Hot water on wood?

I know this has been covered before. But mixed reports have me confused.The way i understand it hot water opens up the pours of wood. This is good because the wood can absorb more stain. Why do most people use cold? I have asked a few people about this and they say damage occurs to the wood with hot water.This is why most avoid it. Is their information available about this somewhere that i can read.If hot water is a plus for the wood I'd like to use it myself. If this is not needed then i could due without the extra expense.Thanks in advance for any help or input I may recieve on this matter.

While some contractors use hot water all the time and some cold all the time I think that each has its place. While hot water can help to open the pores of the wood it also tends to soften the wood fibers createing fuzzies and raising splinters more than cold water. The use of a neutralizing brightner like oxalic acid will open the pores of the wood and should be used upon completion of cleaning or stripping. Where hot water can be invaluable is in removing and stripping tough finishes from wood. While somme finishes will come off easily with most strippers and cold water there are some finishes that are stubborn and hot water will greatly enhance your chances for removing these finishes. My suggestion would be to use cold water on most jobs with the proper chemicals and reserve hot water only for removing tough fnishes.

Back in time when hot water machines were just starting out in this field, the people who had them used the knowledge that hot water cleaned better than cold water. This was a selling point to get the contract. The people who did not have a hot water machine and could not afford to buy one started coming up with negative theories to enhance their cold water machines and reasons why to use them instead of the hot water machines. Throughout the years many of these theories have gone by the wayside. About the only one remaining today is the one about hot water doing damage to wood.
There has been no tests or studies made, that I know of, on hot water Vs cold
water cleaning. There have been tests and studies conducted concerning the use of high
pressure steam and the damaging effects it has to wood. I believe that this is why the last remaining myth about hot water damaging wood is staying around so long. There is a big difference between hot water and high pressure steam.
Here are a few things that we have found concerning the use of hot water:
#1. Chemicals mix better in hot water. #2. Strippers work better and faster when mixed with hot water. Most manufactures of strippers will tell you that heat will activate the stripper faster, therefor requiring less dwell time. #3. Hot water cleans better, therefore requiring less pressure to be used. ( Less pressure means less damage to the wood.)
As for the felting of the wood substrate. There are numerous reasons on what
causes felting. #1. The type of stripper used, #2. bleach. #3. Pressure at point of contact.#4. Condition of wood before pressure washing. #5. Is the product that is on, holding the moisture in the wood causing a soft substrate? Anyone of these factors along with a few other conditions can cause felting. We have stripped and cleaned many, many decks and homes with both hot and cold water. Some felt, some don’t, some felt more than others. If the wood substrate is going to felt, it won’t make any difference if you use hot or coldwater. In all our jobs, defelting is a normal step in our procedure.
The choice of the two machines is up to you to decide. Keep in mind that a hot
water machine can also be use as a cold water machine. To change a gold water machine
to a hot water unite, you’ll have to buy a hot box, so where is your saving?

Jim Bilyeu
Exterior Woodcare


<FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">[This message has been edited by Jim Bilyeu on July 16, 2000 ]</font>

Jim,

What process and tools do you prefer to use to "defelt" a deck ??




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Mike Hughes
Everclear
Souderton, PA

Good Morning Mike, As I have stated before, the only decks we are doing at this time are the ones attached to the log homes that we restore. Once we have everything stripped and cleaned, we apply a treatment of Tim-Bor. Tim -Bor helps prevent rotting of the wood, bug infestation and helps retard fungas grouth. Tim-Bor will also stiffen up the felting. Once this has been applied, we let it dry. To defelt a log home we use a varable speed buffer with a special 9 inch buffing pad attached, and just buff it out. For the bigger decks we us a 29 inch floor buffer with a black floor buffing pad. We do the railing with the 9 incher and also any pick up that has to be done. The Tim-Bor really helps the felting come off easy. I know this sounds like a lot of work and it is. The decks and the logs come out beautiful. This is how we do it and this is one of the reasons we get paid the high dollars for our work. When using this procedure, you must remember that you have the pores opened, don't burn your wood with the buffer and close them back up again. Hope this has answered your question.

Jim Bilyeu
Exterior Woodcare

<FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">[This message has been edited by Jim Bilyeu on July 17, 2000 ]</font>