Treatment and Care of Bamboo Panels

Answering these Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) is the best guide to treating and caring for your bamboo.

Question: CAN THE BAMBOO PANELS FADE?
Answer: Yes it can fade just like any natural outdoor product.

Question: HOW DO YOU STOP THEM FADING?
Answer: You can treat them with a solution called Black Bamboo Treatment

Question: HOW DO YOU APPLY TREATMENT.....IS IT HARD WORK?
Answer: The easiest and quickest way is once you have installed the panels, give them a good wash with the hose, remove all saw dust and that, then allow to dry.

Once dry put the treatment into a normal domestic pump sprayer like you use in the garden and apply it on to the bamboo, giving the string a good coat as well to keep it soft, (2.5 Lt bottle of Black Bamboo Treatment should do a fence of 15 panels twice)

Question: DO YOU HAVE TO TREAT THE BACK OF THE PANEL?
Answer: No

Question: WHAT ABOUT THE TOP OF THE PANEL?
Answer: Yes, it is important to cover the top of the bamboo panels to avoid moisture from rain being absorbed where the bamboo has been cut to length. We have purpose-designed top capping to solve this problem and give a stylish finish.

Question: HOW OFTEN DO YOU HAVE TO TREAT THE PANELS; AND HOW LONG WILL THEY LAST?
Answer: The question should be how long do you want the bamboo to look good? We treat our display panels every three months or so, but because they are display they need to be the best-looking bamboo fence around.

It depends on how totally exposed to the weather they are – do they face east or west for example – but with proper capping, installation and treatment your bamboo panels should look sensational for many years.

Question: WHAT ELSE CAN YOU USE ON THE PANELS TO ENHANCE THE NATURAL COLOUR?
Answer: I have not found anything to work well, that’s why I only use The Black Bamboo Treatment. , I have tried other products like Marine Varnish but found that it did not hold on to the bamboo because the bamboo surface won’t absorb the varnish - after about 5 months it started to peel, the only way I could fix this was to strip the varnish off.

I originally used linseed oil and turpentine but found after time that mould would get to it, also in the hot weather it would go soft and sticky creating sap-like spots that discolored the surface. (Please note that these are just things that I have found while working with the product)

Bamboo Logistics cannot highlight enough how important it is to maintain all the bamboo products correctly. While testing and trialing different products on the surface of the bamboo, we learned a lot about preserving the colour on this non-porous surface.

As bamboo is not absorbent, , we found it was hard for many products to stay on this surface We even tested some high grade marine varnishes for 10 months and found they were still great in certain areas and others had flaked away from the surface causing discolouring of the bamboo.

If you did that and needed to recoat the bamboo surface evenly again, you would have to strip the surface bare again, that’s a lot work. Linseed oil and turps was another product that I use myself and also recommend it, but after going back to jobs and checking the bamboo, I noticed how sticky it would stay and collect dust and grass cuttings, also in certain place it had become mouldy and left black spots on the surface.

Bamboo Logistics undertook considerable research and developed the Black Bamboo Treatment , which is an economical and easy-to-apply solution that keeps the bamboo looking good.

Bamboo Logistics own Black Bamboo Treatment and it is professionally package for us in 1 Litre , 2.5 Litre and 5 litre bottles - 1 litre on the first application should cover 10 panels 1800 X 900. You can purchase online, we are happy to sell our Black Bamboo Treatment to anyone, not just those who purchase our products.