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I will be doing some woodwork on the outside of my house including board and batten shutters and a colonial style door surround. The wood will be painted.
My question is, what type of wood is best for this job? I know woods like cedar & cyprus are excellent for holding up to the elements, I would like to know if there are any alternatives. I would like to use stock moldings if possible and the widest selection of these in most lumber yards is from pine or poplar. Is pine OK if sealed and painted properly?
Thanks in advance for any advice,
Joe
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Pine is acceptable...shellac the knots on the exposed face only. You can seal the backside with paint or stain...but not shellac.
White cedar is another alternative, as is red cedar. Mahogany is good, but pricey.
Do not use poplar. It is a fast growing wood and deteriorates just as quickly. I've actually seen screen doors out of this stuff...border line rediculous if you ask me.
L
*Lawrence:Interesting that you say that about poplar. I have not worked much with poplar lumber, but years ago used to cut/sell firewood. Poplar was very easy to cut, and once it dried out, a 18" long log about 12 inches in diameter weighs about 2 pounds (TIC)! After that it started rotting in about 3 weeks (TIC). The wood burned very quick and did have much value for firewood. A buddy of mine is now building a split rail fence about 600' long. When he told me that the rails he bought were treated poplar, I had to wonder, but, trying to be a bit diplomatic, didn't say those rails are cr*p!Re the original post, Joe K: you may want to look into foam moldings, etc. They are pricey, but once up they are hard to tell from wood, and they'll be around after we're gone! Outwater plastics will send you big catalogue for free, giving you an idea of what is available
*Just curious , Lawrence, why so definite about not shellacking the backside? As far as wood goes; pine oK, never ever poplar or basswood (why do people keep using basswood outside?). Last exterior trim job, I priced pine against Outwater foam, which was a good bit more expensive. They went with pine, so i haven't made the plunge yet on the foam, but I'm curious.
*L,One thing you might try is using a paintable preservative on the stock pine. I've used Woodlife with good results. If you could actually dip the piece before putting it up, so much the better. Watch the endgrain in particular. IMHO the preservative is even better than back priming.Good Luck.
*O.K. The most aggravating part of working with pine is the knots. As the wood dries the sap stays fluid and squeezes out of the knots. It will leach through paint. Traditionally the only sealant it would not stain through is shellac. Why only on the exposed face? The sap has to come out. If you seal the exposed face it will run out the back. If you seal the front and back it will blow out both and the shellac was all for not. The next problem is that paint doesn't bond to shellac...it's too smooth for proper adhesion so scuff and use good primer, but that's another post entirely.Gnite all!
*Poplar sucks for out door use? I have not used it much for this and when I did, I primed all 6 sides. I went to it because pine was of such poor quality.
*Outwater catalog is pretty cool. I wondered about the LOAD BEARING polyurethane foam column capitols and bases though. Clear pine from local mills is not too expensive up here (South of Rochester, NY)How well does Maple do outdoors? We can buy "unselected" Maple for less than clear, select, or furniture grade pine and it automatically has fewer knots.-Rob
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I never used it out doors , but the auto companies did on every station wagon ( woody ) up to the late 40s seems to hold up well on them. Needs to be protected as any wood . Iwould use it if I could get it at a lower price.
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Those cars were maple? Do you know what kind?
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Basswood - my two cents.
Last year at the Fortress of Louisbourg we dismantled and rebuilt a structure that had a carved sign 36"x86", on it that we wished to re-use. At a distance, the sign appeared sound so we were hopeful even though the original design drawing (ca. 1970) called for the sign to be made of basswood. When it was taken down we found that the sign was in fact made of basswood(two-1x12's, 81" long), edge joined probably with a glued spline(glue type unknown), and that although weathered to a dark grey, was still sound and the joints tight, in the absence of finish of any kind and exposed year-round to one of the harshest climates imaginable for about 28 years. We re-used the sign.
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Well, that's interesting Gerry. It's completely the opposite of my experience with it.I used to run a shutter shop (interior; basswood and poplar) and when we started looking at exterior ones, I ran a bunch of tests, both woods, paint and spar varnish, and both woods fared extremely poorly after only a few months. Two millwork companies I've worked for also had big disasters trying to use either wood outside, and refused to use anything but pine thereafter . Also, all the signmakers I know won't use anything but cedar, in spite of basswood being a much better carving wood. But 28 years of Cape Breton weather speaks worlds, so now I'm all confused.
*AdrianThe other variables with that sign are that it was on the north face, never received direct sun and was well ventilated (all sides exposed). On the other hand it was right at the water's edge, 20 ft. above the ocean. Maybe those planks were cut from an enchanted log of some sort.
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Poplar is a poor choice for exterior work. In my firewood pile, the oak, and maple are fine, the poplar is already starting to rot.
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I will be doing some woodwork on the outside of my house including board and batten shutters and a colonial style door surround. The wood will be painted.
My question is, what type of wood is best for this job? I know woods like cedar & cyprus are excellent for holding up to the elements, I would like to know if there are any alternatives. I would like to use stock moldings if possible and the widest selection of these in most lumber yards is from pine or poplar. Is pine OK if sealed and painted properly?
Thanks in advance for any advice,
Joe
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the sign lasted so long because with nothing on it it was able to dry out as fast as it gets wet.