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Design Tips from an Expert

Log & Siding | Deck & Fence | Urethane & Clear UV


Log & Siding Design Tips

Choosing a Color

When choosing a color for your wood siding or logs, the slightly deeper tones will wear longer than the pale, blonder tones in the transparent series colors. In sunny climates, the very light colors will not provide as much sunscreen as the slightly deeper colors. Also consider this, a log home is often in a forested setting. Do you want your home to “pop out” of the scenery, or “blend into” the scenery? Light, bright colors like Natural Gold, or Light Pine will make it stand out, and colors like Woodlands, or Pinewood will blend it in more to the natural surroundings. You choose!

Fascia Boards

Your Fascia boards are always way up high, and get lots of weather exposure because they are not protected by overhang. If they are wood, opt for a rough sawn texture because smooth wood will not absorb as much stain and require more maintenance. If they are smooth, sand them before staining with 60 grit to help the stain penetrate and grip. Some choose to use metal fascias, especially if they have metal roofing they just continue the roof color as shown below. A great time and labor savings for the future.

Deck & Fence Design Tips

Choosing a Color

When choosing a color for your deck, remember that dirt and debris show up more on dark colors. Dusty footprints, dead leaves, and pollen will stand out much more on dark brown stained deck boards than they would on a more golden or amber tone board.

Why not just paint it?

Paint, and even solid body stain will usually peel and flake on horizontal surfaces like decks within a year. Any product that films on the surface will most likely crack and flake off, that’s one of the reasons why its important to stain decks when its shady so the stain can penetrate before it dries.

Snow, Enemy of Deck Sealers!

Allowing snow to pile up and accumulate for days at a time on a deck is a recipe for trouble. Snow melts from the bottom up, and the weight of heavy snow will literally push water into the wood through the small checks and cracks in the boards, and even through the stain itself. Once the snow is gone and the water evaporates back out you may notice that the finish looks like it disappeared where the snow was left to accumulate. Keep that snow swept off your deck no matter what finish you use.

Don’t forget the Endgrain

The butt end, top and bottom, of each fence board where the end grain is exposed is the most important thing to stain and seal. End grain is where water wants to wick into the wood, it’s the most absorbent part of the wood. Don’t forget to stain the board ends, top and bottom, even though it’s the most difficult part to treat.

Fence Stain, One Coat or Two?

Two coats will last twice as long as one. The extra gallonage and time taken will more than pay for itself in the long run.

 

 


Urethane and Clear UV Design Tips

How do you know whether to use Crystal Urethane versus the Log & Siding Formula in Clear UV or transparent tone colors on your interior wood? Or should you stain first and then apply urethane? Crystal Urethane is a film forming clear finish that gives the wood a smooth, wipe-able surface. This is especially helpful on log walls where the top of each log is little a shelf where dust can settle and you will want to wipe it off occasionally with a damp rag. It requires a film coating to do this. Visually, the wood also has that nice soft sheen with lots of light reflection, and bringing more natural light to the room. A urethaned ceiling is popular for this reason. Timber Pro’s Crystal Urethane in the satin sheen is our biggest seller. It does not deepen the color of the wood, it keeps it very close to its original tone.

Wood that is touched a lot by hands is a also good candidate for urethane, like cabinets, hand rails, vertical posts and walls. Also, horizontal wood surfaces like log fireplace mantels, and wood windowsills or countertops, are easily dusted and wiped when they are urethaned. Interior wood and trim that is urethaned has more of a “finely finished” appearance, less rustic than our penetrating Clear UV stain or transparent tone stain.

Log & Siding Formula Clear UV – Deepen the wood tone, pop the grain

Timber Pro’s Log & Siding Formula in Clear UV is a penetrating clear stain. It will deepen the color of the wood, just like any clear oil or water will deepen the wood color. Clear UV will make the grain pop out more and richen the natural color, but it is a penetrating stain and will not leave a smooth, easy to wipe hard satin finish like the Crystal Urethane. It is more of a rustic look and often our customers will apply the Clear UV first or even one of our transparent stain colors to richen the color of the wood, and once its completely dry and cured they will then apply the Crystal Urethane over the top. Clear UV or transparent stain by itself is appropriate and beautiful on smooth wood walls or ceilings and can be vacuum cleaned. It will seal the wood and prevent cooking odors from absorbing and reduce water staining should windows sweat or the roof leaks.

Glulam, Timber, or Log Beams – Make Them Gorgeous

“When we built our new home, we had 18 huge glulam beams as the frames for our structural insulated panels. We wanted these beams to look more like solid timbers beams so we applied one coat of Timber Pro UV Woodlands transparent stain, and then triple coated them with Crystal Urethane Satin. When our architect came to view the house after completion he told us our “timber beams” were gorgeous, nicest finished beams he’d ever seen. He didn’t notice that they were glulams, and he mentioned that that the urethane looked like a hand rubbed oil finish achieved only by years of oiling and rubbing. The classiest glulam beams ever!”