What kind of clear coat for fir front porch?
My neighbor is having a new front porch installed and wants the T&G Douglas Fir clear coated. So far the local paint store hasn’t impressed her with any product that can handle the wide range of weather in Cincinnati. My advise was to say that I haven’t seen a outdoor porch floor clear coated since I was a kid – a very long time ago and there must be a reason for that. They expect that they will have to re-do the “varnish” every other year or so. Still, does anyone have experience with a suitable product? Her installers suggested spar varnish but I thought spar varnish didn’t actually dry completly and I’d hate to deal wth grimy shoes walking on it all year around. Also, the underside does not have any primer on it which I think compounds the problem.
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Well, it was a mistake to put down doug fir and expect to be able to clear-coat it -- that wood is simply not suitable for an exposed porch. (I assume this porch is exposed, even if there's a roof over it. An enclosed porch would be a different matter.)
The mistake was , apparently, amplified by neglecting to seal the bottom side, the edges and the ends. The most enduring porches I've come across were enamel-base painted. They were regularly sanded and re-coated. I've worked with 40+yr old porch wood in reasonably good condition.