We have a mahagany (sp?) porch on a new house that was installed last fall. We’d like to apply a new finish and was looking at a Cabot product and Thompson’s waterseal. (BTW, our Cabots solid color stain was pre-finished and looks real nice; touch-up has been easy). Any experience with either/both?
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Cabots makes some of the finest exterior finishes I know of.
Thompsons - well, if I can't say anything good about something, I'm not supposed to say anything at all.
but that never stopped me yet.
Thompson's is just a thinned down wax that will oxidize in six months of UV from the sun
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Hey - Tompsons has a great marketing department... Matt
so does Grecian Formula - and I hear that it has tobe re-applied regularly;)
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Using Thompsons Waterseal as a deck finish is akin to using toilet tissue in lieu of tarpaper as roof underlayment.
Cabots is some good stuff...
Thompsons is a name on a container...
Consumer Reports has/had a fairly long term study going on deck finishes. May be outdated now
Edited 7/13/2005 7:42 am ET by Matt
They update it every year. The July issue has the new one.Tompson's isn't even on the list.Cabot has the top 2, but they are opaque.Cabot Decking Stain 1480
Cabot Solid Color 1880In the semi transparent or clear the top ones areWoman DuraStain 18146
Sikkens Cetol SRD 1708902
Olympic WaterGuard 55560
Ditto to what Piffin said- Cabot's makes some top notch products while Thompson's is more marketing than product. Curious to see what the future holds for Cabot's ............. they've been a family owned company but were recently aquired by Valspar.
http://www.valspar.com/val/ne/newsDetail.jsp?newsid=21974
I'd use the cabot Australian timber oil. The mahogany flame has iron oxide in it for a uv inhibitor, it's easy to use and after a year on my railings and ipe decking it looks great. If the wood has been previously finished with something else, it will have to come off though.
Dave,
Thompson's Waterseal is crap. Like all the prior posters have said. I'll even raise the bar by suggesting that it's use may even shorten the life of a deck.
Why? Because when it's freshly applied, it causes water to bead up rather than flow off the decking, soooooo, it takes longer for the decking to dry after a shower, thus allowing a greater span of time for the moisture to penetrate the top side of the decking, causing it to cup and warp.
WSJ