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Best way to Seal a wood play structure

cabaiguan juan

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Aug 30, 2006
Messages
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We have a cedar wood fort (google Sky Fort 2). I need to coat it with a sealer. I have a garden sprayer but the sealer didn’t work well when I tried to spray it- clumpy, sporadic and the sprayer clogged. I’m afraid that I’ll need to use a paint brush to spread the sealer which will take a good bit of time and ladder repositioning. Does anyone have any tricks or ideas that will help me do this faster?18123AFF-F959-4E60-A2DD-EE9563699041.jpeg
 
I’ve tried it both ways over the years. I always come back to the brush and roller. I’ve tried a few different kinds of sprayers on my deck, boathouse and walkway to the boathouse but it always ended up a mess with runs and oversprays.
Good luck!
 
Are your worried about rot/decay or appearance?
If your only concern is rot/decay cedar is dot resistant naturally.
If it is appearance go with a transparent or semi transparent cedar colored stain , make sure it is dry you will fight it if its not. I would either try that in a sprayer , or get an extended reach roller so you don't have to move the ladder that much.
 
You can rent sprayers from the big box stores if you want another option to keep from rolling it on.

If you want to use your pump up sprayer, might have to thin it a bit for your ambient temperature.
 
I would say brush and roller too. By the time you mask off everything you don't want the sealer on you could have the thing done.
 
Tried many sprayers over the years keep going back to rollers and brushes. Using more rollers now and using the small 2-3" rollers where i would normally use a brush.
 
I've used a brush, more than anything else. Easier coverage for me. If you're going the roller way, make alsure it's a stain roller and you get the appropriate nap length.

They also make a stain applicator, looks like a 9 inch sponge on a roller handle. Remember, water runs everywhere, so be geneeous with the stain.

Have fun :)
 
I've used a brush, more than anything else. Easier coverage for me. If you're going the roller way, make alsure it's a stain roller and you get the appropriate nap length.

They also make a stain applicator, looks like a 9 inch sponge on a roller handle. Remember, water runs everywhere, so be geneeous with the stain.

Have fun :)
Agreed on the stain roller and nap length!!
 
Use stain and not a sealer! Haven’t found one yet that doesn’t peel and look like shit after a year or so, no matter what tips and requirements I perform.
 
Thinner.

If you're going to spray, you need to thin. As a former painter, what I remember is that we used 1 part solvent (whatever that happened to be) to 3 parts product for our airless sprayers.

Hope that helps.

~Boar
 
Thinner.

If you're going to spray, you need to thin. As a former painter, what I remember is that we used 1 part solvent (whatever that happened to be) to 3 parts product for our airless sprayers.

Hope that helps.

~Boar

Manufacturers today only recommend thinning their products to a max of 10%. They do a pretty good job watering down their products from the factory...
 
I don't GAF what manufacturers recommend, lol.

I'm telling you what, working with the products as painters, we actually DID.

Or you can do this and get pretty much the same answer:

maxresdefault.jpg

~Boar
 
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I don't GAF what manufacturers recommend, lol.

I'm telling you what, working with the products as painters, we actually DID.

Or you can do this and get pretty much the same answer:

View attachment 26028

~Boar

We used to thin paint to about the same ratio, but trying to do that with paints today in CA you will have a product that looks like your brush wash bucket. All the good stuff has been taken out of the paint in CA, so you don't paint with any kind of substance.
 
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