How do you measure the moisture content ? Do you have a moisture meter or do you have to guess ?
[snip]
BTW, the Interlux instructions for applying varnish over epoxy say that
From the page at:
http://www.jamestowndistributors.co...o?docId=307&title=Applying+Varnish+-+Interlux
-Sven
Hi Sven,
Moisture meters run the gambit from cheap junk to high tech stuff - bet you never heard that before...
A friend who works with wood daily has given me some basic guidance as I look around. Don't buy a Chinese made one on eBay - you get what you pay for.... , but that said, you should be able to find a decent basic one for $50+. The most basic have probes that actually put little holes into the wood. The more expensive types move away from this. To do something like FRP, you get into a whole new level of meters. JR Overseas is a source of FRP type meters, amongst other things:
http://www.jroverseas.com/
He did recommend searching over at woodweb. I hit their knowledge base with this search, and got some interesting stuff to keep you busy:
http://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/sear...&Terms=moisture+meter&submit.x=14&submit.y=17
Plus there are forums to check out.
A final thought on the Smith's. It doesn't produce amine blush like the West System, so it shouldn't be an issue with the varnish adhering. It sounds like the teak did not absorb the Smith's in Del's case.
Del - I'm thinking maybe we are sharing a similar problem with the toe rail. I think I'm wet from the inside out. It looks like water has saturated it around bung holes and also wicking up from underneath. I think it is time to run a bead of caulk down the inner edge between the toe rail and deck so deck run off doesn't work underneath and wick up from under the wood. I can sand it down, it looks dry, the varnish goes on and the film maintains integrity, but water then shows up within the year as bubbles under the film. You can push them around with your fingers. Cool for the first two seconds of discovery until it clicks what you're looking at.