Thread: Water proofing hardwood post

Not trying to be a smart alec, but. How does the required waterproofing membrane work with that arrangement? Doesn't. So moisture will bet into the subframe of the house and it will slowly rot away.

You need to rethink your approach. By the way, air drying timber, at an estimate, is 1 year per inch + 1 year.

Cheers

Need some photos first please.
Was this post a recent addition or part of the structural frame of the wall/house?

Without seeing the layout of the shower, and it's dimensions, I would be very hesitant to suggest that the post (and any timber surrounding) would last very long without a waterproofing membrane.

Can you post a photograph of the shower?

20170129_192303.jpg

This is a new building so the post is part of 9 structural posts. I don't mind giving it a proper water proof membrane but i would of rathered to see the timber.
Height of that post in around 2.2m

Originally Posted by toast691

The tree was dropped 7months ago so it has done most of it's drying.

Not even close yet. The post looks like it's about 125mm in dia, so in about 3-4 years it would have been dry.

Its in a shower, it'll never dry.
(Ignore the woodies, they're all paranoid about wood getting wet.)

West system 105 resin and 207 clear hardener... It'll hold water out of balsa cored boats. Your main problem will arise in about 20 years with rot coming up off the unsealed end at the floor.
If you really want to do a job of it use the 105/207 combo, recoating while the last coat is still green, then allow to dry and sand back and hit it with a couple of coats of Epifanes varnish.

After about ten years of sun and water exposure and people walking over it with sandy feet it'll look about like this:

west 207.jpg

cause y'know, as much as I love my tung oil, I'm ultimately too lazy for finishes that arent hard wearing./

And another job in 105/207 by Sterlings Kayaks. It's a great mix, maybe not so easy to get right as a lot of the "normal" cabinetmaking 2 packs... but it wears hard, makes it great for bars and tabletops where the finish cops a bit of abuse.

west 105 207.jpg

Yeah, nah.

Not sure how you are going to waterproof that. You could take Johns advice and it might be ok, for a while. Your issue, as I see it is if you go down that path you still have the intersection with the floor to deal with, from a waterproofing perspective. The timber is not much better than straight of saw and will shrink, or at best change shape. It looks to me like a full limb log. As it dries it will crack along the pith and probably open up at the face. To be honest, I would think seriously about ripping it out and replacing it with a structural member. Waterproof it properly and move on. It would be a shame to have to rebuild it in 5 or 10 years because it didn't work. It will also be a bucket more expensive than doing it properly now.

My 2c worth.

Yeah, nah.

It's a Bloodwood post, which is what bloodwood is best for - posts, shed posts, pole house posts, bridge girders, power poles - that kinda thing. It's a structural round, being round it gets an automatic knock back to F17 due to the assumption of pith failure. Heart free Bloodwood (assuming no other grade limiting characteristics) will run at F22. It's been down a few months, so any free water is gone and its below 20% MC, and its going into a bathroom. I'd not be suprised if it took up moisture rather then had any shrinkage issues, but in any case I cant see much more shrinkage occuring. The only shrinkage that occurs in rounds is radial, which isnt much of an issue anyway. And its Bloodwood - class 1 in ground timber. It'll last a lot better then much anything else without much help at all, though last and look pretty arent the same thing.


Major issue I see with it is that the sapwood is going to want to decay which wont be a structural issue but will be unsightly. Was it me I'd have run the sap off it with an adze, or treated the sap to H5, but its a little late for that now.

Was it my house I'd chance it, with the understanding that I might be in there later chipping the sapwood off and recoating the heartwood. But I've been wrong before and.. it's not my house.

That my friend is trouble with a capital T !!!!!!!!!!

As has been said, it is nowhere seasoned yet,it will crack, shrink away from your sheeting/tiling capillary attraction will draw water into the faintest of cracks and before you know it, no more structural post. I have spent the last 10 years of my working life rectifying water problems in bathrooms, balconies,etc and I have seen some absolutely horrendous things done in the name of "good building, alternative methodology and waterproofing practice". Either build a box around it and not attached to it or sheet at 45deg, use correct waterproofing techniques and products and good to go.

Originally Posted by toast691

20170129_192303.jpg

I really like what you're trying to achieve, but exposed in a shower -- forget it

rip it out and start over.

Frame and sheet your shower with square corners.
Fully waterproof the enclosure -- including using bond breakers at every angle.
Quarter the post you want to keep exposed and chisel (an aze is probably the tool to use) the pith off the inside corner.
waterproof the quarter round post like John suggests.
install the quarter round post as though it were one big tile.
Tile and grout the rest of the shower.

You'll now have a shower enclosure which is likely to stay waterproof thereby protecting the rest of your dwelling.

and you'll have an exposed "post" that looks like one of the poles supporting your house


Best of both worlds , me thinks

Thanks for all the input. Because it seems so uncertain I'm going to go the safe option and box the post in. I would prefer the building last as long as possible. Thanks all!

Hi. I've built our place the same (Not in the shower though). With full round logs up to 400 diametre Stringy bark poles. None of them have split open. What they do when they dry is star crack internally and the outer stays intact. Not one of the 20 logs have splits on the outside in the 17 years they've been in place. Having said that; I can't speak for bloodwood but that's my experience.IMG_20150306_081527_231.jpg
They do move though, for sure but not much. Some more than others. The straighter the grain the better. I left mine unsealed for 10 years. I don't know if that helped or not. One thing I'm wondering is if Tile and grout sealer would do the bottom of it. Get something to make a reservoir (praps no more gaps to run a bead on the floor around the bottom of the post about 20mm out from the post) and keep filling it with sealer till it stops soaking it up. That's my thoughts.
Tim

could you put a sheet of perspex over the timber to prevent it from getting wet but still allowing the post to be seen and the waterproofing membrane to be made.