Cabot stain

Mike,

I favor the driftwood gray, it matches my hair.

Dave M.

For our fence, which is shaded by hedges and gets little sun and rain, we use something called clear solution by cabot, a fairly light-duty oil based preservative. For the deck, last time we used "new redwood". Way too red, almost orange. Next time we will tone down, perhaps to their "chestnut", which is a medium brown. Looks good on our neighbor's fence and deck. Consumers Report says the fully pigmented stains are the longest lasting, but, alas, they look too much like ordinary paint. We found the semitransparent stains had good protection, but didnt hide the woodgrain completely.

Olympic Cedar Natural semi-transparent on PT pine gave us a good imitation of redwood. Looks very good at 1 year. How long it holds up remains to be seen. Consumers Reports rated it near the top in their ongoing test.

I use driftwood gray. It complements the color of the house siding and after a couple years the wood truly does look like driftwood. You paint store can mix up whatever color you select from the brochure.

I use New Cedar. It was mixed by my paint store using Cabot's #1406 Neutral Base.

did Tile red for the rails and am favoring a grey for the floor (but haven't done it yet)