Treatment of pine cladding

[tonydejode]

I am looking for advice on the best way of treating pine cladding to my house. I live in the Alps in France and the trend here is firstly to clad most of the houses her above the first floor level in pine and then finish it in a varnish usually a 2 coat base and top coat varnish. I have recently re-done our balcony by sandblasting all the uprights and hand rails and then finishing in sikens 2 coat system- it looks great.
However the house needs doing as the existing finish is now peeling with the UV and excessive temp changes summer to winter (-20 to + 30 cent)
I intend to sandblast the whole exterior a large area and it seems to me there must be a better finish that lasts longer. Even good quality varnish will show signs of wear after 4 years or so.

I know that pine is not a great wood to use for cladding the outside but that is what they do everything in hear. Does anyone have any advice on the best way to do this and any experience oiling wood like this, i am thinking about linseed oil!
Regards Tony

 

[masona]

Hi tonydejode,

Do a search here on Tung Oil or Danish Oil etc, loads of info here

 

[JohnD]

I'm not keen on varnish for the outside, because you have to rub it down to recoat, and if it has degraded, you have to rub it down a lot. It looks very bad if you don't prepare the surface well. As you have been sand-blasting you will have a very prominent raised grain so won't be able to rub it down.

I've got some external shiplap cladding and other garden joinery and trim, mostly softwood, I use one of those water-based waxy stains that are sold for sheds and fences (also for my fences and gates, to match). The reason I like it so much is that you need hardly any preparation before recoating (a stiff brush and a wash down), it goes on very easily, and you can put it on fresh, or weathered, or previously coated (with the same stuff) with a big brush and no skill. It lasts a few years but you can recoat every year if you like. It seems to cope with the wood shrinking and swelling with the seasons and is so water-repellent that if you throw a cup of water on it, it beads up and runs off without wetting the wood. For my important timber (but not the fence) I pre-treat with Cuprinol wood preserver against decay, especially the end grain and joints. The fence stain will not stop wood rotting if water gets into an unprotected hole or shake (I have found a couple of fence rails that need replacing this year).

The one I use is dark brown but you can get various shades and tints. I have tried using spirit wood dyes (Ronuk?) to balance the colours but this was a bad move as the finish didn't stick properly and eroded very fast.

This year I will probably be using oil on my door sills for the first time, they are hardwood and suffer from weather and hot sun - see //www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=376505#376505