Easier Deck Finishing
Q: What can I do with a deck that’s just a few inches off the ground? Stain never lasts on this wood and I think it’s because moisture keeps coming up from the earth.
A: You’re probably right about the moisture. If you read the fine print on many deck stains, it specifies a minimum height above the ground and it’s always more than just a few inches. So given the fact that your deck is so close to the earth, I’d recommend what I call a non-stain approach. Pressure wash and sand the deck back to bare wood, then do one of two things.
First, you could simply leave the wood untreated. Many people have the mistaken impression that deck stain makes wood last longer. It doesn’t, it just makes the wood look nicer. The problem with leaving wood bare is that you’ll get uneven weathering that doesn’t necessarily look nice.
A second option, and it’s the one I recommend in your case, is to use something called Eco Wood Treatment. This unusual Canadian product comes as a powder that you mix with water, then slosh onto the wood. I use a pump-up weed sprayer for applying it. In a few hours the wood will slowly start changing colour. In several months it will have darkened to an even, weathered grey kind of look. There’s nothing to peel off and you only ever need to do the treatment once.
Eco Wood Treatment is supposed to help preserve the wood, but it’s hard to verify how effectively it does this. I’ve used it for colouring outdoor wood projects for more than 10 years and it works great. The product now also comes in different colours, so you’ve got something beyond just the basic weathered grey look. My only caution is that Eco Wood creates a fairly informal appearance. It’s more refined than natural weathering, but not as fancy as a deck stain. If you try it and don’t like it you can always finish the deck in the usual way with a stain.
Q: What kind of cordless impact wrench do you recommend for changing auto tires? I swap my own tires in the fall and spring and I’m tired of using a hand wrench.
A: Cordless impact wrenches are gaining in popularity because they provide a faster, easier way to loosen and tighten nuts of all kinds. Any models I’ve used work fine for the semi-annual job of changing tires. I’ve used both the Milwaukee and DEWALT 1/2” impact wrenches personally and they have more than enough power to remove the toughest wheel nuts. The thing is, there’s more to tightening wheel nuts than meets the eye. You can use your cordless impact wrench to partially tighten the wheel nuts, but you need something else to get the tightness of the nuts just right – not too loose nor too tight. This is where a hand tool called a torque wrench comes in.
Many vehicles are supposed to have wheel nuts tightened to 80 foot-pounds of tension. Check online for your particular vehicle. Too loose and the nuts might come loose while driving. Too tight and the studs that the nuts thread onto might break. The torque wrench I use is adjustable, and makes a clicking sound when the rated level of torque is applied to the nut. I bought mine from Lee Valley Tools for less than $75. Just to be safe, check the tightness of the nuts with your torque wrench again after 80 kms of driving.
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