Methods of treating wood including modifying a cell wall of the wood to be positively charged to form a cationic wood cell wall; and contacting a negatively charged silicon layer to the cationic wood cell wall to form a barrier, wherein the negatively charged silicon layer includes a silicate ester group, a silinol group, a silicon oxide group or a combination thereof are described. Treated wood compositions including a wood structure having an outer layer including a wood cell having a cell wall attached to a silicon layer which includes a silicate ester group, a silinol group, a silicon oxide group or a combination thereof are also described.