… a detached garage/shop. My house is brick, built in the 1850s, and I also have a detached field stone garage, from the 1930s, adjacent to the house.
After looking at some pole building structures, I’m concerned about how the metal siding will look/contrast with the old buildings. I also plan on heating the new structure with a radiant slab and really don’t care for the insulating options I’ve seen for pole buildings. I think I’ll just go the traditional construction route – footers, a few courses of block, and frame from there.
I like the looks of hemlock board & batten siding when it’s fresh sawn – the honey/orange color.
Anyone have recommendations on the best preservative to keep this color. How often would the preservative need to be applied – every 4-5 years or so? Maybe this is a losing proposition and I should go with some fiber cement or vinyl…….
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hello,
hmmmm,did i post this twice? anyway,i've been using "lifetime wood treatment"for the last five years on spruce shingles and pine board and batten.it's non-toxic and turns the wood brown and will eventually turn silver.it's made by "valhalla wood preservatives ltd." they may have a website.
Thanks to all for your insights.
Wivell
All wood when exposed to sunlite will eventually turn grey!
I carefully applied 4 coats of the best Marine Varnish I could buy on my carefully dried black walnut timbers and trim.. It's now 4 years later The varnish has held up extremely well but for some of those timbers the wood is no longer the rich deep brown it once was, it's turned almost yellow, in a couple more years it will whiten and then start to turn grey. Before that point I will paint the wood a dark rich brown.
Hemlock isn't particularly decay resistant, but then most exterior woods aren't very decay resistant, they invented paint use it!
Paint it whatever color you'd like and don't fight what can't be changed..
PS if you don't use green wood (Most wood used in home construction is 19% moisture) and paint the back side prior to putting the siding on, you will get decades out of a decent paint job. In decades people will be tearing off vinyl; or fibercement because it looks so cheap and dated!
Thanks Frenchy. I hate maintenance which is why I'm having doubts about using the wood.
Maybe one of those opaque stains would be good. I agree about the tearing off of vinyl. Not so sure about the FC though - that stuff looks pretty good.
The life of the coating is largely dependent on the pigments. A clear water repellent sealer (some have UV inhibitors which will retard the graying for a while) will last a year or two. A semitransparent stain will probably get you 2 to 5 years. A solid color stain will give more life, however an oil primer with premium quality latex paint will give you the best life, particularly if the siding is back primed (and edge primed) before installation.
wivell,
The "trick" to using wood and not doing a lot of maintinace of any sort is,
first
Let it dry. most wood sold at a lumberyard has about 19% moisture, it takes a year to air dry wood down to proper moisture levels, or you can bring it indoors during the winter heating season and air dry it in 4 months, or you can back prime (Most primers provide too thin a sealant for my tastes, so since I'm cheap I'd go buy mismixed paint for the dollar or two a gallon they sell it for and prime the back side with it. (actaully prime the back side, ends, and much of the front. BUT!! leave the exposed area unpainted) then go ahead and put it up.
Second,
Late this fall give everything it's final coats..Two well applied coats with a good quailty paint should get you decades of a nice finish..
The reason you leave the face unpainted is to provide the moisture in the wood a path to escape. Once down to 7-19% moisture the wood won't tend to blow off paint as the moisture in the wood tries to escape.
Paint appied in this manner sticks well and doesn't need much maintinance at all!
As for FC, it's really like vinyl in that it's the rage, seems to offer benefits and looks acceptable.. Nobody will ever mistake it for the real thing, and the real thing has been around for an extremely long period of time, so we are well used to it..
FC isn't new,, back in the 40's and 50's they put a lot of it up here in the Twin cities, whenever possible it was removed and replaced with something else. Sometimes brick or stucco. Some times wood.. occasionally vinyl (talk about leaping from the kettle to the fire!) oe aluminum.. . .
People get tired of immatation anything.. however the real thing like clapboard siding, has been around for an extremely long time. It's the case of do it right and you won't have to redo it!..
One final point, go to a local sawmill or two and ask them if they can sell you the wood for the siding! You might be surprised with how much you can save! I paid dimes on the dollar for my wood at a sawmill.. sure it's green, about 22% moisture and withing a month it will be the same as the lumberyard is..
I have a good friend that has a sawmill so that won't be a problem.
Heck I have a Woodmizer myself.
I would like to use the hemlock in a board & batten look - just trying to keep the maintenance to a minimum.
Your points are well taken - they all seem to be right on the money. I just hate painting......
wivell,
I understand how you feel. I'm absolutely the worlds messiest painter, don't try to deny it, because I am!
So what I do to minimize the job and have something worth while is toss the wood on a sawhorse and if I have some old tarp laying around put it underneath (otherwise there winds up being a painted spot on the ground that remains untill the paint goes away (I told you I'm terrible)) I digress, I've found that if I paint something lying flat it doesn't wind up with runs! (more proof) once I've coated it with sufficent paint, I set it off to the side to dry. I don't worry about fingerprints because this is gonna be the back side and my hands are already badly smeared with paint..
Once everything is dry I either give it a second coat or go ahead and put it up..
IF I seal the wood completely with a good paint (Thank you consumer reports for help finding good ones, but I'm a tightwad I go to the library and look thru their back issues rather than subscribe) I found that decades can pass before the paint deteriorates enough to warrant repainting.. By that time she who must be obeyed usually has some real definate ideas about what colors it should be.. maybe I'll even be wealthy enough to have someone else do it for me,, (one can only wish!)
Hemlock should do fine, used it for dock stringers about 10 years ago and still fine. Might try double boiled linseed oil. Will likely turn it darker and will need reapplication every 3-5 years, but if reapplied regularly hemlock should last indefinitely.
Let's not confuse the issue with facts!
Thanks to everyone for the replies.
I'm going to see what I can get from a local sawmill as far as hemlock siding is concerned and go from there.
I can see from the replies that this will require periodic maintenance unless I accept the gray color and let nature take its course.
the trick to not doing a lot of maintenance to wood siding is good building design, proper application, forget the surface films and learn to appreciate the changing grays.
oldhand,
Not possible in many communities, there are actually laws with regard to painting. In many communities public ostrization makes it impossible to get that to natural grey.
In an urban enviorment a house left to wather naturally will quickly become the target of vandles.
Of course you are correct about codes and being ostracized by neighbors. Society's modes and the nature of wood are two different realitiesRetired until my next job.
I'm OK with the gray, I just happen to like the fresh sawn color better.
Accepting the weathered look sure would cut down on maintenance.
Fortunately I don't have to worry about the neighborhood ordinance thing - this is on a farm.
Fresh sawn lumber is awesomely lovely, even boards destined to fail in human endeavors. Once it's dead though things change and it's time to accept responsibility and maybe adjust. I have some old eastern cedar deck rail that supports a goodly growth of lichen after less than 20 years of left alone and I could never have contrived anything so choice. Just my take on boards and life.Retired until my next job.
I agree with this part of your post: "the trick to not doing a lot of maintenance to wood siding is good building design, proper application..."I disagree with avoiding surface films. Paint can last a very long time if done correctly over dry wood protected by an overhang, backprimed, yadda, yadda. I have done the weathered wood thing with great success, but it isn't everybody's aesthetic preference.A pal and I resided a solid brick house with cedar in 1991 because the house was terribly cold in winter. Over the brick we set 3" of furring with spray urethane foam enclosing the brick. 30# felt over that. The siding was rough cedar 1x12's with 1x2 battens. Finish was boiled linseed oil applied on sawhorses to all 6 sides to the point of refusal. Every cut was treated prior to installation, and windows were scrupulously detailed with sloped 24 gauge sills let into kerfs in the original wood sills.The owners became good friends, so we got to see the weathering process. This was in Boulder at a mile above sea level. The cedar showed no visible weathering for the first 10 years. At 13 years the owners had it reoiled, and it still looks almost new today. My point is that even decidedly low-tech finishes can last a long time if applied carefully and the other systems support the installation. This home has 16" overhangs, 1.5 stories on the south face, 2 stories on the north.I am convinced that a latex paint job could have lasted even longer.Bill
The only experience I really have with exterior wood is here in Arkansas. In 30 years of work I've never seen any surface application that didn' t need work in a few years. Linseed and CWF type stuff weathers unevenly like raw wood and paint is a sure treadmill. If you could make fresh cedar stay looking that way for 10 years here you could get a nobel prize or at least a lot of work. I usually recommend stain to people with cedar who don't like the the natural weathering but that is a treadmill as well. Don't know if it's the climate or ineptitude but the sun and humidity giant are suspects.Retired until my next job.
I had good results with "Country Wood Finish" (made by Flood) on a cedar house in Western Washington. I used the clear, but it is available in colors. It's a penetrating oil finish with a UV blocker, and it's claim to fame is it preserves the original looks of the wood. Drove by it about 5 years after we moved and it still looked good. I don't know how it would work on Hemlock, but you might ask the manufacturer.
Thanks Ray. Sounds like it is worth looking into.
i've been using a product called"lifetime wood treatment" for the last 5 yrs.the manufacturer is "valhalla wood preservatives ltd." it turns pine and spruce mid to dark brown depending on how much you apply.i dipped spruce shingles for 15 minutes for a sidewall shingle application.the treatment is supposed to gradually go silver,they claim you can speed up the process by spraying with a garden hose after the initial drying time.the selling point to me is that it is nontoxic and is advertised to last for ever.wish i could say the same. good luck. p.s. they may have a website.