We've built a summer house aka glorified shed for mini sideshow to play in.
How should the wood be treated to stop it rotting etc? oil/solvent wood preserver on the outside? or are water based products fine.
Going for the natural wood look, if it makes any difference.
Sika wood preserver is good. Screwfix sell it.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/sika-wood-preserver-clear-5ltr/47030
Do we think water based treatment is as good as oil these days then? the chaps who built the shed were pretty adamant it should be oil/solvent treated but maybe they're just being old school?
and is a second coat of something needed to protect from UV?
Water based always for me.
We've used Cuprinol Garden Shades on shed and a children's treehouse slide thing. Seems to stand up well to the elements. It's basically acrylic paint as far I can tell
I used oil based stuff from b&q on the fence and it faded in a year. In and outside the house I've switched to water based as much as possible. The water based paint on the front door looks like new. Yet the oil based "10 year" oil based stuff on the surround porch is starting to flake after 2 years
Solvent based for me. Penetrates well and has lasted on our sumerhouse.
https://www.wood-finishes-direct.com/product/cuprinol-shed-fence-protector
Sugi ban
What could go wrong?
^^^😂
In terms of water versus oil based, I don't know. People have their preferences, same as the what tyre threads on here.
I suspect water based tech may have come on a bit these days.
I just read the reviews to get a general feel for a product. The Sika stuff has good reviews. My nephew used it on his large softwood log-cabin interlocking summerhouse and rates it.
I've used Osmo for many things in the past. Really good stuff.
https://www.osmouk.com/sitechapter.cfm?chapter=62&page=238
On this house I started using cheap woodstain as we were skint when we moved in. This year I'm going back to the good stuff - I've had to re coat the fences twice in 5 years and they are already looking rough again...
I love Osmo. Spendy mind.
The Info on a pack of water based wood preserver I had said it needed to have some coating over the top of it if used externally, ie it will just wash away otherwise. So maybe some matt varnish when after its dried? Its not the natural wood look you are after but the cuprinol garden shades paint has worked well on my shed.
with osmo - just the woodstain or also their base coat underneath? (blimey like you say - not cheap though!)