3 season porch question #2 - cedar intrerior

[toughguy]

I've decided to go with cedar tongue and groove on the interior of my 3 season porch. Do you guys recommend applying a sealer to it or should I just leave it untreated? The room will be have windows on 3 sides (house on the 4th side) and I'm worried that the sun will cause the wood to fade. Should I be worried about the sun causing fading if it's protected from moisture?

[delcecchi]

Cedar will turn gray from light, (at least it does outside. Might be a UV thing) if you don't put anything on it. I used the semitransparent olympic stain on my house and that worked pretty well.

[PurpleFloyd]

If it were me I would do it. For one thing it will make t easier to clean and protect from staining etc. But obviously it is a personal preference and you have to do what you need to get the look you want. In a 3 season porch, if you are going to give it a clear coat I would also recommend doing the back sides too.

[K_Josh87]

I myself probably would... You are not going to see a greying on an interior so much, but it will darken over time... but it will do so with or without the finish...

[Surface Tension]

Select windows with UV film.

I'd do a sealer. As mentioned easier to clean and it'll make the wood grain pop.

[toughguy]

Thanks again guys. I plan on sealing the cedar.

[crothmeier]

Find a sealer with a higher UV rating on it. Usually the oil based ones are better than the water based.

Even with doing that if you hang pictures, and move them a year from now, you're going to have tan lines. There's no way of really getting around it, but you can minimize it.

[PurpleFloyd]

The difference between Oil and Waterbased finishes is an interesting subject. Since I do a lot of custom professional finishing I do have a quite a bit of experience with the subject.

If you are looking to prevent the wood from shifting colors you first need to lock on to what you are trying to prevent. First off, wood itself will develop a patina over time. Oil based, Solvent based and water based finishes are all available with UV inhibitors to try to minimize the effect the suns rays have on the wood. IME neither is superior to the others in this department and none will 100% stop the wood from developing it's patina.

But there is also a change that happens in the finish itself over time. If you use an oil based finish it will amber over time. Lacquer based coatings will do the same. You can get "Water White" or non yellowing catalyzed finishes but those are still solvent based and certainly not for the DIY'er.

Waterbased finishes have a wide range of resins that the manufacturers use to give them the properties they are looking for. If they use an acrylic based resin, the finish will look somewhat milky in the container and when applied but will dry clear. This is the best finish that a homeowner can use to keep the wood from yellowing. But with this type of finish the wood looks more "Blah" and lacks the grain "Pop" that many people look for. You can fix that by using a dewaxed shellac like Zinsser seal coat as a sealer coat and then using a WB acrylic over that. (Side note- Zinsser seal coat,which is a shellac with all of the wax removed is an outstanding sealer that works with pretty much any finish from WB to oil to solvent and really gives a deep, rich look to the wood.)

But the WB finishes some times will contain oil modified resins that are specified by the manufacturer to give their WB products a look that is closer to traditional finishes. Some even add dyes to the product to try to imitate the ambering that traditional finishes undergo.

In closing I personally and professionally love using WB stains and finishes. They have come a long way in the past 15 years or so that I have been using them and for the DIY types in many cases they are easier to use and better for your health as well as safety. But whatever product you use, just make sure you get one that gives you the look you want to achieve.

[JeremyCampbell]

X2. Purple has got the info right.