# Forum Home Renovation Cladding  Spotted Gum cladding - Best clear finish?

## kasperluke

Hi All,  
I have searched the forum but can't find an answer to my specific question.  
We have just put some spotted gum shiplap cladding to the exterior of our house and I was wondering if anyone had advice on the best clear finish to put on the wood?  
Some of the ones I have seen: intergram ultra clear, bondall etc just to name two.  
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  
Thanks

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## shauck

Cutek CD50 gets a bit of a mention around the forum. It's re-application time frame is considered better than most oils, almost on par with some water based coatings (solid coats). Being that you are using it for a vertical application rather than decking, you'll get longer life from it. It's actually clear (many products are tinted even tho they call themselves clear) and you buy the tints separately if you want to use one. The thing with clear is, it will protect but it wont stop timber from greying. Only a tint added will do that. I haven't used it personally so can't vouch for it.

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## kasperluke

> Cutek CD50 gets a bit of a mention around the forum. It's re-application time frame is considered better than most oils, almost on par with some water based coatings (solid coats). Being that you are using it for a vertical application rather than decking, you'll get longer life from it. It's actually clear (many products are tinted even tho they call themselves clear) and you buy the tints separately if you want to use one. The thing with clear is, it will protect but it wont stop timber from greying. Only a tint added will do that. I haven't used it personally so can't vouch for it.

  Thanks heaps for the reply.. 
When you say some water based coatings Solid coats what are these (Please excuse my ignorance!)

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## r3nov8or

Best water based would be Flood Spa & Deck, given feedback around here. 4 years between recoats on vertical surfaces.  
I've used Cutek CD50 on vertical surfaces and it holds up really well, very natural look and feel (just feels like wood after drying). As shauck mentioned if you want to stop greying you need to choose a tint, but in my experience on a bamboo decking board used vertically the greying takes several years

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## kasperluke

Great, so they're my two choices then thanks. 
With choosing the right colour tone...which one do you go for?! I am scared the colour tone will 'wreck' the look of the natural timber?   Cutek: Colourtones

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## shauck

> Best water based would be Flood Spa & Deck, given feedback around here. 4 years between recoats on vertical surfaces.

  Wow! 4 years! That's way longer than I thought. I imagine that's under cover?  
Water based, well that's pretty much self explanatory. It's... water based/acrylic coating. Solid coat, meaning it's a paint which covers the timber rather than an oil which penetrates the timber. Oils will allow grain and character of timber to show through but water based pretty much don't. The water based last longer (not sure how long 1-2 years horiziontal???) but if you don't recoat before they start to peel, you need to sand the deck back to bare timber and start over. That means not putting it off. With oil based, recoat is much sooner, 6-12 months horizontal, more for vertical. Cutek has a better than most, claim for longer life. If you get lazy/complacent and don't recoat straight away, you can get away with a clean and recoat. Sometimes, eventually, a good sand will be in order anyway. Have a read of sticky at the top of the decking subforum page about cleaning and sanding decks. It's got loads of info on the whole process and all sorts of info on different products too.

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## r3nov8or

> Wow! 4 years! That's way longer than I thought. I imagine that's under cover? 
>  ...

   Flood's page says 4 years on vertical surfaces eg weatherboards and fences, so exposed The Flood Company Australia » Wood Care Products » spa_n_deck

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## r3nov8or

> Great, so they're my two choices then thanks. 
> With choosing the right colour tone...which one do you go for?! I am scared the colour tone will 'wreck' the look of the natural timber?   Cutek: Colourtones

  That Cutek link won't for me right know. Find their Contact Us page and ask them about the choice of colour for your wood. They will repsond quite quickly

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## kasperluke

Thanks heaps for the responses I will post a photo once I have painted it!

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## shauck

> Thanks heaps for the responses I will post a photo once I have painted it!

  painted or oiled?  :Biggrin:

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## kasperluke

> painted or oiled?

  Oiled..was the final decision..  :Smilie:

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## shauck

> Oiled..was the final decision..

  nice.

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## Connollys

Glad to see you went with the oil, Cutek is an excellent product. Well done  :2thumbsup:

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## kasperluke

Came up looking nicer than I thought. We used the Sela Brown (from memory) tinting.

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## r3nov8or

Very nice indeed!

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