On Jul 25, 11:52 am, John Martin wrote:
I want to put a preservative on the siding of my house. House is
roughsawn white cedar clapboards, garage is roughsawn pine board &
batten. When built 24 years ago they used bleaching oil on it, which
gave it a somewhat gray color. All of it has since weathered to just
about the color I want, so I'm not interested in stain.

I do want to preserve it, though. There are a few places where
splashback from rain causes some particular problems, indicating it
might need some special treatment. Generally, though, I want to do
all the siding.

Growing up, we used creosote. The last time I went to buy some I
found it hadn't been sold for years. Plus, it's black and smells and
really isn't what I'd want on siding. Instead I bought green
Cuprinol. Good protection, but still not a color I'd go with for
siding.

I've heard of Penofin which sounds good, but at $40 per gallon and
coverage on rough wood in the neighborhood of 100+ square feet per
gallon, it seems a bit pricey.

Any recommendations?

John Martin
Cumberland, Maine

Lots of deck, siding and fence finishes out there, the more you pay,
the longer they last. You can either get stain versions or clear
versions, since you want that weathered look, get the clear. You can
buy UV protection or not, depends on whether you want it more grey or
not. It's common item at the big box home improvement places, have
whole aisles full of different types here up to 5 and 10 gallon
buckets. Apply with a brush or by spraying. Be careful with any rags
afterwards, they're all drying oil hazards. Olympic was the brand I
used on my trailer. Runs right around $20/gal, how much it covers
depends on how porous your wood is and how rough the surface is.
Ain't none of it going to be cheap. You aren't going to find coal tar
derivatives for $4/gal that'll cover 1000 square feet/gal anymore, no
matter how hard you try. Any other stuff is either going to be black
like tar or green with copper salts, both types meant for buried wood,
not siding. And I've read somewhere they want to ban the copper
stuff, too.

Stan