Al Bundy wrote:
Larry wrote in
:

The Reverend Natural Light wrote:
I would not recommend spar varnish. Everywhere I've used it or seen
it used, it turned yellow and peeled off within months.

I don't even really know what a 'spar' is, but I guess when you're
floating around in the ocean you pass the time by stripping and
revarnishing it.


-rev




On Apr 23, 7:54 pm, Don Wiss wrote:
I have a door from my kitchen to the deck. It had been an ordinary
wood with a clear finish. It opened outwards. When it rained I would
leave the door open. For years the finish was fine. Then I upgraded
to a mahogany door. Whatever finish the fellow put on blistered on
the outside in a year. And I haven't left this door open in the rain
at all.

So what is the most lasting finish? Thinking like a boater I would
think that spar varnish would be good. But that was years ago. So
what should I use?

Don www.donwiss.com (e-mail link at home page bottom).

I didn't see the original post, but if you want to coat exterior
lumber, my recommendation is "Sikkens". It's a two part affair, and
subsequent coats use only part 2 which is essentially a UV protector.
It is not cheap, but for most homes, labor costs exceed product costs
and you benefit by going longer between re-coats. I used it here over
clear California cedar.



DO NOT USE SIKKINS!!! It is pure ****. Unless it's recoated every couple
of years it peels.

Sorry you have had such a bad experience with Sikkens. I've been using
it here on an 8000 sq. ft. home and my results have been excellent. I
find I have to recoat the south side every 3 years, the east and west
sides every 6 years and I've never had to recoat the north side (over 8
years now). I started about 15 years ago. My latest recoat of the
south side was 2 years ago. No evidence at all of peeling.

Expensive as hell. Expensive top quality paint is half the price and
lasts many years.

Yes, it is. It cost me over $40/gallon 2 years ago, but the labor is
considerably more. It is not paint - it should not be compared to
paint; it should be compared to transparent stains or varnish. It has
proven (to me by actual testing going back 20 years) superior to Olympic
which was the best brand I tried prior to testing.

The reason it's a 2 coat process is because it is ****. When it first
came out there was no UV coat. Seeing as it peeled they came up with a UV
coat. Imagine that. Make a product that costs 2x and because it's ****
they sell you another product fo fix their **** up. Sikkins is a joke.

It has always been a 2 step process. The original stuff that I bought
consisted of something they called Cetol which was designed to penetrate
the wood and yet breathe. The second and third coats were called Cetol
23 which were designed primarily as UV protection.

I personally stripped a large house that had that crap on it. Began
peeling in a few years. Recoated it. In a few yrs peeling again. Rep came
out and says UV is doing that and we have a UV topcoat now. Actually
tried to convince me to buy it. Told him to pack it.

Stripped my house, primed and painted with top quality paint. What a
chore. But I wasn't doing it every 3 years afterwards.

No question that paint requires less maintenance. That's less
maintenance than ANY stain or varnish. It all depends upon what you want
to see.

Another neighbor took his siding off and reversed it rough side out his
was peeling so bad.

Well, mine is vertical t & g siding. The good side is smooth; the
reverse side is rough. It is blind nailed with stainless steel hog
nails through the groove and it would be almost impossible to remove it
without destroying it. For what I paid for it, there is no way I'm
going to paint it.

Builder who originally put it on my house (and other houses of the era)
now refuses to put it on any house he builds. Does not want houses that
look like **** from the curb attached to his name.

The original coating I had was less than satisfactory. The company,
however, gave me the new stuff for free. Since then, I've had extremely
good luck with it.
--

Larry
rapp at lmr dot com