Solvent or Water based Opaque wood stain for rough sawn timber

redvee

I'm looking for an opaque wood stain for use on an exterior pergola / canopy that I'm building from rough sawn timber & also to use on some white deal TG&V cladding.

Sikkens Cetol BL Opaque or Sadolin superdec both seem to be good candidates, but is there any advantage in going for a Solvent based woodstain like Sadolin Beautiflex?

If anyone has had any experience (good or bad) with any of these products, or indeed has any other recommendations, I would be glad to hear from them as the range of different paint systems available is a little baffling to an 'keen amateur' like myself.

Many thanks.

Lumen

I've never seen a heavy stain or paint look good on rough timber. Have you seen an example of this looking good? What colour are you going for?

Rough sawn also significantly reduces the coverage. Does it have to be rough sawn? Which timber are you using?

That aside, if the wood is pressure treated I'd be inclined to go with a system which includes a primer, because pressure treatment can be quite repellent.

I dimly recall that the Sikkens system includes a primer but superdec is "self-priming" (which sounds dubious), but I can't remember where I read that.

Fine Cheers

Not sure if this is going to answer your question but might help. I take it you have a particular tint or colour you want to achieve ?

Like so many others, one of my covid projects was timber cladding to our garden walls. It's a large enough area south facing.

I went cheap and cheerful with the cladding - a mix of 2 x 1 and 4 x 1 rough softwood treated boards. But because of the orientation, the timber would have eventually greyed which I didn't want. So after letting the sun fade it a little for about 6 months, I used Textrol from Igoe Paints which is a penetrating UV wood oil as recommended here and elsewhere.

It's suitable for softwood and hardwood and both rough and smooth. I see it is now available in 4 colours. Not the cheapest but comes highly recommended. Igoe are worth calling into if you are nearby or give them a call or check website.

I went with clear but you can see it does enhance the wood (a bit more than I expected) but I believe it will tone down. My advice would be to use an oil on rough / sawn timber. On another less prominent wall project I went with 2 coats of clear decking oil from good old Screwfix which also looks good and didn't change the timber colour.

The brands you are considering are decent too, particularly the Sikkens but for me I prefer a product that soaks into the wood as opposed to creating a film on top with potential to flake etc.

redvee

Thanks for the input guys -

Lumen to answer your question, the timber I'm using is just standard C16 white deal. It's a pergola, so I was happy to go with a rustic look, plus cost & availability (mostly) were factors - it's been hard sourcing the sizes that I needed as timber is in short supply here at the minute. The Mrs. wanted the TG&V cladding painted a light grey / taupe colour with an opaque (not translucent) finish, hence the products I mentioned - I thought a stain would resist sun & peeling better than paint. I figured I would use the same system on the rough sawn but you're casting doubts in my mind - I may think again.

Fine Cheers, as above light grey / taupe, fair play on the cladding it looks great - you can see the effort you've put in to it and the Textrol really lifts the timber. I might stick with the opaque for the TG&V cladding, but look for a more translucent / oil type finish for the rough sawn if I can find something in a shade that compliments the cladding.

Thanks again - all food for thought!