Your patio cover is finished and you’re ready to start using it. After we wrap up a job, the same handful of questions tends to come in over the next few months. Why is my wood cracking? Is it supposed to move like this? When should I stain it? What does the warranty cover?
This guide to wood patio cover maintenance answers all four, so you know what’s normal, what to do, and when to call us.
Why Is My Patio Cover Wood Checking and Cracking?
This is the question we get more than any other, so we’ll start here.
Your patio cover is built with solid wood beams and posts. As that wood dries, the outside dries faster than the inside. That difference creates stress, and the wood relieves it by splitting along the grain. Those splits are called checks.
Checks can look dramatic. Sometimes one runs several feet down a beam, and we understand why that’s alarming the first time you see it. But checking doesn’t affect the structural integrity of your cover. The lumber is sized to carry the load with checking already factored in.
None of this is a defect. It’s simply how solid wood behaves outdoors, especially here in the Pacific Northwest, where wood goes through long wet seasons and dry summers every year.
Is Seasonal Wood Movement Normal?
Yes. Beyond checking, you’ll see some expansion and contraction over the year. Wood swells when it takes on moisture and shrinks as it dries out. In Portland, that means your beams and posts will shift a little between our rainy months and the dry stretch in July and August.
This movement is expected, and it doesn’t change how your patio cover performs.
Should I Stain My Wood Patio Cover?
We strongly recommend it. Staining protects the wood, slows down graying, and extends the life of your cover. It’s the single best thing you can do for long-term patio cover care.
When to stain new wood
Timing matters more than most people expect. The wood needs to dry out before stain goes on. If your cover was installed during the wet season, that usually means waiting a season before staining.
How to choose a stain contractor
We recommend hiring a professional for this job. When you’re getting quotes, ask one simple question: do you check the wood with a moisture meter before applying stain?
If the answer is no, keep looking. Stain applied over wood that’s still wet underneath traps that moisture inside, and that causes problems down the road. A good stainer will test first and only move forward once the wood reads dry.
What stain we recommend
The product we recommend is PPG Flood semi-transparent stain. A semi-transparent, oil-based stain soaks into the wood instead of sitting on top of it, which lets the wood keep breathing.
Avoid solid stains and paint. They form a film on the surface that traps moisture, and over time that film peels. Once it starts peeling, you’re stuck scraping and redoing it.
What Does Our Patio Cover Warranty Cover?
We want you to know exactly where you stand, so here’s the plain version.
What’s covered:
- Workmanship related to fabrication and installation [VERIFY: warranty length in years]
- Material defects may be covered by the manufacturer. If you’d like to look into a material issue, reach out and we’ll help connect you with them.
What’s not covered:
- Natural aging of wood, including cupping, warping, checking, knot holes, twisting, and splitting
- Damage from accidents, misuse, neglect, or unusual physical stress
- Damage from shifting terrain
- Items outside the manufacturer’s warranty
- Acts or omissions by other trades
- Damage from lightning, high winds with gusts of 55 mph or more, or other natural disasters
The first item on that list is worth repeating. Checking, splitting, and some twisting are part of how solid wood ages. They’re the same things we covered at the top of this article, and they aren’t signs that something went wrong.
Getting the Longest Life From Your Patio Cover
Wood is a natural product. It will keep expanding and contracting, checking, and changing color for as long as it’s standing. We’ve seen covers that were stained on schedule still look great years later, and we’ve seen covers left bare go gray and rough much faster. Understanding how the wood behaves, and putting a little care into it, is what gets you the most years under it.
If you have questions about your patio cover, reach out to your project manager. And if you’re still planning one, we’d be glad to put together an estimate.