Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Protecting Wood Sheds

By Tony Page


It's important for you to safeguard your new wood sided shed with stain or paint straight away after you have assembled it, or after you had it built using a shed company. Three of the most widespread types of wood siding for sheds are pine, cedar, and Texture 111.

Many people are of the opinion that cedar siding, whether it is tongue & groove boards or clapboards, doesn't need to be protected. This really is far from true! While cedar is far more rot-resistant than pine or Texture 111, and normally would endure a little longer if left unprotected, it's still wood and will degrade inevitably. Cedar is often used when insects including carpenter ants or termites can be found or likely, given it does have a natural repellent contained in the wood that the bugs will stay far away from.

The alternative two kinds of siding: pine and Texture 111, will rot very fast if left unstained or unpainted. These forms of siding are normally kiln dried from the lumber mill but, if allowed to remain unprotected, the wood will start to turn a dull grey color because the dry wood soaks up moisture into the pours. Inevitably, the moisture will continue to work its way deep inside the boards, turn them a black color, and will rot them from the internally. Areas of your shed most at risk of this challenge are areas that are very near the earth, since rain falling via the sky or running off the roof will splash up in the ground and really soak the wood. This is really typically substantially more of a problem around the sides on the shed that do not receive much sunshine because it takes much longer for it to dry.

So, exactly what is the best way to shield your shed? There are basically two trains of thought in this area. A veteran "house painter" will probably inform you to select a premium primer, and apply at least 1 coat, and possible two, particularly over the knots. Then apply a coat of a high-quality exterior paint. Generally speaking, with paint, you get what you pay for. It's always worth a couple of extra dollars per gallon of paint to obtain a better quality product. There is one major downside of paint, however. Before long it will start to peel and flake off and will call for considerable sanding and scraping to ready it for the next coat of primer and/or paint.

The alternative option might be advice you may well get from an experienced "wood worker", which would probably be a good quality stain. The key distinction between paint and stain would be the fact paint simply coats the outer layer of the wood, that is a good way to safeguard it. However, stain actually takes up into the pores of the wood, also providing good protection. The chief advantage to making use of a stain is the fact that there's almost no preparation required, such as priming, and as the stain ages, it is going to not peel or flake like paint. It may start to take on a dull or chalky appearance but when that takes place, you simply need to just wash the shed and apply another coat of stain...no sanding or scraping required. And, since 1 gallon of stain will take care of about the same as two gallons of primer & paint you would undoubtedly likely to have to get, there should be a substantial cost savings also.




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