Consumers were looking for a great deck varnish 10 years ago and listened to the salesman about Sikkens wood preserving varnish. How did that do after 10 years on a deck in Maryland? NOT very well.

The Sikkens varnish product simply traps water behind the layers. The varnish crumbles up after just a few years. This is a very common problem with this product and other chemical based varnishes. Epoxy 2 or 3 component type varnishes have much of the same problems in addition to being very hard to remove when you have to. The Linseed oil varnish will never crack, peel or trap moisture. You can maintain the varnish with the linseed wax too.

This is terrible damage caused by the Sikkens varnish. It simply trapped moisture along the screws caused the beautiful (and expensive) cedar deck to completely rot around all screws.

The material in the screws can also be a contributing factor to the wood decay. We recommend stainless steel screws for any exterior application. Linseed oil, varnish and linseed paint products have excellent rust inhibitors and would have prevented this problem too. In Europe, the linseed oil and paint is now used as undercoating on cars.