Paint or Stain on Shed

[Surshot]

If you paint T1-11 in and out, soak it in urethane, it might last until it falls apart, delaminates, rots at the ground line, or burns your structure down, T1-11 burns.
Put up the Hardee board, put some paint, nothing special, on it and forget it. It does not rot, mildew, catch on fire, come apart, nada. Cheap ain't cheap when the siding fails on the structure, I have had to replace thousands of sheets of T1-11 we sold at my building supply company. I quit carrying it, because Hardee Board is one and done.

 

[kpsp50]

I have to agree with 2manyrocks latex is water base very hard to find oil-based paint stain is mostly oil-based and will soak in and prevent the rot good luck

 

[tstex]

If your T1-11 is not treated for outdoors, you’ll be SOL sooner than you think.

I did an add’n to one of my sheds. I’ll try to find a pic but i did a wainscot w hardy the first bottom 3 ft, then wood on up…it’s been 12 yrs and still looks almost new…

 

[Tony H]

Are you looking to have it a specific color? Real, oil base stains are much thinner and soak in. I had Storm Stain (can't remember the manufacturer, maybe Ben Moore) on my home. When time to redo, I sprayed it. If not fussy, Boiled Linseed Oil soaks in and dries. It's what people use on wooden handled tools. It's also what's in colored oil based stains.

 

[bartjoebob]

I am in the process of finishing my shed build. I am using T1-11 siding on it. I am asking for opinions on stain or paint? Is one better than the other? Right now I am leaning towards staining it. I appreciate any and all advice on which way you would go. Thanks

Solid stain if using a latex product. It will look as if it was painted but won't peel or need primer underneath like paint. In 5-7 years you would just power wash and restain.

Some semisolid stains dry pretty dark too. Go oil based if you go this route. Neither stain format listed here will peel, just redo every 5-7 yrs. Sherwin Williams makes good stains. I would check there before going with a big box store

 

[Cameron Smith]

Solid stain all the way!!!

 

[Brewsky]

A "for what it's worth" comment: although the T1-11 is apparently already up, be aware of porcupines and that siding! No one told me they love to eat the stuff! I had T1-11 as a 4 ft wainscot on an equipment barn and they literally ate almost a third of it! I'm now tearing off what is remaining and putting up steel panels. Hope the porkys don't get yours!

 

[Mudfarmer]

Paint it, and when the paint goes bad clad it in metal

 

[ArlyA]

I have to agree with 2manyrocks latex is water base very hard to find oil-based paint stain is mostly oil-based and will soak in and prevent the rot good luck

I just purchased gallon of oil based stain preservative.. it's out there and not hard to find here.

 

[WVH1977]

So, I finally finished the actual building of my shed. It was way more involved than I ever thought. This is the FIRST shed I have ever built. I made mistakes but overall I am happy with what I did. It is solid and not going anywhere. I am also glad I built the lean-to off the back of it now rather than later. If I had not done it now, it would probably be another year before I got around to it. I definitely learned a LOT and the next one I build should take only half the time. I used screws on the whole thing and SPENT a ton on screws.

I am going to share some pics of it and sure I will get some "why did you do that?". My answer is "because I didn't know any better". Now I have to figure out what to paint it with. I appreciate all the responses in here and will go back and re-read everything.