Deck Truss Bridge - April '04
Painted the bridge
In the end, I want this thing to look like a real RR bridge. Real RR's use creosote to preserve wood, but
creosote is (a) toxic, (b) smelly, and (c) unobtainable. So I spray-coated the entire structure with a thick
black oil-based decking stain. I laid it on extra thick to simulate the goopy nature of creosoted wood. The end result
doesn't look exactly like creosote, but it's better than the original natural/green color, plus the stain
will weatherproof the wood.
I chose this weekend to paint because the weather is well above 50 degrees (min temp required by the stain) but
the stream is still solid ice, which beats the hell out of slogging thru the 8" deep mud that arrives when the ice melts.
Finally, I wanted to paint the trusses before installing the bracing, while the to-be-painted surfaces are still easily accessible.
It certainly looks better than this:
