The modern technology that restores deteriorated wood was invented in 1972 and is now an accomplished fact. Routinely applied since 1972, around the world from Kwajalein in  the South Pacific to Scandinavia, this technology grew under the administration of its American inventor Steve Smith, physicist and chemist, to span a range of products and related applications.

     The original Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer™ was developed for restoration of deteriorated (rotten) wood.  Along with the companion product Fill-It™ Epoxy Filler, these two easy-to-use products are available in over a thousand retail stores around the country, direct from the factory store in Richmond California, over the Internet by multiple resellers, under GSA contract to U.S. Government agencies, in Scandinavia and elsewhere in the world by export or local distributors such as in New Zealand (email), Australia or Eastern Canada and Western Canada. Additional products complement the expanded focus of Smith & Co. on protective maintenance and restoration.

     This wood restoration technology was developed from a combination of logical assumptions. Originally intended for restoration of wood in the marine marketplace, the highly aggressive marine conditions proved the acid test for this new technology.  It gave paint and varnish that actually stuck, and sealants and adhesives that did not tear or crack where all other products readily failed.  Some boat owners were also painting contractors, architects or similar, and began to use these products in the architectural field, for restoration as well as an adhesion-promoting primer for paint on new wood buildings.  It proved far more workable than any other practice for "restoration" of deteriorated (rotten) wood, and it soon became apparent that enamel or latex house paints applied to wood treated with this product did not readily fail, where without this treatment failure of paints typically occurred in half the time and rot soon started up again behind a wood repair with a filler.

       In about 1975 Steve Smith discovered what caused the gelcoat blisters and laminate decomposition that was suddenly prevalent on glass-reinforced polyester (GRP) boats ("fiberglass" boats).  He invented then the barrier-coat technology which is now in common use everywhere in the world for the repair of such damage and prevention of its occurrence. Read the story of this adventure!

     That same barrier coating, when applied to the bottom of a wood boat, made possible the end result of a wood boat with a dry bilge, normally an unheard-of condition.  Two additional factors were vital in achieving that result.  One was the caulking of every seam and joint with a flexible, high-adhesion sealant.  This absorbed small relative movements while maintaining a water tight seal.  The second was the use of Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer, which allowed these products to adhere to the wood, whether dry or slightly damp.  This treatment of a wood hull, usually one made of one or two layers of planks, or plank-over-plywood was recommended since the middle seventies, and the majority reported success, satisfaction, and little or no water seeping into the bilge.  Refinement of this process over the next few years consisted of attention to all the small details that contributed to leakage if ignored.  The technology gained acceptance by word-of-mouth, as satisfied boat owners told others of the excellent condition their boats maintained.  Owners and restorers of classic wood power boats, the most critical market with the highest standards, had by the nineties become sufficiently numerous, and their results so consistently excellent, that by the year 2000 this technology had become the acknowledged standard for planked wood boat restoration, using modern materials to stabilize traditional construction.

     The same technology was also applied to sailboats of all vintages with similarly excellent results.

      In 1990 it was discovered that the Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer prevented freeze-thaw damage to concrete.  This was verified by an extensive test at the VTT institute in Finland. The product was then manufactured under license in Finland and used to treat buildings and roadway and bridge deck surfaces, to protect against both freeze-thaw and salt permeation. Salt is used to melt ice on road surfaces.  The salt water penetrates into the concrete and accelerates corrosion of the steel reinforcing in the concrete.  The impregnation with a hydrophobic material which allows water vapor to pass, but not liquid water, solves both these problems.

        In Australia, Senseal is the Master Distributor (also a restoration contractor).

       In Canada, please contact BCS INC, Wood Restoration Products in Ontario, Coastal Epoxy Restoration in British Columbia.

      A restoration contractor has been established in Sweden, Scandinavian Impregnating Service.  Their web site is www.impregnering.nu.