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Are You Caring for the Wood in Your Home Properly?

If you decorate with wood in your home, you probably love how natural it is. Wood is long-lasting, classic, and beautiful, whether it’s a shiplap wall in your living room or a reclaimed wood table in your dining room. This versatile material is a common and popular choice for many purposes in the home. However, as wonderful as wood is, it needs some special care if it is going to last a long time. If you want your wood to last as long as possible, here are some things that you have to keep in mind.

Insects Love Wood

There are a lot of insects that crave wood. This means that they can deteriorate the wood over time. Carpenter ants will often set up nests in between the walls of a building. Termites like to form colonies within the wood, with some examples of established colonies actually being in the wood of abandoned buildings for generations and having thousands of members. Bark beetles will usually take up residence in a dead tree, but they normally will not damage residential wood. Finally, powderpost beetles will bore into the wood and will destroy it by turning it into dust.  

No Perfect Protection

Although there are ways to keep insects at bay, there is no perfect protection for wood that will fix the problem completely. Wood rot will eventually occur to all types of wood. Even fences require regular treatment, despite the fact fences are designed to be outside at all times. There are definitely ways to slow down the decay. Regular maintenance will definitely help the wood to last longer.

Wood Finish Breakdown

The first thing that will happen to your wood would be a deteriorating finish. One of the ways you can prevent this would be through maintaining the finish regularly. There is one main misconception you should be aware of: just because wood is new doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be maintaining it. Once the signs of wear are there, it is going to be much more difficult to restore the wood. This is because wood is often worn down by exposure to human skin. Body oils can break down the wood and turn it dark. Regular staining of even new wood can prevent this from happening.

The gist of this is that you should always maintain your wood and it will be good to you and last much longer. Don’t be afraid to reach out to a professional inspector who can examine your wood for insect activity or other signs of deterioration.