Wood saturator is a product used to protect wood against the elements and the sun's UV rays. This protection is made possible by its technical quality, its ability to impregnate the wood and its anti-UV pigmentation. This is the only way it can protect, saturate and nourish the wood at the same time. Years after applying a wood saturator to a surface, however, you may feel the urge to remove it and move on to something else. Anova Bois sheds some light on the subject.
Why remove a wood saturator?
There are a number of reasons why you might want to remove a wood saturator from an appliance to which it has been applied.
To bring out the natural colour of the wood
Over time, you may get tired of the appearance of your wooden terrace, cladding or garden furniture, especially if you have saturated it with a pigment. You may be tired of seeing the same colours over and over again. You may want to do a bit of renovation to get a newer look that's more in keeping with current trends. Or you may want to bring out the natural colour of the wood used to make your furniture. To do this, you'll need to remove or renovate the saturator that was applied.
Blackened or "Greying wood" Bois noirci ou « grisé »BLACKENED OR "GREYING" WOOD
The protective effects of wood saturators can fade if it is not regularly maintained or if it has been applied for a long time. Because the wood is no longer well protected against the elements, it can start to blacken or grey. Black spots are caused by the growth of mould on the wood as a result of contact with water, humidity and sunlight. It can also occur if you have used a poor quality protective oil, varnish, wood stain or saturator to saturate the wood. It can also happen if you use a 100% vegetable oil product, such as linseed oil, which is much more susceptible to mould growth and is more fragile. Wood near vegetation or under trees tends to quickly become covered in moss, also known as biofilm. The dull, greyish appearance is caused by intense exposure to the sun, and when the wood is no longer, or hardly ever, protected by the saturator. Generally speaking, if the wood turns black or grey, the saturator needs to be removed (or renewed) in order to renovate the surface.
Uneven appearance of the saturator
As the wood saturator ages, it may appear uneven on the surface of the saturated finish. This may be due to rubbing caused by traffic on a terrace, for example. It may also be due to uneven exposure to the elements, causing uneven ageing. The result is that the saturator is no longer present in certain areas of the wood surface. The result is no longer pleasant to look at. Maybe it’s time to desaturate the treated wood, or even renovate it and repaint it.
Our tips removing a saturator from its substrate
Here are a few tips to help you effectively remove saturator from the surface to which it has been applied.
Use a cleaning product suitable for wood saturators
There are several cleaning products on the market for removing wood saturation. For example, on the Anova Bois online shop, you will find Nettoyant N100 wood cleaner and Nettoyant N140 concentrated cleaner. Both of these products effectively remove damaged saturators, oil-based saturators or vegetable oils applied to the surface. Nettoyant N100 Wood Cleaner and Nettoyant N140 Cleaner remove black stains, moss, mould and dirt from wood. They act as degreasers and oil removers, removing grease and oily finishes. N140 Concentrated Cleaner is more concentrated than N100 Cleaner and should be diluted. Warning: these two products should not be used on tannic wood.
Sanding
Apart from using a suitable cleaning product such as N100 or N140 from Anova Bois, you can resort to a more radical solution. This is sanding. This solution requires just a little physical effort and the right equipment. It involves sanding the wood over the entire surface or in places where traces of the saturator are still present or problematic. This operation removes all the imperfections from the surface of the wood and restores the raw wood.
The steps to follox for well-protected wood
There are several steps to removing saturator from wood that has been coated several times and is ready for renovation or maintenance. The first is to clean the surface with a wood cleaner, or to sand, to restore the surface to a clean, healthy and relatively even condition.
If you're using N100 Cleaner, you can apply it directly after shaking the product well. But if you've opted for N140 Wood Cleaner, you'll need to dilute it as it's a concentrated solution. The dilution ratio is one part concentrate to three parts water. However, depending on the condition of the old saturator applied, and the degree of dirtiness or blackening of the surface, it's a good idea to dilute the product less (1 part concentrate to 1 part water, for example) to obtain a more concentrated, "aggressive" mixture.
Then leave the cleaner to work for 20 to 30 minutes. Make sure it doesn't dry out during this time. To avoid this, we advise you to carry out the operation very early in the morning, or away from the sun. Alternatively, you can spray on a little water to keep the surface moist. The next step is to rinse. Rinse thoroughly with a water jet or high-pressure cleaner, without getting the nozzle too close to the wood, especially for terraces, cladding or garden furniture. The final stage is drying. Leave the surface to dry for at least 24 hours before applying another product.
Note that sometimes it's not easy to remove all the old saturator. Not 100%. This is not a serious problem, and the application of a new wood saturator with good adhesion and penetrating power should be able to cover the residual presence of the old product. A test application is always advisable.
