[Karl Harrison Landscapes Ltd]

Dear All

I have been asked by a client to resolve an issue where his Ipe decking has white blotches appearing on the surface.

This decking was installed April 2012 and upon completion Owatrol D1 was applied as a saturating coat.

After a party the deck appeared to have a scratch and he instructed the deck to be fully sanded down and re-coated with two further coats of Owatrol D1.

1 month later these white marks have appeared?

Has anyone any idea what could cause this?

[Hardydeck Outlet]

this looks like to be bleach? Have you treated it with some chemicals?

About deckstains we have a listed the most common ones and what to do about if you find yourself with deck which is stained or bleached and how to clean it.

[Shepherds Carpentry]

Maybe a thorough treatment against mould is in order?

From google I pulled up two links here and here that could point to the problem being a type of white mould

The first link talks about the problem on a popular composite deck surface but the second appears to talk about it on wooden surfaces including the construction underneath.  

Have the seen the underneath of the deck lately? Could there be a problem with ventilation underneath the deck or a nearby waste water source for the spores to take hold from?

Good luck solving it in any case and please keep us posted

[lucas phillips]

@Decking decor- I have a question I hope you can answer. I have a similar light white glazing as in the photo you added (Water damage 1)
With mine it’s a brand new Ipe deck. I oiled it and it started raining 6 hours later. I’m thinking the oil perhaps didn’t dry properly and that’s why it already looks old with a light whitish haze. Can you suggest how to rectify it? As it’s new perhaps stripping it is OTT? Would Netrol be sufficient? Or do I indeed have to strip the oil and start again? Thanks in advance

[Decking Network]

What oil did you use Lucas. Did you pre-sand or use Netrol and jet wash prior to your oil being applied.

It may certainly be the salts in the water that has reacted with the oil. It would be wise to strip this back – try a test area with Netrol but I feel you may need Aquanett or Dilunett to strip back first (Then essential to neutralise with NetTrol). This would actually benefit if this hasn’t already been done.

Best of Luck

Karl

[lucas phillips]

Thanks for your response Karl. I didn’t pre-sand or use Netrol. It was brand new so didn’t think you needed to treat it first before oiling it. I wouldn’t even go as far as saying it has white blotches. It just looks really dusty and a bit weathered. Maybe it’s the unabsorbed oil attracting dust. Hope you can help, cheers

[Decking Network]

My pleasure Lucas.
When you have new hardwood theres are a few factors to consider.
1. The hardness of the timber will reduce the oils ability to soak in, so you should use oils appropriate for hardwood.
2. The timber will have Mill Glaze from its production. Consider a very fast spinning blade cutting the timber at high speed, it gets very hot and almost cauterises the surface.The cutters of the planer close the wood pores whilst the natural oils come to the surface of the timber through the machining heat. As the wood cools these oils produce a glaze on the surface of the wood. It is this that prevents the new oil soaking in to your timber.

So, this is why its best to apply PrepDeck which opens up the surface of the timber and removes any surface film or oil. You then Neutralise this with NetTrol, now this then removes any staining as well as neutralising the effects of the Prep-deck. You can then let it dry and when it is, you then saturate your timber with something like Textrol or Aquadecks (my favourite).

A good tip is to get the oil IN the timber and not ON the timber… wet on wet application and get it saturated … Best of luck

[Author]

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