Ideas for varnish/polyurethane finish on wainscot porch ceiling
Chris O'Connor
gel stain on the pine boards. No other finish yet.
After it's all nailed on, I want to put one or two coats
of something protective on it.
It will not get direct rain or snow however, there is moisture
that will blow into the porch sometimes.
I'd like to tint the poly or varnish a little bit darker
than clear since the Antique Maple gel stain did turn out a little
orangey.
Would a water-based "polycrylic" work in this outside enviroment?
Must I use a regular polyurethane ... or even a traditional
varnish? Marine varnish?
Seeking input from someone who has done this a while back and
therefore has had a chance to see how it holds up.
Chris O'Connor
Mike G.
Marine or spar varnish is a long oil varnish (higher ratio of oil to resins
then regular varnish) and contains UV inhibitors in order to make it
suitable for use in an outdoor environment. it would be the way to go if
you're applying outside of the controlled environment of the home.
Polyurethane, which is also a varnish, contains resins that form a stronger
link then non poly resins so it is more scratch resistant. In your case
you'd have no gain using a spar or marine poly but then again no loss
either, so you'll want to use a spar varnish of either the polyurethane type
or non poly.
Hope it helps
--
Mike G.
Heirloom Woods
Weymouth Ma.
http://heirloom-woods.net
Contact
mi...@heirloom-woods.net
mj...@mediaone.net
"Chris O'Connor" <chr...@westnet.com> wrote in message
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Paul T. Radovanic
Back in 1995, I put a shelf unit and a dart-board cabinet on our
screened porch. The shelf unit is 10' away from the screen; the dart
board is hung on a post directly exposed to the screen and weather.
The yellow-pine (non-PT) shelf unit got Minwax Spar Urethane. Looks
good as new today, 6 years later.
The plywood dart-board cabinet puzzles me. I painted the back with
exterior latex. Then, I applied a few coats of clear Minwax
Polycrylic (water-based *interior* finish). The Minwax label said not
to do this. Don't ask me why I did it -- just a crazy afternoon
playing with the chemistry set, I reckon. Anyway, after six years of
brutal Florida sun, rain, storms, hurricanes, humidity, etc., etc. --
that Polycrylic film looks brand new! I have no idea why; I had no
right to expect that kind of performance. But there it is. Go
figger.
For your wainscot, I personally would seal the stain with a coat of
dewaxed blonde shellac, say a 1# cut. I would then follow that with
two coats of Marine Spar Varnish. I like spar varnishes a lot for
their flexibility, durability and protective qualities. But you'll
get an added benefit here. Spar varnishes tend to be a bit
darker/browner in color, so it will offset some of that orange tone
from the stain.
(You could attempt some color-shifting exercises here, but I don't
recommend it, especially if you've never done it before. The correct
color to offset orange is blue -- do you really want to screw around
with a blue color coat on your wainscot?)
Or, instead of blonde shellac, you could use a darker flavor, such as
garnet, which will shift the orange to a more red shade before the
amber/brown of the varnish topcoat darkens it. As always, experiment
on scrap.
I have very little experience with water-based finishes, but I've
heard very good things about Oxford Hybrids. Contact Jeff Jewitt at
http://www.homesteadfinishing.com for expert advice.
Good luck, HTH,
Paul Rad