Our house will be finished with cedar, because it is harvested and milled on the coast, plus it suits the traditional aesthetic of our home (see post: 2) Design Considerations.) Cedar has the extraordinary ability to naturally repel insects and is very slow to rot. It is conceivable that the cedar will last over 100 years, as long as we (and future owners) take care of it.
If left to weather naturally, cedar will all turn silvery-grey, and it will eventually rot as water finds its way into the wood. To increase its life expectancy, it needs to have some preservative to repel water. Naturally, I want to use a product that is kind to the environment.
First stop: Greenworks Building Supply in Vancouver. The product: Broda’s PRO TEK TOR (”tough, natural, wood protection”). The brochure notes that it “contains oxide and trans-oxide pigments…suspended in linseed oil, tung oil and water. The water opens the spaces between the cells of the wood, drawing in the oils and protective pigments. Easy to use. Cleans up with water. Looks good longer.” “Get ready to enjoy years of beautiful durable wood colour.” Sounds like a no-brainer, right?
The catch is, according to the salesman, your stain only lasts up to 2 years before it needs to be reapplied. We don’t want to have to re-stain every 2 years. What’s sustainable about that (especially for our bodies!)? Add to that the cost of the product (about $60/gallon), and I decided to start asking around at other paint stores.
Benjamin Moore (”we will be launching our enviro-stain in April.”) Then Sherwin-Williams (”we’re working on it.”) And finally Home Depot (”our eco-stain is the water-soluble Varathane.”)
What I finally decided on was Behr’s wood stain, which is water-cleanup, but has the UV protection and Mildew-resistant finish like the Broda product, and costs about 2/3rds the price. The clincher: it’s guaranteed to last 8 years on vertical surfaces. As we applied the stain to our faschia boards yesterday, we didn’t notice any obvious smell (although I know that some very bad gases don’t smell.)
So, once again, a reality check about how “green” we can be.
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