Ditto on the moisture content. I built a fence so it didn't matter
that much, but just having the wood in the shop for a week or two
raised the humidity in there so much it was palpable. Mutt.

wrote:
Andy wrote:
bob wrote:
Getting ready to build shutters for my house, but don't know what kind of
wood to use. Lowes sells wooden shutters on special order only that are
made of western red cedar. That sounds durable, but isn't cedar going to
have an open grain and knots that will show through the paint?

My parents have had painted cedar shutters on their house for more than
15 years, and they still look great. I don't remember exactly how they
were painted, but it wasn't anything too special - definitely nothing
more than a primer coat and then the color coat.
Good luck,
Andy

Folks around here are using cypress when they want them to last. I
would think if you are building them yourself you could save enough
money to make the extras $$ worthwhile to purchase some weather
resistant wood.

Stay away from today's western red. It isn't you dad's western red by
any means. Look at the growth rings - you will be surprised, and
worse, when you see that the wood is around 20-25% moisture content
(read: wet) you won't want to make anything out of it.

Robert