Valhalco LifeTime Wood Treatment
Greetings folks,
I am looking for anyone who has had any experience with a product called LifeTime Wood Treatment made by a Canadian company (Valhalla i think). The claim is that this is a 100% non-toxic one time wood treatment that protects and preserves the life of the wood (i think i saw some mention of petrification on the web site). I am in the middle of using it on a project for a friend of mine who found it online. I am applying it to White Cedar for an arbor, spiral stair, and ramp. Once applied the wood takes on an aged grey-brown patina (certainly not the look for everyone but i can appreciate it). It seems to be a very benign product, looks like a mix of herbs and minerals that you mix with water…so the question is can this not be too good to be true? I can’t find any customer reviews online. Anyone heard of this? Oh, one other thing i noticed is that some of the cut ends (end grain) of the White Cedar turned a bright magenta-like color about 20 minutes after application of LifeTime…
Replies
I have used this product. My understanding is that it is one of the few allowed in the National parks.
I thought I'd give this thread a bump since I'm also interested in this product. I haven't had any sucess with Cabot's Bleaching Oil even though it says it will turn wood gray. I'm trying to acheive a barn wood look.
On their website they refer to it as a stain and I also notice that none of their recommended uses include ground contact so apparently it isn't a wood preservative. I'd be very skeptical that any spray on product would be doing much more than staining, especially at that price.
On their website.....
their website, with respect, does NOT refer to it as a woodstain, you can buy stain from them OR you can buy the wood treatment with a stain already added to it. I did not know you could spray it on - is that correct, it would make the job easier.By the way The Canadian National Parks Authority ues this product on log cabins, fences, benches etc
Regards
Well yes, actually that's the only way they do refer to it. They cal it a "wood treatment" but make reference to it as a stain. Here are some quotes from their website.
"This product is unique to the world of stains. In this age of concern about our environment, both consumers and contractors are very receptive to products that are low-toxic and friendly to nature."
"........LifeTime is priced below several nationally advertised stains....."
"Q1: What is LifeTime Wood Treatment?
A: LifeTime is a highly effective wood treatment which beautifies ourdoor wood for a LifeTime of enjoyment"
"Unlike some wood stains, LifeTime contains no poisons or toxic ingredients"
"LifeTime is priced below several nationally advertised chemical applications and stains"
There's not a wood preservative made that lives up to its claims. Sikkens and, IIRC, Cabots make some of the best, but they are really stains. (And even those need to be reapplied every 5 years or so.) Any "clear" product lets to much sun through and the sun, as much as the, rain, does the damage.
Any "clear" product lets to
Any "clear" product lets to much sun through and the sun, as much as the, rain, does the damage.
It's the UV rays from the sun that do the damage, and some clear products do block them. A product does not have to be opaque to protect from the sun.
This one does.
lifetime wood treatment
i bought some of this , and it looks like it has some sort of basil and maybe dried mushrooms in it,if this is a preservative for wood why would it have this in it .?anybody know whats the deal here?
We used it. It works just as advertised on their website. It gets better with exposure to rain and sun.
I've spoken to the owner of the family company that makes this product. He is not a bullshitter. Don't be so surprised that a natural product could never be as effective (or even more effective) than a toxic chemical.
ECO WOOD TREATMENTS BETTER
hello i think youll find eco wood treatment works much better than the other product , we bought some at home depot.ca and it works great doesent have all the funny particles in it and turns the wood a nice silvery colour , it looks great on our house we just used a pump sprayer and it went on very easy andy99 colorado
Maybe a good dose of
GOOGLE SPAM ! ! !
Courtesy of Jason Revson.
Joe H
My first experience with Lifetime was about ten years ago. I build a small deck with SPF, using pressure treated for posts and washed everything with LifeTime.
This past summer, I returned to that house to build another little deck and had a chance to inspect the old one. It is in perfect condition barring a few splits and cracks. The owners applied a couple of coats of a solid stain since I built it, but nothing else.
I did put tar paper on the tops of the joists so they would be OK anyway but the decking and many of the joints would normally be half rotted by now. That stuff works.
I'm guessing it is mainly borax salts, but I do not know.
Ron
Ron is absolutely correct, his eyes and experience do not lie.
what a scam this product is , we had some lifetime wood treatment anaylized and founf dried flowers.dried mushrooms. dried basil, and dried oregano. what king of wood treatment is this, ? class action on the way
Care to expand?
And what brand was this lifetime you had tested?
Nothing wrong with organic ingredients if they work.
thanks.
If you did some re see arch you oh will find “Essential oils in Wood Protection Several in vitro tests against different fungi species were performed using various essential oils to find the most effective ones. Voda et al. [29] reported high antifungal effectiveness of anise, basil, cumin, oregano and thyme oils against brown-rot fungus Coniophora puteana and white-rot fungus Trametes versicolor using the agar dilution method. They showed that the most effective compounds in inhibiting the growth of both fungi were thymol, carvacrol, trans-anethole, methyl chavicol, and cuminaldehyde. Their further research confirmed the existence of a relationship between the molecular structure of the oxygenated aromatic essential oil compounds and their antifungal activity against wood-decaying fungi “
Lifetime wood treatment
This is far more than just a stain. The treatment kills the sugars in the wood leaving no way for molds to grow, hence no rot. Also works extremely well to age lumber to obtain the look of old barnwood.
I have used this product in an extreme environment in Colorado with temperatures from 90 deg. to - 35 deg. and snowfall acumulations upwards of 500 inches in a season. The melting season ruined untreated decks and caused little to no damage to deck lumber treated with Lifetime.
As far as contact with the ground goes, ask any professional carpenter what he thinks of that and DO what he says!
Which "natural " ingredient
Which "natural " ingredient is it that "kills the sugars" and prevents mold from growing? It's pretty hard to believe that we've all been led a merry chase with having to use redwood, cedar or PT wood to get rot resistance when the answer was in our spice cabinet all along.
This makes me shake my head.
Really! Which way is it shaking and why?
We told you not to sniff the stuff!!
It's just oregano. Really.
That's what you tell the narc, anyway.
love this product - I've used in on three house projects now, and hate it whenever I have to use another stain product. Take lifetime over any other. No thumbmarks, no multi coat hassle, no toxic nasty chemicals. Love the silver patina. It really works. Also tinted it grey and black with a water based tint for an open joint rainscreen. It all looks good. Highly recommend to anyone! Why doesn't everyone use this? I have no idea! Skeptical folks, give it a go (it's only 20$). I think you'll be pleasantly suprised.
Secret ingredients of Lifetime/Eco, etc.
I checked out Lifetime at the Home Hardware the other day and it looks like green powder mixed with tea and a white powder. So, my suspicions are that a $20.00 packet contains 20 grams of the following:
Ferrous Oxide - a green powder, used to turn wood grey by reacting with the tannins
Tea - to boost the tannin levels on the wood surface
Baking Soda - also turns wood grey, might help bring out the tannins in the wood
You can buy Ferrous Oxide just about anywhere for dirt cheap (Garden Supply stores, or how about this: http://www.artantiquequebec.com/en/cadre.htm?http://www.artantiquequebec.com/en/product-maintenance.htm - and find it by going to Products > Powder Pigments > Ferrous Oxide -- they sell the stuff for $16/kilogram which is the same as buying 50 packets of Lifetime if they were pure Ferrous Oxide, or 32 cents a packet). I suspect Ferrous Oxide first because it's a green powder, second because the MSDS for Lifetime (which doesn't reveal the chemical name) is very similar to the MSDS for Ferrous Oxide. Compare: http://www.loghelp.com/images/document/MSDS_LifeTime.pdf (Lifetime MSDS) with http://www.teck.com/DocumentViewer.aspx?elementId=115492&portalName=tc (Ferrous Sulphate MSDS).
As for the tea, with certain woods, like cedar, it would be unnecessary. See http://www.woodfinishsupply.com/Tannin.html for some ideas on this one.
Baking soda, everyone knows where to get that and how expensive it it.
So I'm guessing for about 20 cents you can make your own home brew (pun intended) and spend the rest on a real brew at the pub.
Any other attempts at reverse engineering this 60 year old family recipe?
Here are some other brews a lot older than 60 years: http://www.woodfinishsupply.com/FrenchPolishBookPreview.pdf
Lifetime
The only active ingredient is ferrous sulphate. The other bark and crap is thrown in there to add to the mystery.
Ferrous sulphate works great, and I use it a lot, and have for 15+ years, but I buy it in fifty pound sacks at the farm supply for $15 each.
Valhalla Wood Preservatives
Hi All, I just had this product put on my new cedar porch ceiling, truss, columns, box beams, ledger, rake and fascia. It was put on everything but the columns first and looked o.k. When the painter put it on the columns it turned them an army green color (I was looking for the natural cedar look which is what it looked like on everything but the columns). Obviously, I don't like it at all. I would like to know a way to remove it. Is there any one who is familiar with this product and knows how it can be removed?
LifeTimie Wood Treatment
As a contractor I've been using this product for the last 20 years or so. The resulting colours are not predictable but generally it does seem to speed up the patina process. On fir the colours are generally a bit more even while on cedar it just depends on the wood itself. I did some pretty extensive cedar shingling on some walls a couple of times and began by dipping the the exposed part of the shingle first and it had a very pleasing effect and on drive-bys, seems to be standing up quite well. Because of the treatment it provided a lasting uniformity of colour not generally seen when the wood is left natural. I'm not a chemist nor do I have a lab for testing so I don't know just how well it is actually preserving the wood. I will tell you, though, as carpenter for almost 40 years, that wood just doesn't play well with the elements if it's exposed to them. This stuff seems to work as well as anything and does seem to repel the water. For high exposure or traffic areas, I would use this first, then a good quality primer and then a good quality solid latex stain which should be redone every couple of years or so. Never, ever use cheap paint or stain so stay away from Big Box house brands even though they may have recogizable brand names on them.
I would guess that the product is an iron salt (iron sulfate) and is the same or chemically similar to Eco Wood Treatment. An MSDS for Eco Wood Treatment is available online, and although the ingedients are not listed, the decomposition byproduct listed is Sulfur Dioxide (SO2). SO2 is a decomposition byproduct of Iron Sulfate. Iron Sulfate is used as a chemical dye, reacting with mordants such as tannic acid found in tannin rich wood species thus forming a compound called iron tannate yielding a slivery gray to brown to almost charcoal appearance based on solution strength and tannic acid levels in the wood being treated. Iron Sulfate is also used as a lawn application to control moss, so I would guess that it's preserving properties would relate to Iron Sulfate possibly inhibiting the growth of wood decaying organisms such as moss, lichens, algae, and mold on or within the wood. Does my theory sound correct?
Yup
100% correct.
Treatment
All it is is ferrous sulphate. You can get a fifty pound sack of it from a farm supply for about $15.
I've been using it for fences, siding, decks, and timber frames for 15+ years and am completely sold on it. Mix a couple of handfuls into a 5gal bucket of water, strain through a paint filter, and apply with a cheap pump sprayer. Done. My first project using it, an entire wood sided house with timber frame porches (in a harsh climate) looks as good as the day after I applied it.
Companies other than Valhalco repackage it and sell it as well, but it is always a ripoff.
aeray you're bang on.
I've used this product many times and replaced a fir deck which was treated with it a couple years back. It was absolutely rotten after 12 years. If you want to test the ferrous sulphate theory, try spilling lifetime on concrete, it stains it a light rust color, the same color as ferrous sulphate does. I know alot of peole who buy this stuff and some of the claims I've heard are ridiculous, if they were true we could stop using p.t. lumber. Anyway, like previously said it's dead simple to make your own
totaly agree.
Here’s a great article not sponsored or biased by any company or group about said chemicals naturally occurring in your kitchen cupboards that may help in reducing wood decay.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7435604/