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as this continuous wet and mild winter weather left your home, decks and terraces green with summer envy?
masks and it is harmless to plants and the environment. It does kill bacteria so if this is against your principles, what can I say?
I make a point this time of year of getting out my scrub brushes and hydrogen peroxide for just this task. It’s not only dangerous walking about these days, but permanent green and black staining of siding, stucco and fencing can be a result of the ever present bacteria and mold that develops in this ‘Wet Coast’ climate. I go to my local Hydroponic Supply shop and get a 1 to preferably 5 gallon pail of concentrated peroxide (28%). It can be thinned down to milder solutions for any job from brushing your teeth to rinsing off deck furnishings to sterilizing greenhouse interiors.
You may ask why all this fuss over our built environment? This brings up the conversation I had with friends last week describing how the Japanese have overcome much of this staining and degradation of wood siding, trim and other. They use little or no surface coatings on their wood in Japan yet they have some of the oldest wood structures in the world. Their secret is using very sharp tools to finish off the exterior of all their products. The very revered wood cutting blades they produce leave a finish so smooth, the wood is allowed to age naturally creating the desirable WabiSabi effect we all so love about their aesthetic.
I use a back pack tree sprayer I purchased from Buckerfields The wood grain and each to walk around and wood cell are cut so fine they effortlessly spray everything. Add a little elbow grease with a medium coarse brush on a broom handle from Planet Clean and rinse after an hour with a garden Japanese Bamboo Pull saw, David Coulson hose. There is no need for gloves, goggles or
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DESIGNI NGgreen It’s Time to Clean Up. Again! are literally sealed shut from any contamination therefore never taking on dirt and grime and water and therefore stain and mold. Our tradespeople here in America are more focused on completing work quickly and more roughly in attempts to keep costs to a minimum. The tools here are of inferior quality and sharpness and wood products are often installed cheaper and quicker in the rough. Our saws push and tear and smash wood cells whereas the Japanese pull clean wood Ipe decks, David Coulson saw draws the blade across the wood with no forceful I prefer to think in terms intimidation and therefore no of natural aging and colour damage other than separating and the natural development into two pieces. of all things without over We are then forced to coat intervention. our rough-hewn products in protective layers of toxic And think of all the costly and oil based products or even time consuming maintenance now water based acrylics to you have saved so you can start an endless cycle of strip enjoy this early spring weather and recoat and entrapment playing in the garden. of molds and fungus’s that destroy all things organic. Celebrate the endless beauty David Coulson is a local of a naturally seasoned look certified Built Green and join the millions shopping design builder. He has at Rejuvenations.com thinking a staff of 25 that have that ‘grey’ is the new white. built throughout the Island for over 20 years.
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