Water sealing my newly made deck
 

Hi there,
I have built my deck just a month ago. Frame is made of Pressure
Treated and deck board (top) is made of Cedar. Due to rainy/snow
weather here in Alberta, I have not had chance to water seal my deck.
All I have done so far is just cover the deck with plastic sheet so at
least water cannot get into the boards. My plan is just to wait for
sunny days to do the seal. Temperature here won't be that high any
more (max 20C). Here is my question: Is this a good plan to seal my
deck board this year OR just let the wood to expose to the weather
(rain+snow (-20C) ) until next spring for water sealing. I know that
exposing bare wood to harsh weather would screw up the wood, but on
the other hand I am not so sure if I can get enough sunny days for a
good water sealimg job.
My water sealer is Sikkens which is a good one (trust my neighbor ;)
).

thanks a lot

Well Fardin I live in Regina. I built a similar deck 4 years ago, PT frame
and cedar top. I too use Sikkens. I haev not yet had a chance to clean and
re-seal my deck this year. Our weather is a little better than yours ;),
but not a lot. At least we don't have snow (yet).

I plan to try and pressure wash the deck and re-seal it using Sikkens before
fall really sets in.

Sikkens works very well to keep Cedar looking like cedar - I hate that
"lovely grey shade" that it turns to.

I say try it and good luck.
"FardinA" wrote in message
m...
Hi there,
I have built my deck just a month ago. Frame is made of Pressure
Treated and deck board (top) is made of Cedar. Due to rainy/snow
weather here in Alberta, I have not had chance to water seal my deck.
All I have done so far is just cover the deck with plastic sheet so at
least water cannot get into the boards. My plan is just to wait for
sunny days to do the seal. Temperature here won't be that high any
more (max 20C). Here is my question: Is this a good plan to seal my
deck board this year OR just let the wood to expose to the weather
(rain+snow (-20C) ) until next spring for water sealing. I know that
exposing bare wood to harsh weather would screw up the wood, but on
the other hand I am not so sure if I can get enough sunny days for a
good water sealimg job.
My water sealer is Sikkens which is a good one (trust my neighbor ;)
).

thanks a lot

Hi Fardin,
I think the plastic sheet is going to keep the boards a bit moist, both
from the ground below and unless you are very lucky from the boards
themselves as cedar is seldom dried completely before selling it. IIWM I
would remove plastic sheet and email Sikkens and ask for their
recommendation as to minimum temperature for application. When I used
Sikkens this summer it took quite a while to dry even at 25-28*.
I know it does not do you any good now but we tend to treat the wood
before we build the deck as it is much easier to get to all four sides
when compared to when the deck is assembled. Good Luck, JG

FardinA wrote:

Hi there,
I have built my deck just a month ago. Frame is made of Pressure
Treated and deck board (top) is made of Cedar. Due to rainy/snow
weather here in Alberta, I have not had chance to water seal my deck.
All I have done so far is just cover the deck with plastic sheet so at
least water cannot get into the boards. My plan is just to wait for
sunny days to do the seal. Temperature here won't be that high any
more (max 20C). Here is my question: Is this a good plan to seal my
deck board this year OR just let the wood to expose to the weather
(rain+snow (-20C) ) until next spring for water sealing. I know that
exposing bare wood to harsh weather would screw up the wood, but on
the other hand I am not so sure if I can get enough sunny days for a
good water sealimg job.
My water sealer is Sikkens which is a good one (trust my neighbor ;)
).

thanks a lot