Subject: (Porch Post Splits)
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000Hello:
My wife and I are the happy new owners of the Victorian house pictured in the attached WORD file. It is really sound, having been restored by the previous owner, but there is severe weathering with some of the porch posts. As you can see in the picture, the handrails extend down the steps and go into upright, turned posts. Those posts are painted, but here in New Hampshire are constantly exposed to rain and snow. The top, which is the end grain, has deep splits into which the paint can not fully penetrate. Can you recommend one (or more) of your products to seal off the top of these exposed posts? What I have in mind is some sort of epoxy which could be injected and then perhaps sanded when dry to eliminate the cracks. Thanks for your help!! You have a great website, and I am sure that you are no strangers to bad weather living up in the Northwest, and so have encountered this problem before.
Bruce H. (please see attached file)Bruce,
We would need the picture as a jpeg file to open at this end. We're still Macintosh users and have trouble with Word files.
Anyway, the answer to your question is a simple one, even without seeing the picture. You would remove paint from the areas you wish to treat, make sure the wood is reasonably dry, and then saturate the surface and all cracks and crevices with our CPES (Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer). The CPES will flow deeply into the wood, solidify any soft or deteriorated wood, eliminate bacteria and fungi, and prevent the wood from absorbing enough moisture in the future to support any kind of biological activity. The posts will be immune to rot. No re-application of the CPES will be necessary.
You would then repaint, using the CPES as the base coat. The CPES as a base-coat will double the life you get out of the paint.
If you wish to fill the cracks we strongly recommend an epoxy filler, because then you'll get a continuous bonded structure from the CPES-treated wood on out. Our Fill-It Epoxy Filler will work very well, and is price-competitive with any epoxy fillers available. It cures in 24 hours and can be sanded before painting.
Yeah, we do have a lot of rain out here, but it doesn't match the brutal conditions you have in the Northeast. I'm an Northeast refugee (CT) and I know how bad it can get there. The CPES, thoroughly applied, will solve your problem. You can order by phone, fax or our secure-on-line order form. My best guess would be the 2-quart unit of the CPES and probably the 2-pint unit of the Epoxy Filler.
Come on back if you have additional questions.
Doc