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How to Keep Cedar Lumber Colorful and Protected

How to Keep Cedar Lumber Colorful and Protected

Being a slow-growing species, red cedar used to be a knotty and narrow lumber. It is widely used in houses as a well-known exterior wood due to its natural red color. This strong and colorful lumber is mostly used to build trim, shingles, decking, house siding and fences. It is an easily found and inexpensive lumber that lasts for long.

Its only downside is that it changes its rich red shade to a monotonous grey quite quickly.  You cannot get back the same radiance of red color once it turns grey. You can only tone the wood.

The color protection and maintenance of your cedar would ideally depend on selection,  timing, and the right tips for maintenance.

4 Ways to Treat your Cedar for Best Protection

First, you need to ascertain which portion of the wood you would like to cover up before treating cedar. Cover-ups may include treating it with bleach oil to entirely covering the cedar using paint.

The middle portion of the cedar consists of compact color stains and light transparent stains that appear to be less solid and quite similar to an actual wood appeal. More solids will help your cedar last longer.

You must have your cedar treatment well-planned before installing it in your exterior. You will have nearly a 15-day time frame after which the wood’s color starts to fade. Here are few ways to treat your cedar when finishing its installation:

  1. Bleaching Oil: To get a gray and weathered appearance that is also protected, you need to put in some extra work for it to appear natural. You can use Cabot Bleaching Oil as part of a two-way procedure. In the first stage, this oil will tone and give the wood a light gray shade. In the second stage, after some time has lapsed, it will trigger the bleaching method and give you a weathered look quickly and uniformly.
  2. Solid Color Stains: If you want to give your cedar an artificial appearance, solid color stains are the best bet. Such color stains will give your wood a very even, opaque appearance. The best part is that solid color stains avoid most harmful ultraviolet rays, thus protecting your wood.
  3. Primer Paint: You can also give your cedar a great color of your choice if your only objective is to protect it. Paint your cedar exclusively with solid colors and do not use light shades, as light colors are a triggering factor in the faster deterioration of cedar.
  4. Semi-Transparent Stains: To give an appeal of true Cedar, you should opt for semi-transparent stains, as these will give appropriate protection to your cedar as well. These semi-transparent stains will not overshadow the cedar's wood grain. In this process, manual brushing of the cedar is the best method to utilize as opposed to spraying, as the latter may lead to blotching.

You can paint or get any shade you like for your cedar lumber. It is relatively challenging to get the exact wood color using paint. In the event you wish to give your cedar a wood appearance , select one of the above-listed options.

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