Thread: Marbau decking

Have always used water based on our deck , about every 2 years wash it with deck wash & two coats of water based & still looks good after 15 years & have never had to sand it. I used oil based on some furniture once , it needed to be sanded & recoated with in a year.

Originally Posted by 1950landy

Have always used water based on our deck , about every 2 years wash it with deck wash & two coats of water based & still looks good after 15 years & have never had to sand it. I used oil based on some furniture once , it needed to be sanded & recoated with in a year.

oil based you just wash with napisan and re-apply. I made some ramps out of used marbau decking material a couple of years ago. It wouldn't really soak in oil and didn't look great. I tried the napisan trick on it yesterday.... the stuff was just about bubbling lifting out the dirt/mold/slime from those boards. It'll be interesting to see what they look like when I oil them today.

That is interesting what you say about water based. I assumed given it was a "paint" type sealer, you would get to much film build, and it would go crappy. obviously not I think the most important bit is to pick one type and stay with it. You can't swap between them (as obvously it you can't paint something that is oiled .... and you can't oil something that's been painted).

the deck repair guy suggesting to me to use napisan prompted me to google that exact terms. Looks what pops up.

Cleaning and Oiling your Deck

Interesting. I really like decking boards, even though they are a lot of work (just like paving is a lot of work, but I like it ).

I wonder if its worth leaving those decks in the sun for a few weeks now I've stripped them and see if tannins do leach out of the "bright" areas

seeya,
Shane L.

Yeah... damn, its definately a coating that must be sanded off .... sigh.... How the hell did water based oil get onto my boards that no-one has ever touched except me

I whipped upto bunnings and grabbed a stack of sandpaper for the crappy old oscillating sander that I've never used (it must have been given to me years ago ...)

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Sanded with 40 grit followed by 80grit.... Its going to be a bloody big job to do the back deck. It'll probably have to wait to some other year (I have way to much to do at the moment).

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These two decks are the entrance ways to the house extension would had built ..... finished a year before covid hit .... Talk about lucky, imagine being stuck in a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 living room house with 5 people trying to work and study in the same space

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To put why I've decided I HATE anything that "paints" on .... this is the what happens if I touch oil to the deck that I'm going to have to sand clean.

The reason this was confusing to me is this is the back deck on our house.

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Its probably 15years old. Every year I try to give it a pressure wash and throw some more oil on it (I didn't realise you were supposed to clean it with napisan). The wood is quite black, but mostly sound. You see it often been coated iwth tinted oil as I just buy whatever is the cheapest I can find. The last couple of years its been the ALDI decking oil

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I made there 3 ramps a couple of years back with old decking boards I found on facebook marketplace. They won't really "take oil".

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This is after washing them with napisan .... the stuff was just about bubbling when it was applied as it lifted all the mold/rot/crap out of the boards.

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No sanding, just a quick clean and mop over with oil.

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This is the part of the old deck I chucked some oil on today. Its never been sanded .... and never will need to be I hope Imagine if I had to sand that to refinish it .... talk about a HUGE job. I think that deck is about 8 x 8 meters.

Whats with the spelling, been merbau as long as i can remember ?

Could you use a chemical paint stripper?

You’re on the right track - just remember to use the right treatment as follows:

Sanding - required to remove surface coatings like varnishes, and to take any wood back to a new like layer

Sodium Percarbonate ( Available in pure form from Homebrew shops) or in Napisan etc: excellent for removing organic residues ie dirt etc.

Oxalic Acid ( found in good decking cleaners): removes the grey oxide layer so your oils will bring out the natural wood grain really well.

In your case, yes it looks like you need to sand that partial surface coating off, then oil. Sanding means you won’t need to use oxalic acid.

I would use a heavy duty orbital as I’ve got one - but just about any sander will work, even a good random orbital.

If you're going to sand it, hire a floor sander.

Have done stuff like this heaps of times.Even on the decks of fibreglass commercial fishing boats.

I'd still like to know what the corroding fasteners are.

DL

Originally Posted by 350RRC

If you're going to sand it, hire a floor sander.

Have done stuff like this heaps of times.Even on the decks of fibreglass commercial fishing boats.

I'd still like to know what the corroding fasteners are.

DL

Oh, sorry I didn't mean to ignore you. I think there was just damp spots on the deck in the photo.

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The builder did a really nice job of the deck. He refuses to use any sort of nail on decks. Its all pre-drilled, countersunk and screwed. The boards don't seem to be lifting or curling like they will on nailed decks. The big deck out the back I've been slowly screwing down over the last couple of years. Its a huge job as it uses narrow boards. I had to try and punch the existing nail down without splitting the board, then drill/screw beside the nails. The stainless fastners sheer easily on the rock hard old boards. I'm using one of those drill/countersink in one drill bits.

I think the builder either oiled the boards for me before putting htem down, or purchased pre-oiled boards. As these definaly have a coating of some sort on them. If I'd known I would have upkept that coating. I'd assumed the boards were "raw" so was letting them fade off before oiling them. Its all fun right

seeya,
Shane L.