I am building a porch deck with mahogany 5/4 tongue & groove. I am looking for finishing recommendations to maintain the “new” wood look. Also, any suggestions for preparation? penetrating finish versus surface varnish?
The deck is installed and has been exposed to some rain and susequent construction activity. Less maintaince over the long term is prefered, say once every two years or more. What are your suggestions?
Replies
If you want less maintenance, I don't know if mahogany was a great choice. My personal experience with mahogany is that it is suspectible to warping, cupping and cracking (at end grains) if not sealed properly (including all the cut ends, that are now nailed or screwed down on your deck).
The last mahogany deck I installed, we washed all the boards with simple green, let them dry and then prefinished them with Penofin prior to installation. Every cut end was then sealed with Anchor Seal, and then immediately upon completion, the deck was resealed with Penofin. The customer washed the deck the following spring and repeated with Penofin. Some of the board still cupped a little and a few split, but overall the deck looks great.
Mahogany is an expensive decking material and I would not want to waste my money by not caring for it properly. IMHO
Bill
I have a deck made of the brazilian mahogany called pau lope. While it wears like iron , it has been a real case of trial and error to make it look as good as the day it was installed. Penofin was the finish recommended by the pau lope people and the local pau lope supplier. I tried it, it sucks. Penofin is a light oil that may penetrate the wood, but since it's an oil it seems to promote catching airborne dust and casual dirt. Plus, it didn't even last a summer. (I live in Cleveland, OH)
Then I tried this penetrating oil from somewhere out west- I even spoke to their formulating engineer- and he said his stuff was way better than penofin. It wasn't. Didn't last a summer. Then last year I completely cleaned off all the oil and applied a product made by the Flood Company called Spa and Deck. I used the cedar tone and the deck looks fantastic. There's a learning curve to using it, it's an acrylic finish, not an oil, and it's put on the wood while the deck is wet. I did two coats and our friends who had seen the deck before can't believe the difference. The Flood Co. has a web site and an 800 number. Great product, great experience. Just be sure to follow all the directions