Sometimes when you work in an industry long enough you think that an answer to a question is obvious. This is the case when we have customers ask us "Do we need to paint that?", in reference to a exterior treated timber product that they have purchased off of us.

The answer to this question is always YES (unless you want your product to deteriorate quickly). The reason why this is the case is that the treatment that is used on these products is only a surface treatment. If you leave your product unpainted, then fairly quickly it will start to crack (and probably also warp) which will then result in water getting into the crack, and as the treatment is only on the surface the water will then start causing the inside of the product to rot.

A product that is painted (and then re-painted when it starts to look a bit tired) will stop this water from penetrating into the un-treated section of it, and as a result will allow the product to look good for a long time.

If you take a look at the photos below you can see a photo of a ball capital that we sell. It is not hard to tell which one has been painted and which one has not.

We recommend that you talk to your local paint supplier as to which paint will work best for you.