Best wood for exterior trim ??????????

[Mike]

Doing a bit of trimwork on my porch. What will be the best wood to use? mike

[Jim Artherholt]

Mahogany is a terrific outdoor wood for trim as well as decking. You can use the 5/4 x 6 decking and mill the trim pieces from it. It takes paint as well as natural finishes such as spar varnish over BLO.

[John Grossbohlin]

Fiber cement? ;-)

I'm re-siding my house with fiber cement siding and am using fiber cement trim too. I wouldn't run it through my DJ-20 or Cabinet saw but it seems like great exterior trim material... no rot, no bugs, holds paint like a sponge. I've been cutting the trim with a diamond blade in an angle grinder and with a 3.5" carbide blade in a cordless tile saw--PC shears for the siding itself.

Another good point is that fiber cement siding and trim is considerably less expensive than the vertical grain western red cedar and clear pine trim that is/was on the house. I needed a considerable amount of material to replace damaged material and deal with remodeling driven changes and the fiber cement offered a very price competitive alternative.

John

[Puzzled]

Call me a heretic but as far as I'm concerned, the best wood for outdoor trim is solid plastic, not wood. Had a problem with some of the brick molding on the garage. It was sucking up water that splashed on the sidewalk outside the access door and the overhead door.

While looking for replacement stock at Lowes, I found that they make all sorts of outdoor wood trim out of solid vinyl. Color runs all the way through it and it machines and goes up just like its wood counterpart. Only difference is that I will no longer be painting it or replacing it If your trim needs replacement, give this stuff serious consideration.

[Larry Jaques]

On Tue, 09 Nov 2004 03:56:54 GMT, "Puzzled" calmly ranted:

No, you'll be rubbing it out to get the chalk (oxidation) off it.

-- Remember: Every silver lining has a cloud. ----

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[Slowhand]

Cedar. SH

[Martin Rothfield]

I've tried african mahogany and spanish cedar to replace porch rails, and I'd vote for the mahogany. The mahogany works better - the cedar can be a little too soft and easy to damage. The cedar dust can be pretty irritating also. I've been getting 6/4 mahogany, 10 ft stock for under $6.00/bf.

Martin

[e-mail] wrote:

[Pat Barber]

Ummmm, spanish cedar is neither spanish nor cedar. It's really a mahogany. African mahogany sells for well under $4 per bf in my part of the world(NC).

Mart> I've tried african mahogany and spanish cedar to replace porch rails,

[Jay Pique]

JP