SoftWash Scotland is an exterior building and surface cleaning company. Â They have years of industry knowledge and have high-quality levels of service.
They recently used Owatrol products to restore a balau deck that had become dark and grey. The previous coating of another well known leading brand was peeling off the wood, leaving it exposed to damage caused by rain, pollution and UV rays.
Check out their bio and link to their website at the bottom of the post for more information.
Written by SoftWash Scotland
We recently restored a yellow balau deck for a client on the west coast of Scotland. The wood was in a bad state and had previously been treated with a decking paint that had failed.
A thick coat was applied once a year but was now flaking off in multiple areas. The wood is a high-end material and had completely lost its natural beauty.
The customer decided they wanted to remove the paint and have a wood oil finish instead.
How did we make a start?
Firstly, we needed to remove the previous finish from the wood. We decided to use Owatrol Prepdeck to do this. Prepdeck is a high-grade professional stripper specially designed for the removing of old solid and semi-transparent stains, grade stamps and other finishes from wood.
Some areas had very thick coats of paint, so we had to re-apply the Prepdeck in these areas.
Once we had done a touch time test, (using a scraper to see if the paint is lifting) we used our pressure washer to strip the paint from the surface.
After the paint had been removed, we then applied Owatrol Net-Trol. Net-Trol is a wood cleaner and neutraliser that stops the active ingredient in the Prepdeck from continuing to work.
Once the Net-Trol was ready to be removed, we power washed the wood again and it was left clean and bright.
After we had completed these steps, we cleaned the areas around the deck from paint and dirt remnants and cleaned the windows adjacent to the deck before leaving for the day.
What did we do next?
It took a little longer than planned to finish this project due to the Scottish rain! However, once it had stopped raining for a few days, the deck had dried out enough to be sanded.
We hand sanded the deck with 80 grit paper to open the pores and to remove any rough or splintered areas from the surface. Some people will walk on their deck bare foot or perhaps have children or animals, so making sure to have a safe deck is very important to us.
After the wood has been sanded and the dust has been blown away using a leaf blower, it was then ready to be finished with Textrol.
The final step
We then decided to use Textrol, as it is a penetrating wood oil finish that protects from within. This means there’s no film on the surface, so it will not peel or flake as the previous finish did.
Textrol enhances the natural beauty of the wood whilst providing a mildew-resistant finish with exceptional and long-lasting protection from the effects of moisture, weathering and UV rays.
Textrol is applied wet-on-wet, which saves us a lot of time as we don’t need to wait for coats to dry during application. Using a brush and sponge applicator, we applied two coats to the wood. The customer chose to use clear Textrol to really allow the natural beauty of this exotic wood to shine through.
The customer was very happy with the result and as you can see, the deck looks as good as new!
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About SoftWash Scotland
Softwash Scotland is one of Scotland’s primary exterior building and surface cleaning experts. With years of industry knowledge our clients benefit from incomparable levels of high-quality service, results and outstanding value.
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