Garden Building "paint"

My dad is looking at some Ronseal Fencelife product to cover out new wooden (Shiplap) shed!

http://www.ronseal.co.uk/products/product.jsp?id=58

Is that a good product to use and if so where is best (relible etc) place to get it?

Oh and it's a lovely day here Love this time of year.

 

FWIW, i used cuprinol shed and fence preserver on my 8x6 shiplap shed and 60ft of 6ft fencing panels. A year on and they look as good as the day i did them

 

I've sung the praises of Dulux Woodsheen many times. It would be ideal for tongue and groove constructions.
It's best on smooth surfaces as it works like a membrane over the wood and thus is impenetrable to water. My tea-house constructed of softwood and roofing-ply is now 23 years old and gets a fresh coat every few years. A quick once-over with glass paper is all it needs and not always that, as it never flakes. It's still as sound as the day I built it.
I've used it on a "featherboard" fence though it doesn't go as far. It is not subject to blistering in the sun like conventional paints.
It comes in a variety of colours.

 

David - there is a whole range of products on the DIY shop shelves. When I was looking for something I read all the details on the tins carefully - but they told me nothing. I also asked the assistants - they also told me nothing.

So I e-mailed Cuprinol, explaining that in the past I used to work in the research department of a different division of the same company (ICI). I explained that there was no information on their tins as to what level of protection the product gave. I had a very nice, long, personal and informative e-mail back explaining all their different products and the policy behind the range. Unfortunately I don't still have that e-mail. But the gist was :-

There is a range of products that offer a range of protection. Generally the cheaper they are the less protection they give. At one end are the very cheap water based products that provide colour, but essentially no protection at all. In the middle there are products that give 2 years protection, and at the other end there are products that give 5 years protection. At the top end the products will be solvent based and probably have no colour. Unfortunately creosote, which was very cheap but might give 10 years protection, had just been withdrawn.

You have to decide if you want colour or protection - unfortunately protection is not cheap. I suspect that the Ronseal product is at the bottom end and gives colour but little protection. But I use that sort of thing on my fences as I suspect that the fence posts will rot before the fence panels. I can well believe that the Dulux Woodsheen that Doghouse Riley wrote about would give a lot more protection - but would be more expensive.

 

It's about £35 for a 2.5 litre tin. But I'll get three coats out of it, though one every couple of years is sufficient. I've also used it for the fence and door between the house and garage. As you can see it looks best on smooth wood but is effective on rough sawn finishes like featherboard.



Two pergolas, the side garage door and my "roofing ply" shed (now 35 years old).




The fact that the product has been going that long is a testimony to how popular it remains despite all the new products available.

 

Doghouse - that fence looks very good - as does all of your woodwork that I have seen.

Cheap larch lap fences like mine are going to rot anyway as they are in contact with the soil - so I wouldn't go to any great lengths for them. But a shed on a decent foundation has no reason to rot. So I would be inclined to use something more expensive offering better protection.

I have a summerhouse that I want to preserve - it would be expensive to replace. But I just happen to have a bit of original creosote left over. :D

 

Thanks for that.

Any form of preservative is better than none. Most wood you can buy can be rubbish now. A wooden windowframe is only good for about 10 years regardless of the amount of paint you throw at it.
Victorian "pitch-pine" windowframes are still going strong. But pretty much impossible to obtain these days.




But my fence is just cheap featherboard mounted on 3"X2" bearers, top and bottom and a double one over the door. But there's a couple of courses of bricks below it. You can't see them "from this side" as the water supply and drain for the garage sink runs along the side of it encased in concrete. Rainwater can't rot the bottom of the featherboard, as it runs away.
Digressing, to make a door fit perfectly in a fence, (for those who've never tried it before) fit the frame around it first and then incorporate the lot in the fence.

"Simples."

 

Doghouse Riley wrote A wooden windowframe is only good for about 10 years regardless of the amount of paint you throw at it.

Doghouse, I am going to have to disagree with you on this point. I believe that wood wil last indefinitely as long as its dry. Look at 200 year old wooden furniture inside houses. But once it gets wet and stays wet, microbes get in and multiply and you get rot. I repaired the wooden window frames on my house some time ago, and noticed that the wood at the top of the frames was in perfect condition even though it was 40 years old, and had peeling paint. But the wood at the bottom and especially in the corners was all rotten. My conclusion was that there was nothing wrong with the wood, but the problem was allowing moisture to get in. Especially where rain runs down, collects, and cannot run away.

Painting only works if everything is painted and sealed. Its like waterproofing a boat, 95% waterproofing doesn't work. It must be 100%. As a consequence I used to reseal the bottom 2 inches of my window frames every year, making sure that there weren't any hairline cracks where rain could enter. And an important part of this was running the paint onto the glass each time to make a seal.

So your policy of repainting your wood every two years is absolutely right, but the key must be to seal all those tiny cracks. But if wood is in contact with the soil - there is not much hope. Rot will inevitably set in, even if the wood is treated.

 

Well without my knowing Mum and Dad ordered that Ronseal! I'm so glad they asked me! I will of course let you know how it goes

 

The problem with wooden window frames is the expansion and contraction of the glass if it's in direct sunlight. This sometimes causes a small gap between the putty and the glass. This allows the water to get in unseen. So although you're right about making a proper seal (that's why my tea-house has lasted so long) particularly with first floor windows, the tendency is to look at them from a distance and think they're "alright for another year" when in fact they've already started to rot.

 

Doghouse - I do agree about the problem of not noticing tiny cracks and breaks in the seal. That's why it is so important to repaint the vulnerable parts (but not everything) very regularly.

I don't think they have this problem in DisneyWorld in Florids. I read that parts are repainted every two weeks. To give it the fresh painted look. That should make your shed last - but your paint brush won't. :D