Pimp my garage

[technodup]

Not as interesting as the title but my newish to me house has an old timber garage which I'd like to tart up a bit. It seems basically pretty sound but tired. The wood is dry and cracked and there are some gaps between planks due to shrinkage which let water in. What's the best product to try to bring it back to life a bit and give it some weather protection? It's had some blackish treatment in the past (creosote?) but all gone now.

I have another brick garage so I'll not be spending a fortune or rebuilding anything, but I want to give it a coat of something before winter. But what? And what should I fill the gaps with?[url]

[Rampant Golf]

Depends on budget. To do it cheap, use that old pallet to block some of the holes from inside the garage and then coat the whole thing in old engine oil. The smell goes after a few days.

[xx99xx]

Paint it (coloured paint) and fill any big holes. The roof is likely to be the first point of failure so make sure that is sound. Then ignore the structure until it needs painting again.

[Ry.Clarke]

I do not think I have ever seen a timber garage like that. How interesting.

Same st you use on fence panels and decking, it’s the same wood after all.

[Belle427]

I use this on my shed every other year, seems to repel water very well.
https://www.barrettinepro.co.uk/25/266/nourish-and...

[swanny71]

Belle427 said:

I use this on my shed every other year, seems to repel water very well.
https://www.barrettinepro.co.uk/25/266/nourish-and...

I’ve used this on my timber garage for 10+ years, it’s excellent stuff.

Be aware that ‘light brown’ actually looks pretty dark when dry, so I mix 2 x clear with 1 x light brown.
(prob not economical for the OP to do that though)

[JoshSm]

I'd have thought the shrinkage will mostly go away now the summer is over? I had something that had really started to gap this year & has returned back to normal now.

Can't remember what I last used for a shed, some sort of 10 year woodstain (maybe Ronseal?) after a good lot of wood preserver first.

Prefer the woodstain on anything that's a smooth timber plus the way it weathers away instead of peeling off works quite well. Better than a fence product anyway.

[Simpo Two]

technodup said:

there are some gaps between planks due to shrinkage which let water in.

Clear sealant works well, but you may need a few tubes!