I posted this over on breaktime, but haven’t had much response. Hopefully I’ll get more response over here.
Last year we built a new helibase, that has exposed glulam beams on the exterior.
Per the contract specs, they were coated with three coats of Old Masters Spar Varnish. And, the finish had severe deterioration in the first year.
We would like to apply either more spar varnish, (or something else, if anyone has suggestions), to protect and seal the beams.
I have two questions:
1.) What prep do we need to do, prior to placing more coats?
2.) Are there other brands of Spar/Marine varnish that will hold up better?
Replies
Recoat
Sounds like a great job - I hope you can post a photo. Exterior finishes are short lived. To recoat - the usual - clean, sand, and apply product that was recently manufactured. I rarely do exterior work but I read that many prefer the Epifanes.
SA
Pictures
Here are a few pictures.
The base houses three medium helicopters, (think HUEY), and one heavy, (think Vtol or SkyCrane), roughly 50 Forest Service heli-rappelers, and the ground and aircrew for the helicopters. There are three pads for medium helicopters, and three for heavy helicopters, and a paved parking aea for fixed wing aircraft. Last summer the fixed wing parking was used for a Heavy helicopter. It can't be used for fixed wing aircraft yet, becaue the taxiway to it is still just gravel. But, the airport is supposed to pave the taxiway, in spring/summer 2013, so we might have it for the next fire season.
The big towers are for training the heli-rappelers. Typically when they are inserted, the pilot lands the aircraft close to the fire and they deship, drop their heavy bags, and hike the rest of the way. If there isn't a suitable landing spot close to the fire then pilot hovers, and they rappel in. They are far less likely to end up with serious injuries from the insertion than the smoke jumpers, who seem to get hurt every season.
There are some shots of the building, and a couple from a fire yesterday. One of the heli-rappelers on the skids just before they rappel from the helicopter, and one of the helicopter rigged with a bucket, and dropping water on the fire.
Last Photo
Wow ! Steep terrain !
Tricky flying . . . bucket cable horizontal. There's some Gs !
I know . . .
: )
The photo is side ways.
Seriously, not that I know much about it but , may have to just go with paint over the wood for more long term protection and less maintenance.
PS: Nice place you built. They are lucky to have such a great new building. Thanks for photos. Interesting stuff.
Let me start by saying that a clear finish is not a long lived finish for exterior use. Even the best--Epifanes-- lasts only a couple of years. A polyurethane finish like the Old Masters is a particularly poor choice. Poly varnishes rapidly deteriorate when exposed long term to the UV in sunlight. The varnish becomes cloudy, cracks and peels and loses adhesion. Take it from a life long boater that exterior clear finishes, particularly poly varnishes are not the thing to use unless you are committed to frequent maintenence.. In general, no clear finish will last much more than a year or two at the most.
Opaque finises like paint or opaque stains will have much longer durability and appearance.
I would suggest you remove all the poly varnish you used. Scraping is probably the best way or sanding wtih power sanding. Then re-coat using a good exterior paint or opaque exterior stain.
what is a good exterior varnish
It's a shame your project hasn't held up the way you expected,OLD MASTERS generally makes very good products,although I don't have any long term experience with their exterior spar varnish. I have never seen a spec sheet that is specific to a brand unless a builder or general contractor wants consistencey among numerous sub-contractors doing the same job.If it were me I would start with the the person who wrote the spec sheet,this probably won't get you anywhere so contact your retailer or old masters directley. You want old masters to evaluate the stuff neither one of has time to go into,and you want your retailer to give you the name of a painter in your area that does a lot of high end work. That painter should be able to evaluate what kind of prep work is nessasary to give you the look and life expectencey you want,in your local area,with materials available at a reasonable cost.What is reasonable?Marine spar varnishes that are what they say they are are pricey,around 80.00 per gallon,this may be why pirates say are so much.
Lets assume none of this works for you and you want the quick answer SIKKENS. Nationally available, reasonbly priced consisidering its performance,totally out of compliance with any EPA regulations,what more could you ask for?Don't get lost in the weeds about how to use the stuff.Think of it as a super exterior clear coat/varnish. why do I say that ,because I have used it over old masters stains,base coat paints,whatever. I have varnished flower boxes full of wet dirt that look brand new after three years without a hint of failure; Now that I think about it, I have used this product for 30? years without any failures.
If you are working on one those secret bases where everyone needs to be flown in and none of this works for you, I am avalaible for 3,500.00 per hour plus expensess
3,500.00 per hour plus expensess
Hey do you need a helper ? I can carry the brushes, make the coffee . . . even guess at the viscosity in a tight spot.
I'm not repelling in though !
No Sir. Nice soft landing on the landing pad suits me just fine.
Exterior Varnish and re varnish.
Have spent a lot of time working on boats. There are two keys to exterior surface coating with Varnish. (1) Put thin coats on ...a thick coat dries slowly, runs and is prone to absorbtion of anythng that happens to be in the wood or atmosphere at the time. Thin coats dry quickly and thoroughly and become harder quicker. (2) Use varnish with UV protection... Minnwax has Captains varnish with UV protection which I have used a lot, in Florida and the Carib. It holds up the best. Epihanes is not always good in a direct sun hot weather environment...it is a EU product and as such is good for the more nothern climates.
Surface preparation - take as much of the old varnish off as is possible with the time you have. It could very well be a bad mix that you got...but it sounds more like it was just put on too thick.
Good Luck! Looks like a beautiful place....spent many years working for the Naval Air Test Center, Pax River...but my job there was breaking things if possible!
I agree with the others that paint will be much more satisfactory. As mentioned remove failing varnish before applying a top quality paint. You could even consider a 2-K polyurethane paint. (NOT a single part polyurethane varnish where the poly resins used are not very UV resistant.
I agree that thin coats are best--for clear spar varnishes typically 6 to 8 coats would be required.
I strongly disagree about using a Minwax spar varnish--in tests it has been among the first to fail. Epifanes has consistently rated among the most long lived spar varnishes. The Minwax product is named Helmsman. Pettitt makes a spar named Captain's that is, along with Epifanes among the best of the spar varnishes. Interlux Schooner is another top rated spar varnish.
But, however good, any clear finish will require lots of maintainance. At least an annual sanding and refresher coat, with periodic (up to 5 years) requirement to strip and start over. So a quality paint is by far the most economical choice. Yes, varnish looks great for a while, but just about any thing looks better than failing varnish.
Me Too
Sorry, was a little dislexic there, wanted to make sure he didn't use the Minwax but did use the Pettit Captains...instead recomended the Minwax Captains....whew...long night.
Totally agree...if you want Varnish because of the asthetics then be ready to do the maintenance....good paint is probably the least amount of work. I am personally a West System expoxy freak...love the stuff....also Jewlers Ice is neat when you want to enjoy the wood grain. Both require clean wood to bond to but when they bond properly nothing can take them off.
Paint
" . . . paint will be much more satisfactory."
Is that why "The Pearl" was painted black? ;-)
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled