Best Stain for "Barn Red" color and long lasting protection

NewfieDan · Apr 29, 2015

Up here we have lots of coloured wood siding. In town there is an area called jellybean row because of the different colours. It is either Cape Cod siding or what we have on our house. It's called Goodfellow siding. It comes with a 25yr warranty. It is real wood, not vinyl.

Our house is done in a tan colour with white trim, but it does come in a huge variety of colours.

EddieWalker · May 1, 2015

If you want it to last and not have to redo it any time soon, spend the extra money and get the best quality out there. In my opinion, Sherwin Williams has earned this title. I've used just about every brand out there and while some have been as good, none have been as consistent across the board with all their products like they have. I wouldn't stain a barn, I would paint it, but either way, I would go to Sherwin Williams and talk to them about what you want to do. Remember, paint protects and seals the wood, stain just changes the color of it for a limited amount of time. All stains will fade on you depending on the amount of exposure to the sun.

Eddie

sixdogs · May 1, 2015

EddieWalker said:
If you want it to last and not have to redo it any time soon, spend the extra money and get the best quality out there. In my opinion, Sherwin Williams has earned this title. I've used just about every brand out there and while some have been as good, none have been as consistent across the board with all their products like they have. I wouldn't stain a barn, I would paint it, but either way, I would go to Sherwin Williams and talk to them about what you want to do. Remember, paint protects and seals the wood, stain just changes the color of it for a limited amount of time. All stains will fade on you depending on the amount of exposure to the sun.
.

That is the best and most concise answer, especially regarding paint vs stain. Always buy the best so you don't have to do it twice after the first method fails.

sawtooth · May 1, 2015

I think the issue is peeling. My contractor and paint store had concerns about this and felt doing a initial oil base stain would greatly help the wood. Then later going with a solid stain which is almost paint or actual paint would be the best route. The barn is insulated and heated. So does rough cut wood have a tendency to make paint peel easier?

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David P · May 1, 2015

Has anyone tried this Behr paint? BEHR 5-gal. Red Exterior Barn and Fence Paint-2505 - The Home Depot

jix · May 1, 2015

Not in my dreams would I ever contradict Eddie, but paint ... any paint, forms a membrane. Membranes will peel in full sunlight and weather...It is hard to get a good base for re-painting. Scraping..yada yada yada. I think stain fades as Eddie said, but it is easier to recoat than paint is. I like anti-rot, water-based, CCA preservative stain for outdoor wood..and its cheap like borscht CCA=Copper chromium arsenate. (which is not toxic when dry)

sdk131 · May 2, 2015

David P said:
Has anyone tried this Behr paint? BEHR 5-gal. Red Exterior Barn and Fence Paint-2505 - The Home Depot

You get what you pay for....after trying the Behr stuff several times when I was a new homeowner I gave up. Even the plain white exterior semi gloss was fading and growing algae/mildew in about 2 years. In contrast the Exterior Benjamin Moore I used to paint it again was looking brand new after 4 years in the exact same location. Even applying it you could seen the Ben Moore was way thicker and had a certain smell (like you could tell it had ingredients to fight mildew). This was all on the front of a very tall townhouse that required a ton of work on ladders. The few bucks I saved by buying the BEHR junk was lost when I had to re-do it in short order. Like others have said....when it comes to exterior products buy the best the first time and be done with it.

EddieWalker · May 4, 2015

Paint peels from wood for a variety of reason, but always because it didn't bond properly. Most common reason for this is moisture in the wood when priming. Moisture is not from the rain, but in the wood still being green, which causes the primer to only stick to the surface when applied and not soaking into the wood. This is also very common with pressure treated lumber. I tell my clients to wait at least 3 months before they should try to stain or paint it.

Other reasons for failure is that the wood is dirty and people paint right over what's on the surface. The paint under the wrong temperatures, or weather conditions. And of course, they buy cheap primer that is not designed for raw wood.

Just like there are different types of paints for different materials, wood, metal and plastic, there are different primers for different materials. Stains, raw wood, new sheetrock and so on. Sherwin Williams makes an excellent primer for raw wood. Zinnser is the other brand that I recommend. You can get it at Home Depot or Lowes. The BIN is their oil based primer and it's terrible to work with, but the results make it worth while. You can spray it, brush it or roll it on. It's like water in consistency, which means it drips from a brush and splatters from a roller, which makes it very messy to apply that way. Once it's on the wood, it will never come off.

Once the primer is on, you can use a good quality exterior paint and know that it will last. Again, I like Sherwin Williams and Valspar paints. Kelly Moore is good too, but I rarely go there since I have so many options with the other two.

A good paint job will last decades. A good stain job needs to be done again about every five years.

Eddie

Cord · May 4, 2015

sawtooth said:
Just as the title says. I liked the color of the Benjamin Moore "barn red" stain but just realized its only a stain and offers no weather protection. The Behr stain plus weather protection would be great but their red colors are limited. This is going on a 50x70 barn with new rough cut popular siding. Any one have some recommendations please?

Thank you,

This is two coats of Behr "Barn Red" "weather proofing" 25 year warranty solid stain.

As you shift from a transparent product to a stain with more solids the durability of the finish goes up. So does the cost! I believe we were buying 5 gallon buckets for $175 and we used 6 or 7 of them. Personally my preference is for a stain because it's able to penetrate the wood so it can't peel.