Thread: Merbau tannis leeching into pool

You could try to get some Australian red mahogany, it is one of the few hardwoods that does not release timber stain, is a durabilty 2 timber & is fairly common on the NSW nth coast
Regards inter

Originally Posted by coasta007

Hello all,

What a great wealth of knowledge you guys share on this forum. Hopefully i can help out some day.

Before posting my first post, i've gone through many many threads about merbau decking.
i understand that the tannins leach out of the timber can stain the surroundings.

I'm building a deck around my pool. I have off white travatine (Natural Stone) copers around the edging of the pool and the deck will butt up against the copers. There will be an approximate gap of 3 to 5mm between the deck timber and the copers. I want to use Merbau decking but i'm a little reluctant to use it because of the tannin leaching problems i've read about.


If the tannin leaches out of the timber, there is nothing below which it can stain apart from dirt which is around 3 meters down. My only concern is that it may get on your feet as you walk on it and then onto the tiles and then finally into the pool.

would there be a chance that the tannin could end up in the pool and on the travatine from your feet. Merbau seems like a fairly tough timber but dont know how it would go with the pool water splashing on it. I've read about various methods of stopping/reducing the tannin leaching so i'll be trying those methods out and see how it goes.

Thanks
Coasta007

It only leeches while it is green. after one season you will find it doesn't leech. If you seal the stone that it adjoins you could wash it off.

Also seal the mirbau this will prevent alot of the staining. it wouldn't mater if it goes in the pool as it is only water.
Regards
Jamie

besides the stains, how many orang-outangs died to provide your decking? why not use an aussie hardwood !

Thanks for your replies. I would have loved to go for spotted gum or some other aussie hardwood but the cost of the pool blew out a bit so merbau it is.

I have done the same I sealed the stone and built the deck but it as still leached into the stone does anybody know how I can get rid of the staining