Rainforest Sealer has long been considered one of the most nourishing wood finishes that there is. It has earned this reputation over time, and it was great to see it featured with two of our other products on The Today Show. Wood experts have always known that nothing beats a good oil and beeswax finish. We take that a step further by removing food sources for mold and adding our local Georgia pine resin and zinc borate. Rainforest is tough. It's made from dense minerals, plant and tree resins and a small amount of our high purity citrus solvent, all things wood loves! It saturates the wood fiber cell yet allows the wood to breath. It comes in dozens of beautiful zero voc stain colors. Rainforest Sealer is a deck and siding stain that is easy to apply and maintain.
USES: Decks, Siding, Logs, Timbers.
PREP: Apply to raw wood. If professional advice is needed use the Ask Earthpaint tool or Contact Us.
This natural wood finish has excellent durability and maintainability. In fact, all our wood finishes are engineered considering lifespan; manufacture to landfill. We make them to be easily maintained and to become bolstered when maintained, not stripped. This is an entirely different approach than the "stain and strip" method of cheap petrochemical deck, siding, log and timber stains. Only quality ingredients, meticulously selected, can achieve this much desired result.
Consequentially, we find that Rainforest Sealer often covers up to five times as much sft / gal as a conventional petrochemical stain, when compared in the same conditions. This spread rate alone can be worthwhile. We have had machine finishing companies switch from cheap petrochemical deck and siding stains, over to Rainforest Sealer and end up saving money, despite the fact that a good wood finish costs more. Labor is expensive and Quality pays. Even if the wood drinks it up, you know it's taking in the natural nourishment that it needs. This is better for wood than getting soaked with water or toxic petrochemical solvents that evaporate and would have required more product to do the same job.
Every kid we ask gives the same answer, "Would you rather have a cup with 20 marbles or one with 88 marbles?" It's simple. Wood is no different. It's much like a hungry baby. It drinks until nourished. The most nourishing thing for wood is Rainforest Sealer.
To help with mold and sun damage we start by removing food sources for mold. We also include a generous portion of a specific grade of zinc borate, which is a safe non leaching natural mineral combination. Zinc borate is found in nature and is also used in high quality wood preservatives and sometimes for fire resistance in combination with other chemicals. We find that it is able to withstand intense UV and IR radiation without degradation. So, years later we see it continuing to naturally assist in preventing mold from getting embedded into the saturated wood fiber cell. If mold grows on dirt, pollen or leaf debris it tends to be topical, at the surface level.
After many years of comparing toxic chemical biocides to Rainforest Sealer and Mountain XT we see over and over that those man made chemicals don't hold up as long as the zinc borate that nature provides. Wood decay fungi begins colonizing as soon as those chemical biocides loose efficacy, which in our tests is in about a year if it's in a high solids, high quality wood finish. The cheap ones seem to fail within 6 months. Over and over, the chemical based biocide and fungicide have stopped working long before the more natural methods we employ.
TIPS FOR STAINING SEVERE MOLD WOODS: Most areas on earth have mold but some are worse than others. For severe moldy areas we recommend proper prep and either using a deep toned color in Rainforest Sealer or switching to Mountain XT which employs the cashew resin as well as zinc borate. Adding extra Corn Solvent can help also when coating very moldy wood but it is better to rely on Lime Clean to prepare a moldy surface. Earth Clean is very useful as well, particularly after a project is coated with Rainforest. Mold feeding particles can be washed off the surface with diluted Earth Clean after the pollen drops in the spring and the leaves fall in the autumn. This is a great way to maintain and improve the lifespan of any exterior wood finish, especially in a high mold area.
We will try to add photos and info to this page as we can.
Over the years, Rainforest Sealer has been the product of choice for some of the most interesting exterior wood finishing projects around the world. All sorts of amazing wood buildings, timber frames, log homes, bridges and structures have been protected, some of them simply enormous projects. From US Armed Forces bases, to cliff side log and timber homes to literal "rainforest's" this product has traveled extensively.
As fast as Earthpaint has grown, we have not been very good at collecting photo's of these projects. Since 2006 contractors have come to rely on Rainforest Sealer for some of their most important projects. Certainly, the fact that it can be diluted up to 1:1 and still have more solids content than most conventional finishes is a big money saving factor. However, it is the beauty and long lasting durability that has proven this product worthy over time. Quality pays. Time has affirmed our resolve to never compromise quality for profit; to never sacrifice health for an extra buck. It just doesn't pay in the long run, which is why we don't offer our products to big box stores. The mass distribution model requires product integrity to be compromised for profit. So, we are grateful to be sustainable and factory direct. Apologies, I digress...
THE HOLDEN ARBORETUM
Check out this project at The Holden Arboretum, which is one of the largest arboretums and botanical gardens in the United States. These wooden sprawling structure span the canopy of a 3600 acre forest. One of the enormous towers was air lifted, piece by piece, by helicopter! Pheonix Experiential Designs did an amazing job on this project.
This is just one part of a large eco walkway structure at the arboretum in Ohio. Check out this Holden Arboretum news story. The color used is Rainforest Sealer Light Cedar. Ease of maintenance is part of the reason for selecting this product and color for many of these big projects like this. Once the stained wood has weathered long enough and needs to be freshened up, it is simply washed with a cleaner such as Earth Clean and then recoated with diluted Rainforest Sealer. This makes maintenance easy. It can be diluted up to 1:1 with any solvent, even mineral spirits, if the customer prefers. This project was done all natural, using Pure Citrus Solvent as needed instead of mineral spirits.
[Solvent Side Note: Of course, we don't use mineral spirits at Earthpaint since we prefer sustainable solvents, either Pure Citrus Solvent, Corn Solvent and sometimes we use Earth Clean to dilute finishes. Sometimes a job site requires mineral spirits be used for cost effectiveness. In this case scenario it's probably still the least harmful options since there isn't benzene, xylene and other such chemicals used as there would be if a toxic conventional deck stain were used.]
THEORETICAL COVERAGE:
Smooth or New Wood: 500-700 Sft / Gallon. (Add 1 quart per gallon of Citrus or Corn Solvent.)
Rough or Weathered Wood: 250-300 Sft / Gallon. (Dilution usually not necessary.)
TIPS ON ESTIMATING COVERAGE: Test a sample pint for the most accurate measurement. High solids coatings such as this generally have greater coverage than those containing less resins.
Stain coverage can vary greatly based on wood type and application method. Typically, Rough and Dry Wood absorbs approximately 250-300 sft / gl.
New and Smooth wood 500-700 sft/ gl.
*Old severely weathered or dried out woods like Pressure Treated decking can absorb large amounts of wood finish. Test a sample pint on these wood types before ordering to accurately measure the spread rate.
DILUTION: Add one quart of Citrus or Corn Solvent to one gallon.
APPLICATION: Penetrating oil. Must penetrate the surface and not lay on top. Brush on exterior wood and come back a couple hours later with a dry brush on a pole and back brush any finish that is still on the surface into the wood. Before leaving the job at night check the surface. If any finish has not soaked in fully wipe it down with a rag or back brush again with a dry brush. In most cases, if the wood is thirsty it will all soak in. If it is unweathered wood it won't all soak in. This is the time to dilute. Add some solvent so that the wood gets the nourishment it needs. New wood, redwood and exotic hardwoods are woods that usually require either dilution or extra back brushing.
CLEAN UP: Earth Clean and water.
MAINTENANCE: Earth Clean helps by washing mold food sources away such as pollen, dirt and leaf debris. When weathered, recoat as needed. [Generally, we wash with Earth Clean and apply a diluted coat of Rainforest Sealer as needed.]
THE CLEAR 00 SYSTEM: Rainforest Sealer is absolutely the best base coat for The Clear 00 System (Lime Clean, Rainforest Sealer, Mountain XT Clear 00 x 2 coats). It has such high solids content and remains flexible and resilient in the wood. This provides deep nourishment to the wood fiber cell and is a perfect tether for Mountain XT Clear 00. This system has completely stopped wood decay in some of the most extreme wood rot conditions. It defies the sun by stopping the greying caused by UV and IR radiation.
Low Voc, citrus is the only thing considered a voc in Rainforest Sealer. Our Pure Citrus Solvent is not diluted with some code name for mineral spirits (shame on those who use that trick). We consider it voc negligible since it is made from the waste of juice production and the tree continues to absorb CO2 out of the atmosphere. Most of those chemically sensitive use it without issue. And it eliminates the need to add toxic carcinogens like benzene to our wood finish, which is major advantage for anyone using it. To keep the quality up a little citrus goes a long way.
VOC is not a measure of toxicity. There are lots of zero voc poisons. Polyurethane, even naturally derived, is made with isocyanates. Many epoxies comes with isocyanates to be mixed on site. These are used without counting as voc. So, please don't sacrifice health for that old marketing ploy. Each component must be measured for health and sustainability. That is not as simple as simply saying "Zero Voc". There isn't a "one product fits all" solution to coatings. That would be an easy way out for sure. We could just use our zero voc odorless resin for everything like some companies do. God knows we labor with an intense amount of work and raw materials for each formula to be properly suited to each use. But this effort is done only because we have experienced first hand what cheap poisons can do to a persons life and family. And at the same time as contractors we demand performance. It has to work great but without poison!
