As the old porgy and bess song says it ain t necessarily so.
Poly coat wood for vinyl to stick.
Painting your wood is a great way to seal it and help the vinyl really stick.
A standard acrylic paint works great.
Sometimes the wood s texture can make it really difficult to get the vinyl to actually stick to the wood.
Lumber coated with the tough polymer coating is available in standard and custom sizes ready to build any structure.
A clear coat or several can add pristine uniform gloss.
But always test a sample of your clear paint with a sample decal first.
Engineers and contractors offer poly coated wood to set them apart as offering a product no one else can offer.
You can go ahead and paint it or spray paint it but just be sure to give it a really long time to dry before applying the vinyl.
Then remove all the sanding dust and apply a second coat.
Rim caps or tiny applications or your decals have fine details such as a die cut vinyl decal that might otherwise catch on it s sharp corners.
For added durability a third coat can be applied.
But there are ways to make it work and things to avoid.
Easy to use comes in any size polymer coated wood requires no special tools or handling and can be applied selectively to the section of the wood that requires protection.
It will be more difficult for vinyl to stick to rough wood so sand your surface before beginning.
For example a fence built using treated posts zone coated with poly coated wood will not rot at the ground line.
When vinyl doesn t stick to wood the problem is usually with the wood.
Adding polyurethane to wood may seal the sticker but over time you may still find that it starts to come.
If you are applying your vinyl to wood you may wish to stain the wood first.
Most projects will be ready for normal use in 24 hours.
As you may know wood is a bit of a tricky surface when it comes to putting vinyl on it anyway.
If you do add a coat of polyurethane on top of the stain before you apply the sticker as the wood stain can affect how well the sticker adheres to the wood.
Many clear coat paints will remove or tarnish and smear printed decals.
Many people call asking why their vinyl won t stick to the wood and assume there s a defect with the vinyl.
The vinyl has a tendency to want to lift up if you don t have a surface that s perfectly smooth.
If you want to try a topcoat i would let the vinyl adhesive cure for 24 48 hours before adding a topcoat so the adhesives don t mix and cause the vinyl to peel.
Most clear finishes are applied with a brush working in the direction of the grain of the wood.
The advantages of poly coated wood strong durable workable and cost effective.
After it dries sand lightly.
Your permanent vinyl should well adhere to wood that s treated with a base coat so long as your project is kept inside.
If you have ever tried making a diy wood sign by applying an adhesive vinyl decal to a piece of wood you may have experienced some frustration.
