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Finishing Outdoor Projects |
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Whenever you're investing time and
money in a project, you want it to end up looking great and you want to enjoy using it now and in the future. When you're making a project that is going to be staying outdoors, getting it to look great might not be as
difficult as getting it to last for years in the rain, snow and wind. The elements take their toll on everything eventually, but there are a few things you can do to lessen the effects of mother nature on wood projects.
Most of us live in places where the rain and snow can make short work of the wooden projects we put in the yard. Few of us have the luxury of living in an area that gets 0" of rainfall per year. We'll
assume that you live in Minnesota or Wisconsin -- someplace where the snow and rain are about as nasty as it gets. Let's take a project and walk through what we would do to protect it and why. A
popular project around Christmas time is reindeer for the yard. These projects call for 3/8" to 1/2" plywood. Most of us, due to cost, must use regular construction grade plywood which costs around $13 per 4'x8' sheet. This wood
needs a lot of protection and "pre-care". If you want to go all out, you can use marine plywood. This is going to cost you around $60 per 4'x8' sheet, but the water-proof nature of this aptly-named plywood is worth it's weight in gold -- your project is sure to last for years and years. But, for most of us, the regular plywood has to do. Before you begin tracing your project pattern onto the plywood, go ahead and coat the plywood with a latex primer that is close in color to what the finishing coat will be. For white reindeer, white primer is the obvious choice. Go ahead and coat both sides of the wood, covering the general area that you will be cutting out. This will provide our first layer of protection.
Now, trace your pattern onto the plywood and cut out all
the pieces of the project. We recommend using transfer paper to get your pattern onto the wood. Once all pieces are cut
out, inspect the edges. Most plywood will be missing inner portions which leaves holes and cavities in the edges. Also inspect the flat surfaces at this time; you are sure to find some knots, dips, and crevasses. Now your wood is ready for another coat of primer. Apply a 2nd coat of latex primer the same color as the first coat. Allow to dry and re-examine the surfaces for holes, cracks, etc.; if you find any, fill with wood putty and re-coat with primer. You're now ready for the top coat of paint. We still recommend latex paint for the top coat, but you may substitute any type of paint you like for your top coat. As the wood is already sealed, go ahead and apply top coats until you are satisfied with the way your project appears. The amount of protection we have already applied is more than many people take the time to do, so let's go a couple steps further. Hydrocoating. This is what will really make the rain and snow run off the wood and provide the final barrier of protection. We recommend a water-based polyeurethane for this step. Coat your project...once, twice, three times -- allowing time to dry in between each coat. Be sure to coat the edges even better than the face of the wood. The edge grain of wood absorbs far more liquid than elsewhere...keep this in mind when staining projects, too. Now your project is ready to put in the elements and you can do so with the confidence that it will last for many seasons, making your hard work worth while. And to ensure that your project continues to last, depending on how harsh your climate is, you should re-coat your project with polyeurethane at least every two years -- and preferably more often than that... |
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