Repairing decking and borders and trying to match colours

[DennyDifferent]

I've just had some decking and bordering repaired that had rotted and am looking for the best way to try and match the new stuff to the old stuff. I know it's not going look perfect but I'm useless with this kind of thing and not sure whether decking oil/stain/paint would be best... Just after we moved in a couple of years ago I did the decking with Ronseal Ultimate Protection Decking Oil Natural Oak (this stuff: https://www.ronseal.com/products/ultimate-protection-decking-oil/) and because I had a load left over I also did the borders.

If I were to get some decking cleaner and power wash the decking and then get some more of the above stuff would that work? Maybe with doing an extra coat or two on the new stuff? Or I could use paint but I've read that can be a flaky nightmare...

Also, it looks like the borders are still oiled up pretty well so if I were to go down any other route presumably I'd have to sand it all down which might be an issue as I have quite a bad back. It's going to be bad enough doing the decking as it is without considering sanding

(Btw, we didn't put the artificial grass in and hate it as much as anybody).

 

[Deleted member 323070]

Leave it to weather in for a few weeks to a few months. It needs to be open to rain and the sun.
Weathering in needs the oils and moisture to leach out, so sealing it early on will delay the weathering in process.

Harder woods need longer to weather in than soft woods.

 

[DennyDifferent]

Leave it to weather in for a few weeks to a few months. It needs to be open to rain and the sun.
Weathering in needs the oils and moisture to leach out, so sealing it early on will delay the weathering in process.

Harder woods need longer to weather in than soft woods.

Ah, that's annoying. By that time the bad weather will be back and it'll be hard to find time to paint it. Maybe I should just leave painting it until spring next year... In either case, would using the same stuff I did a couple of years ago work?

 

[Deleted member 323070]

That sounds sensible.
The variation will lessen over time.

The incessant problem with varnished/sealed timber, used in partial replacement, is that the differences will always show.
By the time the new timber has fully weathered in, some of the existing timber may need replacement.
Then you'll be faced with a similar problem all over again.
Painting, of course, masks all those variations.

Composite decking boards tend to avoid the problem.
Personally, I'm content with the variations in timber depending on its age and installation.

 

[DennyDifferent]

Yeah, we looked into replacing the whole thing with composite but the quotes we got were £3-4k which we can't justify at the mo so decided to just have it repaired, rotted stuff removed and braced etc. They've done a great job, it's all solid now and will last us for two or three years and maybe then we'll be in a position to have the whole lot replaced.

So basically my options are to let it weather in and then oil/stain it next spring or paint it and deal with never ending flaking and re-painting...

 

[DennyDifferent]

Leave it to weather in for a few weeks to a few months.

Can I just double check with this, does that apply to new wood that's been put around the top of the borders too (in the second photo)? That just looks like plain wood. Maybe I should get that painted now and just leave the new decking?