Used engine oil on the deck

[andyvh1959]

Member in my cycle club coats the wood on his deck with used motor oil. The wood sheds water, is a nice dark color once the oil sets in. Wood grain shows through, like a solid stain wood product.

Anyone else ever do this? How long it takes to not feel like oiled wood? Smell? Apply the oil straight up or thinned with mineral spirits? Any other issues? I'd assume once you apply oil to wood your only future options are either apply more motor oil, or maybe use an oil based stain product. Can't use any water based stain or paint, or the newer deck sealant/repair product. I'm asking because I have a small wood deck on the back of the house which gets a lot of sun aging.

Years ago I applied Behr Deck Over onto the then fresh, new treated deck wood, after I had let it season/dry for most of one summer. It looked good for a few years, but then started to blister and peel. That let the water (ice in the winter) into the wood surface. So now I need to either flip the boards over to get the unaged side up, or change over to some composite product.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I've been in a lot of old shops that had wood block floors with decades of oil spillage soaked into the blocks. I will say they all had a "oily" smell, especially shops that service trucks and heavy equipment (there's something about the smell of used differential lube that triggers many memories) but I can't say if it was the wood that smelled.

Tommy

 

[Ralf11]

used motor oil is toxic waste

any kids or reproductive women ever walk barefoot on the deck?

any vegetables grown near it?

I sure wouldn't tell the realtor if I were to sell the house either...

 

[LS6 Tommy]

used motor oil is toxic waste

any kids or reproductive women ever walk barefoot on the deck?

any vegetables grown near it?

I sure wouldn't tell the realtor if I were to sell the house either...

All very valid points.

 

[ZRX61]

I can only imagine what his carpets look like near the door...

 

[Lincoln33]

I've never oiled a deck but I've considered using oil on wooden field posts. I've read other peoples comments on using oil on their trailer decks only to find out they're slippery when wet. I would imagine a house deck would be the same when wet.

 

[rburke65]

I have used Oil on my fence boards.

 

[Old Radar]

used motor oil is toxic waste

any kids or reproductive women ever walk barefoot on the deck?

any vegetables grown near it?

I sure wouldn't tell the realtor if I were to sell the house either...

Succinct and to the point!!! Might as well smear it under your arms and gargle with it!

 

[58Yeoman]

And I'll bet that member overhauls his bikes engine in the living room. I had a friend like that, die hard rider. He died at a young age about 2-3 years ago. Billy rode the HD until the roads got too slippery, then drove the VW bus I had sold him back in the 70's, until the roads were clear again. He still had the bus when he died.

 

[Lassen Forge]

We used to break used motor oil 50/50 with whatever light petrochemical we had handy (usually it was whatever was in the parts cleaner) and spray it on the dirt / gravel raod to keep the dust down...

I was told we can't do that any more due to the various anti-pollution laws... but it worked well for over 120 years on our back road... so we have 120 years of contaminant, and a county environmental health weenie saying now, the past 8 years, don't do it...

I get it... but I still think it's nuts...

 

[Bigblockyeti]

Aren't most women capable of being reproductive at some point?

A deck, I probably wouldn't do that, but on my trailer deck, absolutely. It's rough sawn so while it is a little slippery, it's not as bad as planed boards would be.

 

[coljar]

I have used Oil on my fence boards.

Years ago, we use to fill a watering can with diesel fuel and do the fence lines along the road up to the barn.

 

[wade_660]

I’ve always mixed used oil with stain to put on trailer decks. I did the deck on my house not long ago and only had new oil. I mixed 1qt per gallon of stain and it worked great. I actually like new oil better now. It is slippery at first but after one or two rains, it’s not slippery anymore. Same for the trailers.


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[MBfreak]

Great idea.
Up there with the municipality of a little place called Love Canal that got free transformer oil to spray on the gravel roads to keep the dust down.

Best regards

Ola

 

[u3b3rg33k]

Rail road ties are (or at least were) done with creosote. just sayin.

 

[matt_i]

I've used Thompsons Water Seal on my trailer which I've had since 2004.

Its about due

It beads water for a couple of years, the deck is still in good condition after 16 years of sitting outside, and it doesn't get slick....that would be a bad thing for me, I rely on the wooden deck to have friction with what I'm hauling.

 

[andyvh1959]

All good points, thanks. Not going to use the motor oil on the deck. I'll use some proper deck treatment for now until I someday replace the wood with a composite material. For now, the deck is small, and I need to take the deck boards off to do some drainage control underneath. So I'll flip the boards good side up for now and refinish.

 

[nh_yota]

I can only imagine what his carpets look like near the door...

My thought as well.

 

[Bretny]

If your going to take the deck boards up to flip them over..just flip them in the garbage and put on trex. Idk why people mess with PT decks anymore. Unless you heavily maintain them they look like **** in a few years and at least around here you will be lucky to get 10yrs out of one and have it look even half good.

 

[homelessdespot]

I was told we can't do that any more due to the various anti-pollution laws... but it worked well for over 120 years on our back road... so we have 120 years of contaminant, and a county environmental health weenie saying now, the past 8 years, don't do it...

I get it... but I still think it's nuts...

If you have to keep spraying it, it's leeching into the ground. It probably leeched into ground water and into people's wells these years.

 

[Boilerhouse]

Motor oil for an exterior deck is not a good idea. i was actually down this road some years ago. The oil dries very slowly and is prone to picking up fungus spores, turning a new deck black.

 

[Ralf11]

Aren't most women capable of being reproductive at some point?

I was wondering how to word it - I meant pregnant or lactating. Those are the stages most likely to damage a fetus/child with a toxic material.

ok, deck stain: I've tried a bunch (in the PNW) using samples about 15 types, and using 3 or 4 types on both horiz. & vertical pieces. The water-based ones are still ****, so if you don't have volatility regs. to deal with the best AFAIK is TWP or Armstrong - and SuperDeck is pretty close.

re: "overhauls his bikes engine in the living room"

In the interests of full disclosure and since the statute of limitations ran a few decades ago... I once overhauled and hotrodded a VW engine in the living room of my apt.

 

[58Yeoman]

I'm sure Billy did the VW in his LR also. He had that van for at least 30 years. IIRC, it was a 66 camper van. I was dealing in VW rehab, and did a lot of them; can't remember them all.

 

[97tj-neil]

If your going to take the deck boards up to flip them over..just flip them in the garbage and put on trex. Idk why people mess with PT decks anymore. Unless you heavily maintain them they look like **** in a few years and at least around here you will be lucky to get 10yrs out of one and have it look even half good.

I built my deck in 2011 with PT deck boards. Stained it once the following spring, and again last summer. That is literally all the maintenance I have done. I just went out and took this pic after reading your post.

I suspect I will get much more than 10 years out of it.

In my opinion wood looks much better than any manufactured plastic decking and costs much less.

 

[Old Radar]

In my opinion wood looks much better than any manufactured plastic decking and costs much less.

But just think how much better it would look with toxic used motor oil all over it!!

 

[mike93lx]

It amazes me the **** people do with stuff like this. I would never put used or new motor oil on a deck. The smell, the metals, detergents, etc. None of it was made for a deck.

 

[Jazz1]

Used motor oil,,,excellent...likely the same ilk that hook up tailpipe to blow hot exhaust under the mobile home to thaw frozen pipes

 

[469 runner]

I had a trailer with a wood deck. Used it to haul a riding mower that would drip oil. The sun would draw the oil up to the surface. Made a real mess. I don't know how putting oil on a deck would be a good idea.

 

[58Yeoman]

Used motor oil,,,excellent...likely the same ilk that hook up tailpipe to blow hot exhaust under the mobile home to thaw frozen pipes

DAMN! Why didn't I think of that? After my divorce, I bought a 10x50 mobile home and the pipes froze on me. I went out and bought a propane salamander heater and set it in the access door.

Years later, I dragged home an old Caddy and parked in the 2 car garage, to strip it of its' engine, etc. The mice came pouring out. The garage was separate from the house, so I started the Caddy and let it run for an hour or so, thinking the fumes would kill the mice. It didn't, but it sure did get warm in there.

 

[Roadster J]

Great idea.

Up there with the municipality of a little place called Love Canal that got free transformer oil to spray on the gravel roads to keep the dust down.



Best regards



Ola

Love Canal was a landfilI with toxic waste chemicals. What you’re describing sounds more like Times Beach.


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[laser3kw]

We used to break used motor oil 50/50 with whatever light petrochemical we had handy (usually it was whatever was in the parts cleaner) and spray it on the dirt / gravel raod to keep the dust down...

I was told we can't do that any more due to the various anti-pollution laws... but it worked well for over 120 years on our back road... so we have 120 years of contaminant, and a county environmental health weenie saying now, the past 8 years, don't do it...

I get it... but I still think it's nuts...

there was a heavy construction outfit that would do that back where I grew up. County never objected because they also took care of the surrounding roads that lead to their site.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Love Canal was a landfilI with toxic waste chemicals. What you’re describing sounds more like Times Beach.


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We had a class about historical hazardous waste dumping at one of my certification courses.

Times beach was Dioxin. The PCB transformer oil spraying was done by the Ward Transformer Company along side highways at night in NC. After they got caught and the "cleanup" was over, the NC EPA chose Warren County to dump the soil from the cleanup into landfills. Basically, they said it was a good spot because there weren't many residents and they were "Black and poor". Can you imagine if someone in government said something like that out loud today?

Tommy

 

[Old Radar]

We had a class about historical hazardous waste dumping at one of my certification courses.

Times beach was Dioxin. The PCB transformer oil spraying was done by the Ward Transformer Company along side highways at night in NC. After they got caught and the "cleanup" was over, the NC EPA chose Warren County to dump the soil from the cleanup into landfills. Basically, they said it was a good spot because there weren't many residents and they were "Black and poor". Can you imagine if someone in government said something like that out loud today?

Tommy

Sadly, yes I can. Only today instead of PCBs it's viruses and masks.

 

[58Yeoman]

Many years ago in LaSalle, IL., there was a company that built transformers, called Electrical Utilities. Apparently, they emitted a lot of contaminants that contaminated many of the neighborhoods in the area. The company was closed and the EPA came in for a cleanup, and brought in a 'soil incinerator' to burn up all the dirt from the neighborhood yards. Most of the people got all new yards out of the deal.

After they were finished, the EPA shipped the incinerator to a small local paint company in my small town, where it was repainted and waited for the EPA to pick it up and take it to South America (IIRC). The EPA never came to get it, the painter never got paid, and it slowly just disappeared over the years.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Sadly, yes I can. Only today instead of PCBs it's viruses and masks.

I'm not touching that one.

Tommy

 

[Roadster J]

We had a class about historical hazardous waste dumping at one of my certification courses.

Times beach was Dioxin. The PCB transformer oil spraying was done by the Ward Transformer Company along side highways at night in NC. After they got caught and the "cleanup" was over, the NC EPA chose Warren County to dump the soil from the cleanup into landfills. Basically, they said it was a good spot because there weren't many residents and they were "Black and poor". Can you imagine if someone in government said something like that out loud today?

Tommy

My recollection of Times Beach was contaminated waste oil being used as a dust palliative on gravel roads.

Thanks for clarifying that it was Dioxin and not PCBs.


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[Randy in Maine]

Times Beach (from Wiki) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_Beach,_Missouri

This mess was generated from the improper disposal of Agent Orange that was poorly made and generated substantial dioxins.

Warren County Landfill PCBs (also from Wiki) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_County_PCB_Landfill

The use of PCBs in electrical transformers is that they tend not to burn at normal temps when in place. This was a criminal matter and somebody went to jail at least for a while.

The best method of destruction for both of these nasty compounds is through incineration at pretty high temps with fairly long duration times. Too high of temps volatizes any metals though so good controls are a must.

Both dioxins and PCBs can act as endrocrine disrupters, which can be a real problem.

 

[Ray-CA]

I was thinking more about the fire hazard. Dried lumber now add in used motor oil? Yeah, the oil is much harder to get burning then the wood or other petro-chemicals but it is also extremely harder to put out.

Ray

 

[CTyankee]

Hate to see what the guy puts on his salad....

 

[LS6 Tommy]

My recollection of Times Beach was contaminated waste oil being used as a dust palliative on gravel roads.

Thanks for clarifying that it was Dioxin and not PCBs.


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You're welcome. It's funny how you can remember things you learned that you thought you'd never use again.

Tommy