Best sealer for pole barn

[gusman2]

It's built at 60x38 pole barn with 16' foot sides. What is the best sealer to keep natural wood color with no gray fading. Thanks mark

 

[s219]

You can use something like Thompson water seal. I've heard of it used on decks and fences, so siding should be fine too. I used it on a bench and it still looks new after 2 years. You will need to reapply after a couple years I think.

 

[EddieWalker]

I would go to a specialty paint supply store like Sherwin Williams and get the best they have to offer. Most sealers are very short term and focus more on repelling water then preserving the natural color of the wood. I'm not even sure that's possible without a stain.

Eddie

 

[jrdepew]

I did a lot of reading on this when it came time to stain my deck (ContractorTalk.com is a great resource), and I ended up ordering 5 gallons of stain from TWP. They have a "natural" color selection, but I went with "Cedar".

TWP Stain Sealer | Wood Deck Preservative

You will need the 1500 series if you live in a "Green" state, as the original 100 series had too many environmentally bad ingredients.

My deck looks great with this stain, and although it faded, it is on its second full year and still beads water on the surface. Vertical surfaces are easier to protect as the water doesn't sit on them for hours on end.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[newbury]

Read around, TWP is among the best. Thompsons is vastly overmarketed.

 

[dave1949]

I would go to a specialty paint supply store like Sherwin Williams and get the best they have to offer. Most sealers are very short term and focus more on repelling water then preserving the natural color of the wood. I'm not even sure that's possible without a stain.

Eddie

It's is hard to keep a natural wood color. I tried with western red cedar clapboards and it didn't work out well. Eventually you get UV caused color changes and you will see every little fleck of black fungus and accumulating sooty stains.

As Eddie says, you may need to use a stain that simulates the fresh sawn wood color. You realize that is not a "natural" color of exposed wood? :laughing: It wants to be something else color-wise.

Sherwin Williams has a good reputation. I had good results with Cabot semi-opaque stains.

 

[ace10]

Now is the time to fight the carpenter bees. If you don't already have them, you surely will.

 

[tcreeley]

I like Cabot oil based stains - soak into the wood and don't sit on the surface. Semi solid works great color wise unless it is exposed to a hard direct sun year after year. Then the solid is a much better choice and holds its color well. Next to no scraping between coats years apart, -just stain again- brush, roller, spray. I love the stuff. Once you start with cabot you should stick with cabot. Other brands often don't adhere well to cabot. Also, cabot keeps all of their old formulas, or if you give them the one you wrote down 10 years earlier, they will remix it. I've also applied it at temps in the 40's with freezing overnight. Did fine- just longer to dry.

 

[Cord]

Any clear product will be short lived. It's the pigments in the sealer that actually gives it the life. When you start checking the warranties you'll see a correlation between transparency, cost and life expectancy.