Treating Deck With Linseed Oil

[Glenn F.]

I plan on pressure washing my deck and treating it with linseed
oil very soon. Should I cut it 50/50 with turpentine? We get a
lot of weather here.

Glenn F.
NE WI

 

[TimV]

When treating wooden tool handles with linseed oil, I always cut the first coat 50/50 with turpentine as it soaks in better. After that one's cured, I put on subsequent coats at full strength. Don't know how that correlates to decking, though I've seen the same method used on inside hardwood floors with excellent results.

 

[Bret4207]

I like linseed for tool handles, but a deck? I'd research this a bunch before making the investment.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

Linseed oil will blacken with sun exposure. Do some research, there are better deck treatments.

 

[Stephen Newell]

If it were me I would cut it 100% and use a finish intended for a deck.

 

[kencombs]

Linseen oil will also support the growth of algae, being a vegetable based product.

I really like CWF by Flood. smells nasty when fresh, but that only lasts a day or so.

 

[showcrop]

When deck sealer came up here a year or so ago the greatest emphasis was that it should be a "penetrating" sealer. So that is what I got. I put some linseed oil on a trailer deck once. It turned black.

 

[kcm.MN]

I'll only use either a deck stain or a clear finish meant for decks. No sense going through all that work to create a mess. ...On the other hand, you might actually like whatever would come to be from Linseed oil. I like knowing what's going to happen before it happens.

 

[Texasmark1]

The turpentine reduces the viscosity allowing it to penetrate better and then evaporates.

 

[showcrop]

(quoted from post at 18:16:48 06/19/17) The turpentine reduces the viscosity allowing it to penetrate better and then evaporates.

Yes, that is very basic grade school physics for pretty much all liquids, yet there are properties other than viscosity which can greatly affect how a liquid can penetrate a solid. For example adding detergent to water makes it penetrate wood or paper far better than pure water.

 

[sourgum]

Have used a product by brand " Flood " for decks and wood fence, it worked great and looked great. Had four choices of color tint, one was natural color. It is available at big box stores and our local hardware had it in stock. Linseed oil might attract all kinds of insects on a deck. Flood preservative will slightly darken wood.

 

[da.bees]

All you'll gain from linseed oil on it is a place to bust your a$$ when it has dew on it. Forget about playing chemist and buy deck treatment product.

 

[Married2Allis]

Linseed will yellow and darken, and on hot days the spots where it did not absorb into the wood -- it will become sticky.

The water-based sealers are more popular over oil-based, so if you buy an oil-based product now ... in 2 years it be may discontinued.
I've used Flood, Cabot's, or Olympic with similar results.

 

[rustyfarmall]

I built a new deck, waited one full year, and then painted it. Gave it a second coat one year later. 2 years later, the deck still looks very good.

 

[JMOR]

Very slick when wet, turns black, too.

 

[grandpa Love]

Pressure treated wood decks shouldn't be painted. Stain is way to go. Paint sits on top of pt lumber. When it gets wet lumber expands then when it dries paint pops off. Stain soaks in and stays. Also on older decks products like " restore" are no good. We have replaced a bunch of decks that had that on em. Rots wood fast. On new treated lumber you don't need to wait a year like the old stuff check treatment company website for time frame. Some are as soon as 6 weeks

 

[Michael Soldan]

Well, I read the posts and everyone is entitled to their opinion. I use Boiled Linseed oil and varsol 50/50 and I melt a bar of parafin wax into the mix.You must get the wax molten and slowly stir small amounts of varsol into the wax. It is wax that turns water and beads it,the linseed oil will absorb into the wood. If you have puddles it won't dry and you will have sticky spots, that is an application issue and not the product , I never have this happen with 50/50 mix. My deck and stairs to the beach get it every year. You can actually add stain dye to the mix for coloration. Several comments about the darkening of wood, well there isn't much you can put on wood that doesn't change the color other than a urathane and it won't stand up outside. I have never found my deck to be slippery,again an application issue, you need the oil to be absorbed and thats why it is cut with varsol. I used this mixture on my hay wagons as well. The beach stairs are twelve years old and look like new , they have darkened with 11 applications, I have never experienced green mould and moss where I have used linseed oil. Paint means scrapping and repainting, stain means redoing every two years..linseed oil is an easy application,I use my garden sprayer and spray it on,use a paint roller to smooth it out. This is my opinion,I am pleased with the results, but everybody do your own thing !

 

[rustyfarmall]

(quoted from post at 08:00:41 06/20/17) Pressure treated wood decks shouldn't be painted. Stain is way to go. Paint sits on top of pt lumber. When it gets wet lumber expands then when it dries paint pops off. Stain soaks in and stays. Also on older decks products like " restore" are no good. We have replaced a bunch of decks that had that on em. Rots wood fast. On new treated lumber you don't need to wait a year like the old stuff check treatment company website for time frame. Some are as soon as 6 weeks

I beg to differ. Pressure treated wood CAN be painted, but you MUST wait one full year for all the moisture to eveaporate out of the wood. When water no longer beads up on pressure treated wood, THEN it can be painted, but you MUST use a water based paint, that is rated for porch and deck. We used tudor brown, right off the shelf at our local True-Value.

 

[kcm.MN]

Agreed.

 

[David G]

I think there are much better products out now instead of linseed oil.

 

[JML755]

I'll second the CWF (by Flood) for decks. I put mine in 30 years ago. I used "Clear" CWF every couple of years. Then one year I decided to try their "Cedar" version. BIG MISTAKE! It looked good for the 1st year but after that it started to flake off. I pressure washed it couple of years later figuring I'd get rid of it and go back to "Clear". This was back in the '90s. Successive pressure washing every few years has gotten rid of the flaking but you can still see where the CWF stain soaked in differently (around knots, etc) . I just pressure washed it last weekend and it's still splotchy in some areas. I'll be coating with CWF (Clear) this weekend. The splotchy areas will not be as visible once it's freshly coated.