Category: Decks and Porches
Better Than New with Ipe Deck Oil
For a few years now, we have been sharing our tips on ipe deck oil finishing. Rule number 4 discusses the importance of maintaining the ipe deck annually. This picture show’s one of our annual ipe deck oil finish masterpieces, which Todd insists on personally servicing. This one gets inspected and worked as needed in the [...]
Todd’s Exotica.
Today, Todd was gracious enough to let me tag along as the oil finisher on a mahogany deck that he has been carefully cleaning up for a pre-winter maintenance coat in a harsh, lakeside exposure. I have applied penetrating oils to many species of exotic woods on custom lakeside decks over the years. This particular [...]
Weekend Project: Pressure Washing my Deck
Ok, actually, stripping my deck. I am a paint contractor, but I am also a homeowner. With a never ending “honey do” list. This one has been on the list for…well, a while. What better time to tackle it than when the truck is already loaded up from wood restoration projects all over Chittenden County [...]
Fir Porch Floor Restoration
Can’t say it enough…pressure washing is such a cool service to integrate into a paint contracting company. Today, we brought back to life a rather tired old tongue and groove porch floor in Burlington. We will be restoring this porch over the course of the next week. It’s beginning to feel alot like summer.
Tis the Season for Ipe Finishing
It comes every year… Exterior wood finishing season sure brings the bittersweet reward of intense immediate gratification after hours of tedious prep in extreme heat. This is an example of a properly maintained ipe deck. Typically, we will apply oil to 6 courses of the deck at a time, which puts us in about a 15 minutes [...]
Ipe Deck Finish: 5 things not to do
In my little corner of the northeast, ipe has built quite a presence as a choice decking product on homes. I’ve lost track of how many miles the l.f. translates to that we have handled in prefinishing and then field maintained.
As these decks age, and their finishes fade, homeowners are often concerned that what they considered to be a pricy investment has gradually started to look more like the silvery gray outdoor furniture.
For some reason, this season I have been asked more questions about ipe finishing by homeowners and colleagues than ever before. To the point that I thought it would be easiest to just create a post.
Screened Porch Wood Restoration – Lake Champlain
In the spirit of our custom exterior services for exotic natural wood species, Topcoat employees John and Sam recently completed a very special lakeside octagon screened porch ceiling restoration. The eight sections of the ceiling culminate in a single point in the peak, from which is mounted a ceiling fan. The ceiling material is fir [...]
Deck Restoration (2009)
Decks and porches have really come into their own in recent years as practical and appealing extensions of indoor living spaces. We have learned to “bring the outdoors in” and also to “bring the indoors out.” Pressure washing is a misunderstood component in home maintenance. This article helps to clarify some of the myths and [...]
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