Cedar staining

[Mark]

Greetings All, We are having a new porch built out of cedar and really enjoy the natural look of it. Is there a general concensus about the best treatment to preserve the new look? It's a small porch, and not in direct sunlight much. I would still like something that is sprayable, if possible. It would make the railings easier to do. Do we just stain and use a top coat of sealer (i.e. Thompson's) or is there something better? Thanks as always to anyone who helps, Mark

[GarageWoodworks]

I wouldn't stain it. Cedar looks great unaltered. I fininished a cedar sandbox using a marine spar varnish that I applied with a rag. I'm sure you could find it in a can.

You will probably need to refinish it once a year to keep it looking nice.

[Roemax]

[Mark]

I'd like to use at least a light stain to even out some of the contrasting colors. But I did use spar on something before, and it does work well.

[Rusty]

[Hoosierpopi]

O My neighbor suggested fuel oil to protect and stain my cedar to frustrate the Carpenter Bees that love exposed, unpainted cedar. I added some roofing shingles to the diesel fuel to further frustrate the pests and it proved to be a pretty god stail and appears to offer some measure of "water proofing" as well. The aroma goes away!

n Jul 24, 3:15 am, "Rusty" wrote:

[Robert Bonomi]

look at REZ cedar stain, from Pittsburgh paints.

As far as i know, it's not sprayable, but it applies well with either a rag, or a brush.

Durability is excellent, even in direct sunlight -- 10-15 years before recoat needed, in a central mid-west location.

[Max]

I used Olympic Wood Protector on this fence. (applied with a short nap roller) easy job.