In this post we are going to give you 5 tricks to use wood varnish outdoors to make it look as good as artificial grass. They are very simple instructions that will help you to keep your floors, furniture, flower pots, wooden accessories… located in outdoor rooms in perfect condition and last longer.
Exterior wood care
Wood is a material with great architectural, decorative and furniture uses. Its durability and resistance makes it suitable for both indoor and outdoor use. But, to keep it looking like new and maintain its natural beauty, it is important to perform maintenance and cleaning tasks.
Moisture, dirt, dust, sunlight, pollution… are factors that damage exterior wood. If we do not protect it correctly against these factors, the durability and resistance of this material is seriously threatened. Special varnishes and paints add years of life to exterior wood.
Exterior wood cleaning
To protect the exterior wood from dust, stains, dirt… it is important to regularly clean the elements made of this material. This weekly cleaning helps us to prevent dust and dirt from penetrating the wood and aging it early.
Cleaning wood is very simple. Simply wipe (without rubbing) the wood surfaces with a cloth slightly dampened in a mixture of water and neutral soap or with special cleaning products for wood. This prevents dust from penetrating into the interior.
First trick: in case of accidental liquid spills or stains, the faster you act, the smaller the damage and the simpler the solution.
How to varnish exterior wood
In addition to the usual cleaning, exterior wood should be varnished once a year to protect it from humidity, sunlight and pollution. For this task we will need a special varnish for wood, a brush to apply the varnish, a sander or sandpaper, a spatula or a brush and a paint stripper to remove the previous layer of varnish.
Second trick: the darker the varnish you choose, the more protection it offers against ultraviolet rays.
First remove the previous coat of varnish or paint.
Before applying the wood varnish, it is essential to remove the previous layer of varnish or paint to obtain a good result. For this we use the stripper.
Third trick: If we sand the wood before applying the paint stripper, we will obtain better results.
The paint stripper will be applied with a brush in layers of about 2 mm thick. We let it act the time indicated in the instructions and once we see that it softens we remove it with a brush or a spatula. And we wash the surface until there is no trace of paint stripper.
Fourth trick: You should not apply the paint stripper on windy days or when it is very sunny. These weather conditions prevent it from softening and it will be very difficult to remove it.
Apply the special exterior wood varnish
Once we have removed the old varnish layer and sanded the surface, we clean the wood to remove dust. After these steps we can apply the new coat of varnish that will protect the exterior wood from scratches, humidity, ultraviolet rays…
Fifth trick: If the wood is very damaged, two or more new coats of varnish may be necessary. In this case it is very important before applying each coat to let the previous coat dry properly. For the first coat it is very useful to mix the varnish for wood with a little water, as it is more liquid it penetrates inside more easily increasing its protective character.
Do you use any other tricks to keep your exterior wood looking like new? Leave us a comment with your trick.
