Painting treated decking

[TuckerTavern]

Since the money tree never really materialized we decided to build a "good enough for now" porch with a treated decking floor and 4x4 porch posts. When the mortgage is paid off (July 2018) then I'll get the porch the house deserves, but until then this is what we have. The new decking that my husband just laid can be painted when? What's the absolutely positively earliest I can paint it without calling down calamity and disgrace upon myself? And, what happens if I paint it too soon?

Just eager to pretty it up a bit.

[Sow's Ear Mal]

From my understanding it is the mill glaze that inhibits stain or paint adhesion, and pressure treated wood increases that effect. If you go to a good paint store they will have cleaners that will open up mill glaze and after a very good rinsing and drying, any stain or paint product should work.

That being said, I've painted pressure treated posts fresh out of the lumber store and had the paint stay on fine. I sanded first and used paint/primer in one, acrylic. And further to that, horizontal surfaces exposed to weather are a b*tch to keep successfully coated under any circumstance. My 2 cents.... Mal

[Mick_VT]

Pressure treated wood is wet, full of preservative. It is usually best to leave it a year before painting to let it dry out.

[Casey]

If you had obtained KDAT wood, you could have painted it before and after installation (Kiln-Dried After Treatment; a re-dried pressure-treated wood)
It needs to be well and truly dry. The places where it is touching the framing stay wet the longest. As long as there is moisture in the wood, paint will have problems. If the tops are painted and the bottom still gets wet regularly, there will be cupping problems to go along with the adhesion problems.
You will want to get a moisture meter. You may want to look into a semi-transparent stain rather than a moisture-blocking poly floor enamel in this case. Follow the paint manuf. recommendations as to how dry the wood needs to be for the product you end up with.
Casey

[TuckerTavern]

I thought about using a grey tinted stain instead, but sealing with polyurethane doesn't thrill me either.

[1850Farmer]

I like stain vs paint for pressure treated deck boards, semi-transparent holds up a bit better than solid stain on new wood.

The most common kind of pressure treated lumber is still wet when you buy it. Let the lumber dry out (from a few weeks to six months, depending on the weather, exposure and the condition of the lumber) before applying any stain. Using a moisture meter to determine when it’s near 12% is ideal. Light sanding before applying the stain helps. I've stained many new decks and fence boards after two to three months with no problems. 2018 will come and go and your deck will still look good.


FYI: Manufacturers sometimes add a water repellent to their decking lumber. Look for a tag on the end of the lumber that says Thompsonized or some other water repellent. If you buy this type, make sure you use an oil-based exterior stain. A water-based stain won't adhere well, because of the repellent.

[phil]

if you are cutting lumber then try just feeling it where it's freshly cut. It won't give you a number but I find I can get a pretty good indication how wet it is that way.

last year I did my ( outdoor and untreated) fir front stairs. I used this stuff
http://www.pocobuildingsupplies.com/pro ... inish.html
It has water based organic oils and I used an orange tint that went well with my fir since it's kind of orange anyway.
I did 3 coats on all 6 sides and stored the lumber inside so it was bone dry.

I'm a bit skeptical about using "new" products. they are competing with Sikkens and that was my second choice but I found the sikkens cetol didn't have much show through and I wanted to see the fir and the grain pattern since I used really good lumber. the sikkens cetol might be a good choice for your deck.. Id wait till end of summer or next year.

the only issue I had was that when I put the stairs into the full sun and rain cycles, it did burp out some sap. My girlfriend went out and used scrubby pads to take off the sap but I gues it can only do that for so long and I couldn't blame the coating. It didn't seem to cause any failure of the finish. i expect Ill have to do a cleaning and recoat once in a while but I am happy with the product so far.

I also used some sikkens rubanol a few years back. It is a soft paint and I thought it would stand up. Its not suitable for deck surfaces because it's too slippery. I painted some older wood that I pressure washed, and it fell right off. The vertical surfaces that were thoroughly clean seem ok. I had a couple of incidents where people slipped on it when it's frosty so wouldn't recommend that for a walking surface.

the rubanol will peel but the bohme and sikkens cetol won't. being a deck I'd recommend using something that won't peel. I'd much rather deal with cleaning and recoating than scraping a deck.

I did my front and back decks with fresh plywood and fiberglassed them. I am really happy with how they are standing up. lots of people I spoke to are afraid of fiberglass. I dont' think Ill have to ever do more than clean the green slime off in spring. It rains so much here so it's nice not to have to worry about redoing the deck due to rot every few years. . cost was about 5 bucks a sq ft. of course fiberglass isn't historic but I think it looks just fine and not out of place.