On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 09:13:12 -0400, the opaque rich brenz
clearly wrote:

A friend has a farm with several old barns. He wants to preserve the
barns in their natural "weathered gray" state. The barns are in
otherwise excellent structural condition. Is there an applicable wood
treatment that could be used that would not require power-washing or
prepping the wood beforehand? Remember, he wants to keep the aged
patina of the barns.

No, I don't believe there is any treatment which would leave the barns
looking like they do and provide continued additional protection. All
treatments require sanding and/or cleaning for them to adhere to good
wood and require cleanup/retreating on a regular basis. They got to
look the way they are by having no treatment and anything else would
alter that appearance plus causing a lot of extra work to no avail.

Tell him to leave them alone. They'll live for a long time, just
as they already have, as they are now.


--

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things
over and over and over again for the truth to sink in,
to kind of catapult the propaganda."

G.W. Bush
Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005