Correct process for weathering / oiling Merbau

Hi,
A week ago I finished a 32m2 Merbau deck. I've purchased 10 liters of Cabot's Natural Decking Oil (clear, not tinted) and a 1 liter bottle of Cabot's deck clean. Now just reading some of the threads, i get the feeling that I should probably leave the deck unoiled/cleaned for a few weeks or months (I live in Melbourne if that makes a difference)

I'd like to know if the weathering process takes into account how long the timber was sitting at the timber yard, but that said, the boards were indeed bleeding when the deck was laid.

If the weathering process is to take a few weeks, can I simply give the deck a quick wash down with water (warm soapy?) just to get rid of the muddy foot prints in the mean time.

Pics of the deck @ http://www.users.on.net/~stansvetec/2007-01-22%20Deck/

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Most exterior deck coating manufacturers recommend leaving the timber to weather-bleed for anywhere from 12 weeks to 6 months. This is usually difficult for many people as they have put a lot of work into the building stage and want it to look its best as as soon as possible. You can hose the deck off as much as you want and I would hose and scrub off the mud. Then perhaps hose it off weekly to draw out the tannins and oils. If it rains then that can be your hosing for the week. Merbau is one of the more oiler timbers and if you coat too soon you may have the oils come to the surface under your coating. I would recommend that when you are ready to do your coating to first use a product that contains sodium percarbonate. This is an alkaline detergent that is often called oxyegn bleach. A commercial one is Floods powerlift. You will be amazed at the amount of oil and dirt it wil bring up. Then I would follow this with the use of an oxalic acid then your protective coating. I have cleaned off decks that were brand new and left to weather for 5-6 months before I arrived. Both were very expensive decks to build and they cleaned back easily. If you would like to view them please go to{ www.restore-a-deck.com.au } go to the portfolio section and the first and second examples were both new decks (Not Merbau) that were left to weather for 5 months after construction. They were both coated in Floods Spa&Deck. You have done a nice job with your deck. Good Luck!

Good luck

Hey WATER SHORTAGE!

Oil n water don't mix .

Water and unfinished yard do mix.... Stop making mud and you will help the problem dramatically.

Live with it for a few months with little more than a sweep down. Give the timber time to do it's own thing, maybe 4 to 6 mths then do as jimj suggests. Organoil also have a very good deck wash.

I believe NapiSan does the job, equally as well, if not better.

Napisan instead of deck clean, now that's a fantastic tip!!:2tsup:

Thanks UBeaut!

Cheers
Wendy

Sorry about your water shortage. My only reason for saying that is that it tends to bring up the oils but the main thing is that it will need to be left for the time to allow the tannins to naturally exude from the wood. Yes you can use Napisan if you like./ Both Flood power lift and Napisan are approximately 30% sodium percarbonate. You can even use the generic store brand of Napisan . Justcheck the label and you will see that the active ingedient is sodium percabonate. Mix 200 grams with 4 litres of warm water. Stir well until all is dissolved. Let it sit 5-10 minutes then stir again. Then apply over damp cool wood. Leave it for 20 or so minutes and you will see a lot of oil and dirt on the surface. Scrub and rinse off well. As Merbau is rather oily you MAY want to repeat then follow with the oxalic acid as this will readjust the PH of your deck surface closer back to a neutral state.

Good luck
Jim J

I imagine it would be OK for the time being to wash the deck with napisan....besides, if i ain't going to oil it for some time, I might as well try to make it look clean in it's un-oiled state.

Cheers