similar to latex paint, tho... choose accordingly.

BLO is a crap product for exterior protection. Mold grows on the stuff and can cause rot. Not to mention you would need to apply it every year to do anything at all.

Motor oil works just fine and it's free. If you feel the need to buy something a oil based stain from the log home industry is also a good choice. How ever I have used both on the same trailer and found motor oil lasted longer and repelled water longer.