What to treat proch floor with.

[N80]

The porch on my log cabin is floored with 2x6 pressure treated boards spaced about nails width apart (like a deck). The cabin is 4+ years old and the porch floor is getting weathered looking. What should I treat it with? It is covered, obviously, by the porch roof but the porch is otherwise open. The floor catches a good bit of windblown rain (need a gutter on the porch roof, but that's another story) but it also catches the sun all day long, winter and summer and the sun may be weathering them as much as the rain.

What should I do? I could put water seal on them. Which brand? What's the best and cheapest? (I know, I know.)

Can you paint PT lumber? Would you?

I've got the stain we use on the log walls, but it is thick and oily. Might not be great for flooring, I don't know though. Its expensive too.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[bamatoolmaker]

All that i do is bleach,pressure wash and coat with Thompsons water seal every spring.I did paint some pressure treated wood once but it didnt last but a couple of years.

 

[podagrower]

My two cents, feel free to ignore.
Oil based stain will make water bead up, usually, and can be very exciting to walk on when wet.
Pressure treated lumber can usually be painted after it has weathered a bit to take the chemicals off the surface. Make sure it is a "porch and floor" type paint. Mixing a little sand in with the paint can improve traction.
I don't have much experience with wood sealers, but they sure do look pretty in the commercials .

 

[N80]

All that i do is bleach,pressure wash and coat with Thompsons water seal every spring.I did paint some pressure treated wood once but it didnt last but a couple of years.

Why and how do you bleach it? Is this for mildew/fungus? If I don't see any mildew do I still need to bleach it?

 

[bamatoolmaker]

Why and how do you bleach it? Is this for mildew/fungus? If I don't see any mildew do I still need to bleach it?

I mix generic bleach and water using about 1:4 ratio.Put it in a pump sprayer and wet it down,let it sit about 15 min and rinse with water.It will help control the mildew and will remove dirt without scrubbing.The wood will still rot underneath if you do not treat it, if it is exposed to the elements.This recipe is a whole lot cheaper than the store bought cleaners and works just as well.

 

[N80]

Thanks.

I'll look into porch paint to, but coverage between the boards etc would be tough so I don't think I'll go that route.

 

[tallyho8]

Can you just leave it alone? I like the weathered look of wood for most porch flooring. And it is maintenance-free. My deck is pressure treated 2x6 also and is 20 years old and is not covered and will still be in good shape for years to come. Any kind of coating you put on it will shortly start to peel, fade, wear off, etc and need redoing every year to look nice.

When my deck boards start rotting after about 30 years I will just replace them. This will be much easier and cheaper than coating them every year.

 

[blueriver]

Is not the idea of PT wood not to paint? I was told if you want it to rot or deteriate paint it or seal it? I don't know, just asking. I too have the wrap around porch on my 16 year old home. When my wife ask if the porch should be cleaned? I also take the bleach formula, followed with the pressure washer and it restores the look to near new. It is raised about 16" setting on piers, no wood to ground contact and like I said 16 yrs old and yet to replace the first board! I quess that is working ....

 

[Podunkadunk]

I haven't done this George, but I've seen the finished product.

If you pressure wash first, it may bring back the color that the wood was when you first put it down, or at least somewhat like that.

After you've done that and it dries, I've know a guy who used oil based polyurethane, HOWEVER, silica (basically cleaned, store bought, white sand) was added to the urethane prior to putting it down. This gives it a non-skid type texture.

Supposedly it will last for years, whereas even the best deck treatments don't last but maybe a year or two.

I'm not sure...sounds like a great concept. I was thinking about doing it to my back deck.

I don't know the mixture ratio of poly to sand. I do know they put it down with a roller. I've seen it, it looks great.

Podunk

 

[Cliff_Johns]

Generally speaking, wood doesn't rot if it can dry. So, if you paint the top and the bottom has good air movement, the wood should be able to dry. The places to watch on decks is the gaps over the joists. Dirt collects in this spot and then the wood stays moist because you basically have mud.

I would not hesitate to paint a seasoned PT porch. Don't paint it until it's seasoned wood -- especially if you're painting only on one side. Otherwise it will get desperate to leap off your porch in a twisted mess, or worse, it will wait for you to set down a beer and then it will spring loose the screws and launch your beer into the cow pasture where your holstein will pick it up with it's lips and drink it down. Cows like beer and that cow will be after you from then on wanting another. Don't ask me how I know this.

Cliff

 

[shimp]

Wolman Deck and Fence Stain

it is great!!

 

[Red55]

I brought into all those adds for thompson water sealers and found that it was a yearly thing. Switched to a semi-transparent stain. Don't like paint or solid color stain because of their tendency to peel And I would be careful with the underside not being sealed in using the poly. -Ed

 

[Skyco]

I'm almost 25 years into my deck built with pressure treated, I've never done anything to it and don't want to. It isn't covered either. Just remember any kind of paint if you do it once you'll have to keep redoing it every so often. Personally the only thing I hate worse than plumbing is painting

Side note- when I bought my current house 25 years ago the owner was in the middle of redwood staining the existing deck. I commented that I really wished he hadn't done that. He got a little perturbed as he didn't want to do it but the realtor convinced him he should

 

[jinman]

Why and how do you bleach it? Is this for mildew/fungus? If I don't see any mildew do I still need to bleach it?

George, as others have said, bleach is "magic" in its ability to restore PT lumber. Be sure and wear something you don't mind having big bleached blotches on. I also like to take a soft push broom and rub the bleach solution a little before rinsing with the water. A bleach treatment and pressure wash will make the wood look like it did when it was new. Magic!

I have used stains on my deck, but the sun is brutal. The first stain I put on too thick and it flaked off. The second stain is Thompson's and it seems to be holding up nicely so far. Yes, it's a little slick. The jury is out....

Don't worry about PT wood as long as it is in the air and not in ground contact. It will probably be there when we are all gone. The only thing with a longer half-life is nuclear waste.

 

[N80]

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll mull all this over. I think paint is out....like others, I hate painting. I may just leave it alone and keep an eye on it. It looks 'sunbeaten'. There is no soft or rotting wood at all. But, it has totally lost that wet green appearance of typical pt lumber. You can hardly tell it was pt to look at it.

At most I may bleach it and then consider a water seal.

 

[mikim]

it has totally lost that wet green appearance of typical pt lumber
good .....it's suppose to turn a nice grey color.....(which is obviously what I like) .... I've used Thompsons .. didn't like that it turned the wood too dark - looked dirty all the time. I've used the cleaners...will try bleach next time.

 

[Dozernut]

We have a log home and have found that a pressure washer works better for us. Just be sure that you use a washer that uses different tips on the wand and you use a fan spread tip. Thompson's will not last and is vastly overrated. We use Flood stain and sealer with good results, the only down side to the Flood product is that it must be brushed on, you cannot use a hand sprayer.

Wood Sealer and Deck Waterproofing for Deck Protection from The Flood Company

 

[shimp]

Wolman Deck and Fence Stain