An inescapable law of nature (technical types refer to it as the Second Law of thermodynamics) says that everything we humans construct will deteriorate over time if left alone. Our weapon against deterioration is maintenance. Suitable maintenance can slow down or reverse the deterioration process, in some scenarios even restoring a like-new condition. Such is the case with wood. We tend to think of a board as an object like a piece of steel, only softer. In fact, that board is quite sensitive to its surroundings: temperature, humidity, sunlight, and simply the passage of time all cause wood to change. Unfortunately, the changes are often undesirable-expansion, contraction, warping, splitting, rotting, graying, staining, and accumulation of mildew, moss, or algae are examples.
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