"Christian McArdle" wrote in message
. net...
This has been specified on a property I am working on, at was to
cover Cedar V groved panneling. I have now been given the go ahead to
use softwood instead, don't know wether or not to ask to use ordinary
paint as well!

Personally, I'm going to be doing my exterior woodwork in acrylic (water
based) paint. It is used almost exclusively in the US. Most importantly,
in
five to ten years time when it is time to recoat, it is much easier to lay
a
new layer of acrylic than sand/strip everything back, like you need to do
for solvent gloss. It is also better for the environment, less likely to
give you health problems and can be recoated in a fraction of the time.

Christian.


As a point of interest I have always used Sikkens/Sadolin on all my external
joinery for years, but have always had problems with it failing on the south
side of my property after 2 or 3 years (goes hard and starts flaking)
despite on one occasion stripping back completely to bare wood and using the
full recommended application sequence.

About 6 years ago, against my better judgement and in desperation I tried
the Ronseal 5 year water based stain. Its very easy to apply and can be
thinned with water for the first coat, and of course cleaning up is very
easy. Even in its sixth year it is still looking good - even the sills and
other horizontals on the south side of my property. This year I shall be
able to redecorate with just a quick rubdown and apply 1 or 2 coats.

So despite all the virtue extolling of the traditional Sikkens/Sadolins,
here is one happy user of water based stain.

HTH

Dave