# stain cedar or paint it?



## richmondpainting (Feb 24, 2012)

I refuse to put paint on cedar..In fact I would rather put stain over paint then paint it again.......unless some one makes me...which I find very depressing..like why scrape and prep right if its going to fail right away......

What's your opinion? What do you Guys do?


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## cdaniels (Oct 20, 2012)

I do what the man writing the check wants me to do.


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## chrisn (Jul 15, 2007)

man or lady or whomever writes the check gets whatever they want, even painting soild cherry trim


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

I have painted cedar many times over the years, if the oils have the propper time to bleed out and the prep is done right it will hold up for years. Refusing to paint cedar is just beyond belief, why walk away from money if that is what the HO wants? Do every thing correctly and it looks just fine. Plus cedar in my mind is not an exotic wood that should be stained.


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## Stonehampaintdept (Jan 10, 2013)

> I refuse to put paint on cedar..In fact I would rather put stain over paint then paint it again.......unless some one makes me...which I find very depressing..like why scrape and prep right if its going to fail right away......
> 
> What's your opinion? What do you Guys do?


Now I assume you are talking about your personal preference and probably cringe internally when someone wants you to paint a nice piece of wood that would look amazing if stained. I hear you there. Personally I love the look of stained wood, it's so much better in my opinion. If not then I'd insist on a very fine spray like finish. One day I want to build a cedar closet in my basement. My father had the only one I ever saw and that house hasn't been in the family for decades. I dread to think what has happened to it since.
Edit-I was referring to interior work.


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## richmondpainting (Feb 24, 2012)

im not saying i dont paint it..if asked.... but i lose interest and the prep starts to lack and i lower my warranty from three years to one.....if i can get by with out mentioning warranty i do....


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## woodcoyote (Dec 30, 2012)

i don't know if this is a fence or not, but if it is, what about solid color stain? Similar to paint at the end of the day, but just at thought.


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## plainpainter (Nov 6, 2007)

This is very confusing to me - I don't what area of the country the O/P comes from but 99% of painted homes in my area are on top of either cedar clapboards or cedar shakes. That's just how it is. Other than engineered products, what other material would you use to side a house with?


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## richmondpainting (Feb 24, 2012)

Solid woodscapes all day


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

richmondpainting said:


> im not saying i dont paint it..if asked.... but i lose interest and the prep starts to lack and i lower my warranty from three years to one.....if i can get by with out mentioning warranty i do....



I have to ask why you would do this to you name? People driving by day after day will remember who painted that house and if the paint fails early it looks bad for you just saying. I always give 100% quality no what, it's my name that gets a bad rap if the paint job sucks. No thanks. I give a 5 year warrenty on all my exteriors less on interiors 3 years because of damage that can happen by the HO, if the paint straight up fails I fix it after the 3 years.


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## richmondpainting (Feb 24, 2012)

cdpainting said:


> I have to ask why you would do this to you name? People driving by day after day will remember who painted that house and if the paint fails early it looks bad for you just saying. I always give 100% quality no what, it's my name that gets a bad rap if the paint job sucks. No thanks. I give a 5 year warrenty on all my exteriors less on interiors 3 years because of damage that can happen by the HO, if the paint straight up fails I fix it after the 3 years.


In my opinion its going to fail with paint either way... ive only seen a handful of painted cedar houses that still look good...3years is the longest warranty ive seen around here.. must not snow where ur at ?


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

I installed a force field around my town so the snow doesn't hit us,


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## richmondpainting (Feb 24, 2012)

Not to mention when i paint cedar 9.5 times out of 10 its subcontracted job...seeing ill never tell somekne to paint cedar myself


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

plainpainter said:


> This is very confusing to me - I don't what area of the country the O/P comes from but 99% of painted homes in my area are on top of either cedar clapboards or cedar shakes. That's just how it is. Other than engineered products, what other material would you use to side a house with?


Same here. We've encountered a few 80-100 year-old homes with white pine claps, but everything else is cedar. 

Our typical spec is oil-based primer with acrylic topcoat. Even with hot summers and wet/snowy winters, we expect 10-12 years minimum for exteriors. Solid-body acrylics have generally run about half that.

New houses with cedar are a different story, unless the owners have sprung for clear, VG claps. Way too much flat grain and too many knots. I tell clients that, unless they're willing to pay for that premium cedar, they should go with FC


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## richmondpainting (Feb 24, 2012)

Gough said:


> Same here. We've encountered a few 80-100 year-old homes with white pine claps, but everything else is cedar.
> 
> Our typical spec is oil-based primer with acrylic topcoat. Even with hot summers and wet/snowy winters, we expect 10-12 years minimum for exteriors. Solid-body acrylics have generally run about half that.
> 
> New houses with cedar are a different story, unless the owners have sprung for clear, VG claps. Way too much flat grain and too many knots. I tell clients that, unless they're willing to pay for that premium cedar, they should go with FC



Your using paint on cedar?


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

richmondpainting said:


> Your using paint on cedar?


Absolutely, why not? It's been the standard clapboard/shingle material for a long time in much of the country and holds paint well. Usually, the only issue is with tannin bleed, so we've been sticking with a long-oil primer.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

richmondpainting said:


> im not saying i dont paint it..if asked.... but i lose interest and the prep starts to lack and i lower my warranty from three years to one.....if i can get by with out mentioning warranty i do....


I just re-read the thread and it all became clear to me. If you're doing "gun and run/shoot and scoot/spray and pray", solid body acrylic may be the way to go.:whistling2:


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## straight_lines (Oct 17, 2007)

Stain is what I always suggest for cedar. I don't see why anyone would choose a coating that would peel when they could do a solid stain and have only fading as a maintenance concern.

Rare to see smooth cedar clapboards here. I have stain jobs on raw cedar that are approaching a decade in a coastal environment that still look good. Only some fading on the sides that see direct sun. 

No way paint would last that long.


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## richmondpainting (Feb 24, 2012)

i was told heavy coating like Duration will not allow the cedar to breath...making it peel.....thats why it comes off in big sheets and dry out....i do alot of cedar siding..not much clap board tho...same thing any ways.....plus you have to spot prime when you paint vs... spot stain prime when you use stain...

when i first started i didnt even spot stain...we just scraped and stained...

but now we spot stain like i said for consistency....but very easy when your spray spot priming.....


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

richmondpainting said:


> i was told heavy coating like Duration will not allow the cedar to breath...making it peel.....thats why it comes off in big sheets and dry out....i do alot of cedar siding..not much clap board tho...same thing any ways.....plus you have to spot prime when you paint vs... spot stain prime when you use stain...
> 
> when i first started i didnt even spot stain...we just scraped and stained...
> 
> but now we spot stain like i said for consistency....but very easy when your spray spot priming.....


What type of siding is it, shingle?


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

straight_lines said:


> Stain is what I always suggest for cedar. I don't see why anyone would choose a coating that would peel when they could do a solid stain and have only fading as a maintenance concern.
> 
> Rare to see smooth cedar clapboards here. I have stain jobs on raw cedar that are approaching a decade in a coastal environment that still look good. Only some fading on the sides that see direct sun.
> 
> No way paint would last that long.


For new rough-sawn cedar, especially shingles in a coastal climate, I agree. In fact, we don't suggest solid-body stains (which are really just thin paints) for those applications, we recommend semi-transparents.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

richmondpainting said:


> i was told heavy coating like Duration will not allow the cedar to breath...making it peel.....thats why it comes off in big sheets and dry out....i do alot of cedar siding..not much clap board tho...same thing any ways.....plus you have to spot prime when you paint vs... spot stain prime when you use stain...
> 
> when i first started i didnt even spot stain...we just scraped and stained...
> 
> but now we spot stain like i said for consistency....but very easy when your spray spot priming.....


There are 80+ year-old houses around here with cedar claps that have ~1/8' of exterior oil-base paint on them and don't peel. Do you really think that 1 or 2 coats of Duration is less permeable than that?


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## richmondpainting (Feb 24, 2012)

Gough said:


> What type of siding is it, shingle?


Normal cedar siding


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

richmondpainting said:


> Normal cedar siding


What counts as normal cedar siding in your area? Bevel cedar siding? That's what I've seen in most of your photos.


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## richmondpainting (Feb 24, 2012)

Gough said:


> What counts as normal cedar siding in your area? Bevel cedar siding? That's what I've seen in most of your photos.


Yes bevel cedar siding


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

richmondpainting said:


> Yes bevel cedar siding


"i do alot of cedar siding..not much clap board tho"

PROTIP: bevel siding = clapboard

I think we're done here.


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## richmondpainting (Feb 24, 2012)

Thought clP board goes up and down and has the little 1x2 cedar trim pieced that divide the ziding up....


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## chrisn (Jul 15, 2007)

richmondpainting said:


> Thought clP board goes up and down and has the little 1x2 cedar trim pieced that divide the ziding up....


yep, that's it


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