Wooden gates - care

Wooden gates surface condition can substantially affect the performance and hence the life expectancy of the finish. You'll expect your new timber gates to last for many years.

Choosing the top rated coverings will produce the top ranking lifetime. Wood is a natural, beautiful and renewable resource, long lasting when properly protected from the British climate. Best advice is to carefully choose suitable treatment for your wooden gates surfaces.

Choose the best material for your wooden gates. A first coat should be used before exposing any timber gates to the British climate's weather. New wooden gates should be protected from the weather before, during and after construction. It is seldom necessary to carry out extensive surface preparation providing the wood has not weathered for more than two weeks and is clean and dry.

Weathered new wooden gates that have been exposed to the elements for longer than a week may have a degraded surface that is unsuitable for painting. Then you would expect to prepare the surface by sanding, brushing, and washing timber gates before applying the finish.

Better to do it right first time. After all you don't want treatment wooden gates as an annual job to do on top of what you probably have already.  Good quality pigmented timber preservatives have been a popular choice for many years now. The best ones are the proven ones. You can find the best by asking an expert - if you can find one. A micro porous variety should be used for best results on wooden gates. The combination of preservative and colour along with the finish being micro porous seems an attractive alternative.

Water is the biggest problem for all timber constructions in the outdoors - treatment - wooden gates are no exception.

The power of water vapour is amazing, we all know what it can do when applied to one of those steam trains. Small wonder it can push off paint from wooden gates without too much trouble. So keep it at bay in the first place. next