New trailer floor treatment

[eazyduzzit]

I've got a trailer that I've used for hauling mulch for over 12 years, and the treated wood is still in pretty good shape.
Mulch is probably harder on wood than anything you could haul other than old busted up car batteries.

 

[Giles]

I installed a rough sawn white oak floor on my 14' equipment trailer. I just leave it in the sun in summertime and use 30# used motor oil. Has worked for about 5 years. Still looks good.

 

[clemsonfor]

At the beginning of this summer i treated mine as the PT wood was drying out and greying up like it does. My trailer was prolly august of 09 manufacture as i bought it in sept 09, none of the normal little rust had started yet and it had just arrived at dealer a few days before i picked it up, i know as i was there earlier in the week and there were none there.

That being said i used a mix of used oil out of my used oil bucket. Which at that time prolly had used deisel, 10-40, 10-30, and 5-30. All vehicles other than the highlander make black used oil so it was black, not deisel black but black. And i used off road deisel. i think i used that first time 50/50 deisel/oil or maybe 60/40 deisel oil. I might recoat next year depending on what it looks like. It does take weeks to soak in, and is a little slipperyer than plain wet wood when wet, but not bad tractor still crawls up on it. I wanted the offroad fuel as the red tint kind of shows through and the oil gives it a darker Oak stained look. The water beads up better and it does not look so dry in the hot sun here in SC. Everything i used was free, i had the old oil in my wast bucket and i aquired a deisel jug filled with offroad fuel of questionable age so it was used up as burn fuel as well as for this purpose. I prolly only used a quart or so, and i put it into a tank sprayer and applied it like that in like 2 lighter coats, with a cheap brush after each coat (real quick on the hevier areas) to help even it out.

Looks good and no regrets on it so far.

PT wood resists rot so this really will have a tiny benifit as far as that is concerned and prolly will help out in the later years, but i did it to help keep the wood moisturized to stop the dry and wet shrink swelling that causes cracks and the grain to raise.

 

[Gem99ultra]

I try to coat mine with water seal once/year, this year I found a gallon of the old "penta" (no longer available). I think this helps over the long haul! ~~ grnspot110

I had totally forgotten about Pentachlorophenol. Back in the dark (young) ages I had to bag that stuff up in 5# bags by hand for sale to Monsanto. Talk about eyes burning, sneezing, coughing, skin burning/itching ... just made you want to die!!! I think I'll pass on 'penta'

It can harm the liver, kidneys, blood, lungs, nervous system, immune system, and gastrointestinal tract. It will also irritate the skin and eyes. Penta's some bad stuff, but like you said - it does the job.

I think I'll just let it cure for a spell, then maybe add a little diesel or linseed if it looks too dry and starts to crack.

Thanks though, for remeninding me about the penta.

 

[hawkeye08]

I used a 75% used diesel oil to 25% kerosene on my trailer deck and it turned out pretty well. It took about two weeks for the mixture to soak in fully.

Where do I get used diesel oil? Do you mean used motor oil from diesel tractor?

 

[Iowachild]

I installed a rough sawn white oak floor on my 14' equipment trailer. I just leave it in the sun in summertime and use 30# used motor oil. Has worked for about 5 years. Still looks good.

I plan to redo my 16' trailer with rough cut white oak this fall. The oak was cut last summer and sawed this past May. I will treat it with Pennsylvania crude oil. The best treatment for raw wood known to man!! I treat my 8' trailer with the PT floor with a clear UV protector every couple years.

 

[Pops15]

We built an equipment trailer in '87. We used PT for the deck and painted it with equipment enamel (after the PT dried for awhile). It's been repainted once or maybe twice. The PT is still in great shape but is due for some fresh paint.

 

[Newblue]

Where do I get used diesel oil? Do you mean used motor oil from diesel tractor?

Yeah, used crankcase oil from a diesel engine. Truck, tractor it does not matter. The soot that the oil loads up with gives it a nice dark color when it's applied.

 

[Hematite]

Rather than put toxic waste on the trailer deck that is extremely slippery when wet, stinks to high heaven, and ruins rubber tires and shoe soles and ultimately the wood itself, I used a high quality house deck stain.
I know, imagine that, a DECK stain for a wood trailer DECK, who woulda thunk.
It would have been $30 a gallon but I bought a color mistake at Lowe's for $3.99 a gallon. Olympic Maximum Deck Stain guaranteed to protect completely for a minimum of 5 years. One $4 can put 2 nice coats on a 20' flat deck trailer. Looks exactly the same after a year and will likely be good for 5 as guaranteed. Bought 2 gallons so I'll throw a coat on after 5years and another 5 years down the line. Actually even at the retail price, still the best most cost effective treatment available.

 

[clemsonfor]

Rather than put toxic waste on the trailer deck that is extremely slippery when wet, stinks to high heaven, and ruins rubber tires and shoe soles and ultimately the wood itself, I used a high quality house deck stain.
I know, imagine that, a DECK stain for a wood trailer DECK, who woulda thunk.
It would have been $30 a gallon but I bought a color mistake at Lowe's for $3.99 a gallon. Olympic Maximum Deck Stain guaranteed to protect completely for a minimum of 5 years. One $4 can put 2 nice coats on a 20' flat deck trailer. Looks exactly the same after a year and will likely be good for 5 as guaranteed. Bought 2 gallons so I'll throw a coat on after 5years and another 5 years down the line. Actually even at the retail price, still the best most cost effective treatment available.

My tractor will not sit on my trailer for more than a week or two at the most and it usually is only for like 4 hours to overnight.

The new pressure treated wood was pretty darn slick when it rained with out oil on it, the oil is no slicker in my opinion, once the wood is chewed up roughened my tires and implements sliding across it its not as slick as even the original wood wet as the grian gives traction. If you look at big truck equiptment they use oak or hickory wood board that are like 5 inches thick and they usually only put them in the middle and metal for tire support, anyway where the oil is soaked into wood from hydraulic drips its is still intact most other places its rotted.