On Apr 26, 10:03 pm, Al Bundy wrote:
Larry wrote :





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.

Maybe that's it. My house was too small. Just what was the purpose of
mentioning outrageous sf of your home anyway?

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.

Like you said, it all depends upon what you want to see and what you are
willing to pay for it. Just me personally. Anything that costs that much
I don't want to do maintenance every 3 yrs and I rarely hire anybody to
do anything.



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.

Never used Olympic so you're the personal expert on this one.



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.

Cetol rings a bell. It still peeled. The marketing at the time was
recoating was only necessary like every 5 yrs or so if I recall some 2
decades ago. The marketing was also hyping up it was used in
Sweeden/Norway or something. What the hell was so special about
Sweeden/Norway I have no idea. I mean we get nasty winters of up to 30
below.







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.

Glad it worked out for you. People around here at the time, in various
areas with various builders, took the pooper poking.- Hide quoted text -

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