An Insider’s Guide To Maintaining The Look of Your Home Like When It Was New

Wouldn’t it be nice to not have to strip and refinish your home ever again?

This really is possible depending on the finish.  Let’s begin by taking a brief look at the three basic types of finishes: solvent based, water based and waterborne (water carried).

Photo courtesy of Cascade Handcrafted Log Homes

Solvent based finish uses mineral spirits to mix the chemicals to ‘water’ them down.  It is a harder coat than water based, but like water based, it sits on the surface of the wood.  It has between 20 and 25 years of life when properly maintained, at which time the finish will crack and allow bacteria and mildew into the wood.

Water based finish uses water to dilute the chemicals to sufficiently coat the surface of the wood.  This is generally a softer coat than the others and as such has a shorter life, around 17 to 20 years even when properly maintained, at which time the finish will crack and flake away.

Waterborne finish uses water like water based, not to water down the chemicals however, but rather as a carrier to move them into the surface of the wood.   This ensures the finish remains connected to the wood and virtually eliminates finish failure.  Timber Edge’s Exterior and Interior Wood Finishes fall into this category and will give many decades of life when properly maintained.

The resins and oils used in Timber Edge’s Nature’s Edge exterior and interior wood finishes penetrate into the wood pores and encapsulate them permanently!  The first two color coats have tint particles that prevent the wood from greying.  The third, a topcoat, is designed to protect the first two coats and, in time, will burn off.  The concept is similar to that of suntan lotion: it covers the skin to protect the skin’s pigment from burning and eventually it burns off.  With suntan lotion this takes a few hours; with Nature’s Edge it lasts much longer.

Photo courtesy of Legendary Log Homes of Jackson Hole/R.C.M. Cad Design

What is maintenance?
Let’s be clear: all wood finish types require maintenance to reach their expected lifespan.  Maintenance is the replenishing of the UV absorption values of the finish that the sun attacks.   All three types of finish need maintenance done; how often will depend on how much sun each side of the house gets.

How will I know when to do maintenance?
With water based and solvent based finishes, it is best to apply a maintenance coat every three years faithfully (for more exact information check with the stain manufacturer).  Because a waterborne finish has a slight sheen, you’ll know it is time to do maintenance when it loses some of that sheen.  More specifically, sun damage is usually most severe on the south side of the home, so the south side will generally need to be done more frequently.  Since the west and east sides get less sun, they will need to be done less often, and the north side the least often.  With water based and solvent based finishes, since you can’t see the change as it gradually occurs, it is necessary to do the whole building at the same time to prevent significant damage.  Having to do maintenance on the whole house each time is, of course, more costly and time consuming than simply applying a waterborne finish to the side of the house that needs it.

What happens if I fail to do the maintenance?
For water and solvent based finishes, it generally means starting over: stripping the home back to bare wood and refinishing it.  With Nature’s Edge waterborne formula, however, all that is required, normally, is to wash the home with Timber Prep (a product specially designed to both clean off the dirt and kill any molds and mildew), apply one or two color coats (depending on how long it had been left) and a maintenance coat. 

Remember, nothing beats the sun!  The best you can do to keep your home looking beautiful is to apply the most advanced and effective finish available on the market, and to do the maintenance coats as needed.

What tools do I need?
All of the finishes can be applied with a brush, roller or airless sprayer.  You will most likely find a brush to be the best for small areas, and an airless sprayer ideal for big areas.

The other tool you will likely need is an inexpensive pressure washer (something no larger than 2000 psi).  It is tempting to purchase or rent a more expensive one with a higher psi, but in this situation more is not better.  The tendency is to use the power washer too aggressively by getting the tip too close to the wood, which can, unintentionally, erode the finish.