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Treating wooden garden buildings – an easy guide

A garden building, whether it's a shed, potting shed, garden office or summer house, is an investment. And you want your investment to last as long as possible. That's why it's important to treat your wooden garden buildings to ensure they last as long as possible and you get the best possible value for money. You want to protect against both fungal decay and insect attack.

You have a few options when treating your wooden garden building. Here's our simple guide to treatments for your garden building:

1. Use a creosote substitute. A creosote substitute is probably one of the cheapest and most effective ways to protect your wooden garden building. If you want to use a sprayer, you may need to thin the creosote substitute with turpentine or similar (read the instructions first). The only downside of creosote substitutes – you're pretty limited on colour choice – unless you want brown!
2. Painting. Painting your garden building can create a really individual finish. You could use pale blue and white stripes on a summer house to achieve a seaside theme, or use a deep green to make your shed blend into the hedge behind. Whatever colour you choose, it may well be worth using a clear preservative on the wood first – just check that it can be painted over. You'll probably have to allow the preservative to dry for about two days before painting. Many paints designed for garden wood do both jobs in one. Avoid painting your garden building on both the outside AND inside, as this can trap moisture in the wood and cause it to rot from the inside.
3. An all-in-one product will include preservative, colour and a waterproof element, saving you time and effort. Do check that the product is suitable for the wood – some are not designed for use on planed wood, for instance.

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Most wooden garden buildings should be treated either before or after they have been erected, and then re-treated every year to ensure maximum protection. Do not treat if the wood is wet; allow several days for it to dry out before adding a water repellent treatment or you will seal moisture into the wood and encourage rotting.

Always read the instructions on any timber treatments you plan to use, and follow their safety instructions.