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Kelly
939 posts
and
20 followers
in almost 12 years
in almost 12 years
A Forgotten, But Yet Useful Wood Treatment
A forgotten wood treatment for wood not exposed to the elements:
2 Replies
Really interesting !!
I'm amazed no one has figured out how to mix it with oil for applications where, for example, it might be damp, but not so wet it would wash it off.
Decades back, I read articles about it. It's used to treat wood to make termites and carpenter ants disinterested in it.
The article, erroneously, gives the impression it can be used in place of poly. It can't, where rain and such would flush it out.
Not mentioned in the article is, it acts differently in wood than it does in concrete. It reacts chemically in concrete to, essentially, or somewhat, make it more like bastard granite. However, it's said there are better concrete treatments now days. Still, it has its value and uses.
A PERPLEXITY SEARCH:
Question: "what happens when I treat concrete with sodium silicate"
Decades back, I read articles about it. It's used to treat wood to make termites and carpenter ants disinterested in it.
The article, erroneously, gives the impression it can be used in place of poly. It can't, where rain and such would flush it out.
Not mentioned in the article is, it acts differently in wood than it does in concrete. It reacts chemically in concrete to, essentially, or somewhat, make it more like bastard granite. However, it's said there are better concrete treatments now days. Still, it has its value and uses.
A PERPLEXITY SEARCH:
Question: "what happens when I treat concrete with sodium silicate"
Answere: "Treating concrete with sodium silicate (“water glass”) causes a chemical reaction that densifies and hardens the surface, reduces porosity and dusting, and slightly improves water resistance, but it can also create a very tight, sometimes coating‑resistant surface if overdone.
What chemically happens
When you apply sodium silicate to cured concrete, it soaks into the pores and capillaries and reacts with free lime (calcium hydroxide) in the cement paste to form calcium silicate hydrate (CSH), the same binding gel that gives concrete its basic strength. This new CSH fills and narrows the pores near the surface, leaving a denser, harder matrix and consuming some of the loose lime that would otherwise contribute to dusting."
