Life on the 'Wet' Coast...

One of the jokes that goes with living in coastal south BC is that you don't tan; you rust.  The last month has been a good example of that as it has been pretty darned damp.

This was taken this morning at the back of the property we rent.  You might notice the lack of sunlight and the very lush temperate rain forest tree growth. While the trees are living and renewing themselves there is a delicate symbiotic relationship with water.

But there comes a time when the tree dies and the relationship changes, with water being one of the components returning it to the earth and another cycle of life.  Part of the tools brought into this are moulds and mosses that help break down the damp material, encouraging decay.

Which isn't exactly what we have in mind when we use wood in the creating of our homes and other structures but, left untreated, the processes of nature will encroach on us to do their work in cleaning the planet.

Clearly The Best Solution's Wood Sealant is a step that can be taken to interrupt the cycle that disrupts our usage of wood as means of creating our homes and protecting them from the elements.  This roof was approximately seventeen years old.  Made of cedar shingles, its natural protections and any treatment initially applied had been washed out.  Moss had taken hold and the accumulation of dirt and neglect were taking their toll.  We were called in to clean and seal a neighbour's carport that looked the same.

The roof was cleaned, pressure washed, repaired and resealed using Clearly The Best Wood Sealant.

Just as a side note, the roof pictures were taken about a year and a half  after the work was done when they went back to gather examples of what they could do with Clearly The Best Solution materials.  I'm sure you can clearly see which neighbour was happy he had his roof done. *grin*



Will our Wood Sealant remain a barrier between the effects of wood on water forever?  Probably not forever ~ that's a pretty long time ~ but definitely its protective edge will last several decades, prolonging the life of the material used in structure building and reducing the consumption of new materials to repair damage.

And it's important to remember Clearly The Best Solution’s Wood Sealant is not a film forming product. It is an internal penetrating sealer which increases the density of wood, reducing absorbency and water damage while creating a molecular bond to become a permanent part of the wood.

As long as the wood is there, Clearly The Best is in it. Pressure washing doesn't wash it out, sanding doesn't get it out, etc.  If now you're saying, "see, you can't undo it!"  why would you want to?  It doesn't change the appearance of the wood ~ only protects and preserves it, retards fires, etc.... It doesn't discolour the wood, doesn't provide any UV protection to the wood ~ it reduces the water penetration, reducing water related damage such as rot, warping, mildew/mould, etc.

Since it's IN the wood, not on it,  the outside of the wood is still exposed to the elements. The wood will turn grey over time (actually, it turns more of a silver with Clearly The Best Wood Sealant) as UV works its impact on the outside of the wood.

Our wood sealant addresses the integrity of the wood, not the cosmetics. That's what stains and brighteners do but they're temporary solutions.   However, if you stain/paint over the sealed area, the paint/stain lasts much longer ~ at www.seal-it.ca, they state that it will last about 300% longer.

It's a win/win situation.  Less of the planetary resources go to the up-keep of your property, the use of non-toxic solutions do not impact the environment you live in, the surface treatments you use last much, much longer reducing even more of your carbon footprint...  With proper care and minimal annual cleaning, the time, energy and resources you expend in caring for your home have a positive long lasting impact on everything from your personal finances to global warming.

We like to think your choice is clear....

Wood Sealant 101 ~ Tannin

Earlier today, while browsing the wallpaper downloads at the National Geographic site, I came across this Dali-esque photo of tannin-stained waters and sand dunes in Brazil.  Enchanted by it's sinuous, almost austere beauty I thought it was worth sharing here. ( In the Amazon Basin of central-eastern Brazil, the many rivers that transect this ecoregion occasionally rise and flood the landscape. These dark tannin laden rivers are all "blackwater," meaning that they are stained by tannins and carry few sediments, and the flooded forests that surround them are known as white-sand igapó forests.)

Now, I know tannin is water soluble and I sort of remembered it causes a problem with some woods and paints but I couldn't quite remember what.  (It's Saturday ~ my brain wasn't going anywhere!)  At the www.seal-it.ca site, there is a short article 'Tannins and Wood' but it didn't answer the question niggling in the back of my mind.  They did in another article, however, raise the issue of alkalis leaching and its impact (that's another post).

I started wondering if tannin was an alkali and found out at Wikipedia that they 'are astringent, bitter plant polyphenols  that either bind and precipitate or shrink proteins  and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids.'  ~ (aren't you glad you asked?) ~ but they are not alkalis.  If you want to know what I found out, feel free ~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tannin ~ it's really quite interesting. Nonetheless, I had to go back to noodling about to find what I knew I knew and what my indolent mind was not going to surrender.

So, ready for me to make a long story short?

What I found poking about hither and yon is that many types of wood (such as redwood, red cedar, mahogany, Douglas fir, etc.) contain tannins which tend to migrate to the surface and discolor the paint.  Ta da!  It was that simple!  Which makes sense, don'tcha think ~ chemical substances can migrate out as well as in making a good argument for a protective barrier of a sealant between the wood and the stains or paints used as a surface treatment.

My brain admitted it knew that all along and promptly went back to idling its way through more photos at National Geographic.