One of our top wood preservers, Sikagard Wood Preserver, can be applied on damp or rotten wood and will get to work immediately. If your shed has seen better days, Sikagard is therefore your best choice. You’ll still need to remove as much surface grime as possible, though. It contains active ingredients effective against moulds, wood destroying and wood discolouring fungi as well as against wood boring insects.

If required, new bare timber can be cleaned and de-greased with white spirit prior to application of wood preserver Ensure that wooden surfaces to be treated with Barrettine Wood Preserver are clean, dry and free from surface dirt, debris and other surface contaminates. New Bare Wood If protecting the natural colour of the wood is important, use the clear preservative then overcoat with Osmo UV Protection Oil Extra or Fiddes Exterior High Build Wood Oil.

Most wood preserver is a clear liquid that darkens the wood’s natural colour, but you can also get wood preserver that contains coloured dye, so it stains at the same time as protecting. Whether you go for clear or coloured is a matter of taste.

Areas that have been affected by mould, algae or fungi should be treated with Barrettine Mould and Mildew Cleaner H410 Very toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects.EUH 208 Contains. May produce an allergic reaction. Whatever colour or non-colour you go for, at least you won’t have to put up with the fluorescent yellowy green colour of creosote, which used to be the only wood preserver you could get. Thankfully creosote – noxious, toxic and highly flammable – is no longer sold to the general public. Are wood preservers all solvent-based? I’m worried about fumes indoors.Barrettine’s preserver does contain some wax for water resistance, but despite this it acts as a good base for paint and varnish. But it does a sterling job of repelling water, sun-fading, rot, insects and other wood-worriers all by itself, as well as bringing out the natural grain of the wood. You can also get a 5l version. It is moisture regulating and provides an adhesive surface for subsequent treatment with finishing paints or stains (top coat).