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Start the year with wood! Indispensable good resolutions!
Wood means care and protection...
The last stage in the creation of a wooden structure is its protection, which is essential! Its beauty and longevity depend on it, and it will limit aging, deterioration and replacement... Essential precepts to be adopted without moderation to keep wooden structures looking good for a long time...
Wood, yes, but wood that lasts! Increasingly selected in the design of new buildings, from houses to blocks of flats and public buildings, wood is taking pride of place among construction materials. However, after the first few years, it's easy to be disappointed by an ageing structure... And yet, nothing is easier than guaranteeing its durability if you adopt the right reflexes from the outset! And as in so many other areas, the secret of successful protection for wood decking and cladding lies in preparing the substrate in advance and laying it properly.
Focus on installation: Tips and recommendations!
- Lay boards 20 cm from the floor to avoid the risk of capillary rise and splashes leading to moisture problems or contamination.
- Provide a ventilated air space (a void behind the cladding boards) to allow air to circulate and moisture to escape. Connecting top and bottom ventilation, it limits damage to the wood and its finish.
- Protect both sides of new cladding during installation (façade and exterior) to optimize durability.
With proper installation, preparation before protection!
A reminder of the basic rules for good preparation: first, diagnose properly!
Focus on preparation: Wood condition analysis: a fundamental step
- If the wood is simply dirty, simply clean it.
- If the wood is gray and dull from unprotected weathering or an old, non-film-forming finish, it needs to be degreased.
- If the wood is blackened, clogged with old UV-blackened oil: de-oil.
- If the wood has a highly film-forming finish, or was previously painted or stained, stripping is required.
- If the wood is new and dense or hard, allow it to deglaze.
Focus on protection :
Architects, builders or private individuals may sometimes choose to avoid the protection phase in the name of aesthetics, but this is inevitably to the detriment of the wood's durability. Indeed, exterior wood is subject to the elements: rain, frost, UV rays, sea spray, temperature variations, and inevitably cracks, flakes, graying, etc. These alterations are not irreparable, but can be avoided with adequate protection. Durability depends on the right choice of finish.
Protection: the main choices available: glazes/oil/saturators.
- Woodstains protect against ageing by leaving a film on the surface. They preserve the appearance of the wood and are often used in the mountains for their good resistance. However, the film eventually flakes off, requiring stripping before maintenance.
- Oils give wood a warm appearance, but they can blacken under the effect of UV rays and water, fouling the wood. In this case, you'll also need to degrease (de-oil + stabilize) the wood during maintenance.
- Saturators impregnate and penetrate wood to protect it in depth. The wood's warm, grained appearance is preserved, there's no film on the surface and maintenance is simplified because there's no need to strip, just clean.
Warnings application :
Here are a few basic principles:
- Direction: Always apply from top to bottom, following the direction of the wood for a beautiful, even finish.
- All the way to the end: Protect board ends to prevent rising damp or insect attack.
- Continuous: Always respect the geometry of the substrate and stop at the end of a blade (end, corner, edge, door, etc.) to avoid creating repeat applications (over-thicknesses causing darker stains, over-brilliance, over-dosage, etc.). Once installed, these stains require a lot of work to remove.
- Working in the opposite direction to the sun: Always avoid working in direct sunlight as much as possible, so it's best to start on the west and south sides in the morning and finish on the north and east sides in the evening.
- Even if the atmosphere is below 20°C, a sunny surface often exceeds 25°C or even 30°C.
Zoom Finishing: Durieu's recommendations :
An innovative pioneer in the wood protection market since the 1980s, Durieu favors saturators in its Owatrol wood ranges. Thanks to its impregnating qualities, the saturator penetrates to the heart of the wood to fully diffuse its protective agents without leaving a film on the surface, providing long-lasting protection and avoiding the risk of flaking.
Focus chantier : The importance of choosing the right finish :
On this site, which benefits from a continental climate, hot in summer and very cold in winter, hygrometric variations are strong and weaken the wooden parts. A well-targeted protection system was therefore required to ensure optimum protection for these elements