My husband and I are building a new home. We have cypress lap siding around the entire house and live in northern Louisiana. I love the look of the wood and at this time I don't want to completely cover up the wood with a solid color. But I do want to protect it. I would appreciate your thoughts on what would be the best type of protection for the cypress and do you recommend any products.

Click here to receive email notifications when answers are posted to this question.

Answers

Answered by Karl Crowder, Crowder Painting from Colorado Springs, Colorado

A translucent or semi-transparent oil based stain is a good choice. There is a lot of different semi-transparent stains on the market. Each makes great claims.

The best finish that I can recommend is Sikkens Cetol. This is a great translucent exterior wood finish that looks great and adds very little color. Sikkens products are more expensive than most but are worth it.

No matter what type of finish you choose always test it on a scrape piece of siding. This way you can see the color and effect before committing to any given product.