# Forum Home Renovation Decking  Oiling Deck - ok if it rains after?

## McBrain

I'm re-oiling my merbau deck after a year of use. 
Last night I scrubbed it with deck wash (the acidic stuff) and it has brought it back to the wood nicely, but now it's crying-out for some new oil. 
I want to do it tonight. Obviously I will only apply the oil (Feast and Watsons deck oil) if the boards are dry, but my question is, is it a problem if it rains a couple of hours after applying the oil? 
I'm thinking this shouldn't be a problem, but just wanted to check before I did it. 
Cheers

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## mako

depending on where you are in aus and the tempreture the oil can take awhile to really soak in. Rain a couple of hours after i would be concerned. it wouldnt wreck the timber but it just wouldnt soak up all the oil as good. Give it a go though, it never rains any more anyway !

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## mako

PS. You can use nappysan and get a similar job to the expensive deck cleaners. :Wink 1:

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## McBrain

I'm in Melbourne. 
I'll give it a light coat to tide it over - it should soak it in enough before any rain overnight. I'll give it a proper coat later. 
Thanks for the Nappi-San tip! 
Cheers

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## want2learn

> PS. You can use nappysan and get a similar job to the expensive deck cleaners.

  Sorry for hijacking the thread but I've read on here before about nappysan, how do you actually apply it, is there a specific ratio or mixture you need to do?

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## mako

I have no scientific ratio for using nappisan. i guess i put about a 1/4 of the plastic bottle thing of nappisan into a bucket with about 5-8 litres of water. Then use a stiff bristle broom and splash it on deck and give it a bit of a scub. Let is sit for few minutes but dont let it dry out. Then either hose off or i usually use a pressure washer. bobs your uncle!

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## want2learn

> I have no scientific ratio for using nappisan. i guess i put about a 1/4 of the plastic bottle thing of nappisan into a bucket with about 5-8 litres of water. Then use a stiff bristle broom and splash it on deck and give it a bit of a scub. Let is sit for few minutes but dont let it dry out. Then either hose off or i usually use a pressure washer. bobs your uncle!

  Awsome thanks mako.

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## bpj1968

Don't oil if it is going to rain during the drying time.  the water will bead and some oil floats on the bead.  This will leave marks where the water bead was and possible a  ring of oil it.

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## McBrain

Thanks bpj1968. I suspected there might be something like that! I will wait until I'm sure it'll not rain until the oil is dry. 
It rained about 5min before I got home yesterday! I'll do it on the weekend. 
Cheers

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## luckysack

In my opinion you should only need to apply a napisan solution to new deck that has never been oiled. This simply draws out the tannin/colour in the wood. That is why you must let it soak for a good 10 minutes. You would then wash with an oxalic acid solution which I think McBrain has already done. 
When re-oiling I'm pretty sure you wouldn't bother with the napisan but definately wash down with oxalic acid. This cleans the timber and also allows the timber to 'accept' more oil.

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## XT4V

i'm about to re-oil a fairly new deck thats been oiled previously.. the merbau looks very dirty and i'm not happy with it. 
do I need to sand the deck for the oil to soak in, or will the oxalic acid do the trick? 
with the acid, i've seen a deck cleaning product by cabbots (its blue), is this the solution to use or is it something else?

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## strangerep

Having gone through the pain of not weathering by deck initially before
oiling, and then having to recover later from my mistake when it started
to look really crap, here's my suggestions... 
1) If it's going to rain, let it rain first, and get out there with a squeegy mop
to try and remove the now-dirty water. Weathering is your friend in the
early stages - to remove tannins and other extractives first before oiling.
You don't want _any_ of that stuff underneath your oil (because it will
rise up later no matter what you try). Better still, take advantage of the
rain to do step-2 below... 
2) As for nappysan (or cheaper forms of sodium percarbonate - the active
ingredient), it is truly excellent for deep cleaning. (Beware of pressure
cleaners - they tear up the timber fibres too easily, and don't do as good a
job as nappysan anyway.) I use about half a mugful of nappysan
in about 1/3rd of a bucket of _hot_ water, dissolve thoroughly, apply
generously with a squeeze-mop and scrub until the surface starts to feel
more "slippery" under the mop - that means the alkaline sodium percarbonate
is working. Then I leave it a bit while I do another section. Then come back
and mop it again. Squeeze the mop out into a separate bucket so as not to
dirty up the primary nappysan mix too much. After all, the primary goal is
to remove the dirt and tannins, not just move them around. Finally hose off
thoroughly (water restrictions permitting - you might be able to get a
one-off permit if your local restrictions are not too severe, otherwise you'll
need to do all this when it's raining). It's important that all the nappysan is
removed. 
In my case, I repeated the nappysan treatment 6 times(!). It continued to
remove more crap each time. But mine was a rather extreme case.
So I suggest to others to do it at least twice and see how much dirt is
being removed the second time. 
3) Because nappysan is alkaline, it's essential to restore the pH balance
in the timber before oiling. That's what oxalic acid is for. It doesn't have
quite the same dramatic effect as nappysan, but it seems to remove some
things (like greyness) that nappysan won't. It also restores the pH balance.
The oxalic acid must be removed thoroughly with hosing or rain before
applying any coating. 
4) Let the boards become as absolutely bone-dry as possible before applying
oil. Other coatings like acrylic spa-n-deck are different, and like to be
applied to a wet surface, but not oil. 
HTH.

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## XT4V

what leaves a better finish? the spa-n-deck OR cabbots natural oil? 
also, whats a more durable finish out of the two? 
I want to acheive the best looking deck that will have longevity also... 
a comparison in pics of the two finishes would also be good (if someone can help)  :Smilie:

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