What kind of wood for exterior trim?
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Hello: Can you please tell me what kind of wood you use for exterior trim? I live in North Alabama, and the home building stores only have something called whitewood. If I looke REAL hard, I can sometime fine SYP but usuyally only 2by stuff, and occasionally a little spruce but usually not the right size for what I need. So what DO you use for exterior trim that will hold up over the years. AVEC is too expensive for me and cedar is nearly impossible to fine in 6 to 8″ side boards thats not finger jointed.
Thanks for any idaes.
William
Replies
Being in the south, check your local lumber yards for cypress.
Miratec and GP Prime Trim are two composites you should be able to get locally.
Your in the south, get cypress, should be readily available to you.
Doug
You must be kidding! You couldn't find cypress around here at ANY cost, much less afford it.What else?
Edited 5/9/2006 1:25 pm ET by holliwr
I'm surprised that you cant find cypress.
When I lived in Iowa I had no problem getting it, and you live where it comes from.
What is it that you need it for? Maybe some of the man made products would sufice.
Doug
The best anti-termite wood would be an oily wood like Redwood or yes Cypress. We use it out here in California for most siding and exterior window and door trim.Regards, Scooter"I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow." WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1934
I need it for exterior trim: windows, corner boards, facia, bird boxes, ect.No building supply in North Ala. carries cypress. Whitewood( whatever that is), some Southern Yellow Pine (but mostly 2by 10s and 12s), poplar, and some finger jointed cedar. That's about it. Even good spruce is hard to find here.William
William
Have you considered any of the manufactured products out there like Azek or similar products?
I dont have any first hand experience with it but try doing a search on Azek, Trex, Mirtec(sp?) seams like there are a lot of other products out their with similar properties.
I know that several people on here use manmade products for exterior trim, hopefully some will see this thread and give you some first hand experience with one of them.
In the meantime check with your local lumber yard and ask them what they have, bet they are handling one of the products mentioned.
If you dont find anything ask again, I'm sure I can dig something up.
Doug
Edited 5/9/2006 7:37 pm ET by DougU
I believe Mike Smith uses Miratec for window trim and Trex for the sill. I am assuming he paints the Trex (?).
I know that I just recently read where someone had painted trex, dont remember if it was Mike or not.
Doug
I use cedar, mostly 5/4. Not too terribly expensive and is rot/bug resistant to some extent.
James Hardi makes 5/4 hardi trim with a wood grain look to it. Need a diamond blade to cut it, wear a mask, most likely need to predrill to nail it. Probably be the last thing on the house when it crumbles away.
BTW, I've never used it.
Grunge on. http://grungefm.com
Can you please tell me what kind of wood you use for exterior trim?
Depends on what kind of trim, really.
For paint-grade, it depends on the project and what the client wants. If they don't want to paint, then some form of prefinished composite material is wanted. Remember that back-priming is your friend with trim, almost without regard to material.
For no-finish-at-all (like with shingles) I've used western cedar--both rough-out and smooth-out (and, after the C.O., vice versa <sigh>).
I live in North Alabama, and the home building stores
Well, that could be part of the problem, too. The "big box" stores (as we here on BT often refer to them) tend to not offer the things a commercial lumber yard or builder's supply does.
Towns can be sparse in your area, so you may need to use an internet set of yellow pages to find a builder's supply place. You could also try trim of finish carpenters in our local yellow pages and ask them if they'd be willing to share the "where" they are getting trim stock from.
Now, my quick search found Buettner Bros in Cullman, whihc might not be 'north' enough.
Hello:
Hey thanks! Cullman is just 15 min south of me. I will give them a call.Thanks much,
William
Hey thanks! Cullman is just 15 min south
Hey, that's what this place is "for."Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
I live in North Central Florida and we use a lot of cedar and cypress around here for exterior trim.
My favorite product to use for exterior trim, though, is Miratec. It holds paint well, and is very consistent. My main complaint with the cedar we get around here is that it's always soaking wet and shrinks like crazy after I nail it up.
If you use Miratec (or any other product for that matter) you really should prime your cut edges. For natural products, it would behoove you to back prime and prime your cut edges.
You can get Miratec in 5/4x4 and 5/4x6 as well as 1x4, x6, x8, and x10. You can choose whether to use a smooth surface (backside) or a faux woodgrain pattern.