Jim called the Aeratis office and was not a very happy man. You see, his grandfather built his current house and porch just after World War I. Jim was frustrated because that porch lasted almost 100 years. When he recently replaced the porch with, what he thought was, the same type of wood he found out quickly that it was far from the same.
In the early 1900’s trees grew for hundreds of years before being cut, milled and installed on exterior living spaces. Add to the fact that, treating wood with chemicals was unheard of. Back when the quality of wood was much higher, there was no need to treat wood as long as it didn’t have ground contact. Today, even the best treated wood either buckles, cups and warps in its packaged unit, or before you can get the final coat of paint on.
The fact is, wood is not what is used to be nor is the paint. For years, contractors and painters used lead-based paints to preserve the wood. These paints did the job in preserving the wood but were not very environmentally friendly. Today’s paints have changed. In many ways they have become better than they have ever been. However, many homeowners and contractors blame the paint manufactures for the paint chipping off of the wood porch floor. The truth is, it’s not the paint that is the problem. It is what we are painting. The wood is the issue. Think about all the things in the world that are painted that do not have to be painted year after year. How often do you paint your car? How often do you paint a fiberglass or steel door? It is not the paint that is the problem—it’s the wood; so stop using wood on your porch floor and porch ceiling.
Aeratis Traditions is a complete line of paint-ready porch flooring and porch ceiling products. If you follow the recommended painting instructions, your repaint cycles are every 7 to 10 years. You can now have the color you want without the maintenance. The statement has been made only a rich man can afford to use wood on his porch. This shows how expensive it really is to have wood on your porch. Your replacement cycles are every 3 to 5 years and the annual maintenance ranges between 4 and 9 dollars per square foot. If you can install Aeratis Traditions at a competitive price to pine and fir with a warranty and the free paint offer, why would anyone ever use wood again for their porch floor?