Wood Treatment for a new Shed

[Seb101]

Hi all,

I am getting close to completing my new bike shed, and I'm confused by the myriad of options for treating and protecting the wood.

I used pressure treated timber for the structural elements which I then gave a couple of coats of some old fence treatment I had knocking around, I'm happy with that.

The exterior is soft-wood ship-lap board and here is where I am a little confused. I want to get some immediate protection on there as I can't really trust the summer right now, but I haven't yet decided on the final finish for the exterior, I'm undecided between stain and paint and it will probably depend on what the missus does with the rest of the garden.

The market seems to be flooded with products that have a variety of names:
- Wood preserver
- Wood treatment
- Wood stain
- Wood oil
- Wood sealer
- Wood protector

Marketing bull-**** aside, what are the major differentiators between these products (I'm guessing some are water based, some oil based, some solvent based?). Does a 'sealer' actually do anything different to a 'preserver'?

What should I look for in a product to temporarily protect the wood that can be painted or stained over at a later date?

Thanks!

 

[Nozzle]

I recently had a similar problem - and went for Bedec Barn paint. It comes highly recommended, though if you have pressure treated (tanalised) timbers they need to weather for a while. The rest of the soft wood is just asking for this stuff. If you pick a light colour, go for some Bedec stain block first. It's water based and is sprayable too.

Nozzle

 

[Nige F]

Bedec is good or anything from Sadolins.