Will semi-transperant stain on rough-cut siding last and protect?
I am in climate zone 4C and am planning on installing rough cut fir reverse board and batten siding on the home I am trying to build. I am relying on the reverse board and batten as a rain screen.
I am planning on staining both sides of the boards and battens as they are installed with a semi-transparent gray stain to give the fir a aged look.
I have heard that semi transparent stains will only last a few years. Is it silly for me to waste time and money to stain the back of my siding if the product will not last very long?
Does anyone recommend a long lasting semi-transparent stain? Consumer reports gave Behr (HD) Premium Stain really high reviews but everyone else seems to agree that it is horrible.
It seems like professional painters in the area really like Sherwin Williams products. Does anyone have experience with there stains?
Will Cabot Bleaching Oil protect the wood as well as age it? Or their weathering stain? Will this work on douglas fir? and will it seal it?
Any advice would greatly be appreciated.
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Replies
Stain on the back side, where it's not exposed to sunlight and rain, should last pretty much forever. But I imagine some basic primer would be cheaper and would also do the job.
Kail,
As far as I know, stains are used to change the color of wood. They don't protect wood.
If you apply a finish (for example, a polyurethane or oil-based finish) to wood siding, it makes sense to apply it to both sides -- not to preserve the wood, but to make sure that the wood surfaces absorb moisture at about the same rate. This limits cupping.
Stain ages gracefully, and has a big advantage over paint: It will not peel or flake, so a gentle power washing is all the prep you need for repainting. Beats scraping and sanding in my book...
The nomenclature for stains and paints is really a mess. Some stains, such as some that are used in furniture finishing, are really just a carrier for a dye or pigment, with capability to seal or protect the wood, or even to fix the coloring, and are meant to be followed by a clear (ish) coat. Stuff that is sold as exterior stain typically is designed to provide sealing and UV protection to reduce the greying of the wood, and the degradation of the finish and the wood. As you move to more and more pigment in the stain, that protection increases, but calling it a "stain" becomes a little silly as it's more like a paint, and according to some, at that point it can peel like a paint. (http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20361229_20771120,00.html) But the nice thing is that rough sawn wood holds paint (or heavily pigmented stain) well, so you shouldn't have to worry about peeling.