Wood Choice

brockmiera

I'm going to be building some patio benches for my covered patio and have a question.

1) what type of wood should I use?

Pressure treated or regular dimensional lumber? I plan on painting them so I think I would be ok with regular wood but was hoping someone here had the answer.

joecaption

Pressure treated should not be painted, and you insist on doing it anyway for more reason it would have to dry out for at least 6 months.
I'd used soild stain instead.
Spruce or untreaded pine should not be used outside like that.
Cypruss, heart cedar, teak, even fur would be better choises.

brockmiera

Ill do it however will look good and will last. I can do fir. So I prime and paint? Any special primer?

kwikfishron

"Western Red Cedar" with an oil based primer.

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cleveman

Price some white oak from a sawmill. Maybe only plane one side (the side facing your body).

joecaption

White oak will turn black when it gets wet.
One reason you'll never see outside furniture made from it.

mech_gui

Any red wood would be good. Not of fan of prime & paint. It holds mositure.Try some of the brush on wolmanize treatment.

joecaption

No matter what paint you end up using it will always be a maintaince issue when used on outside furiture.

hand drive

call your lumber supply and ask for pressure treated dry, it is paint-able right away and does not need to dry in the weather.. and it is treated for outdoor use.

kwikfishron

It's called KDAT here (Kiln Dried After Treatment) and cost about the same as TK Cedar (in my area).

I've never seen a lumber yard "stock it", at least in my neck of the woods.

Just can't see spending that much on pine.

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hand drive

I only use the pt dry if building 2x deck railing out of pt, and 5/4 decking of course. the stuff we have called dura Cox usually has no knots and is the best treated I've ever seen.

Duckweather

I use a primer called Gripper, and another one, harder to find, called Prime-Z they both seem to aggressively stick to anything. Not sure what is in it but they both have an ammonia smell, kinda like used kitty litter until dry.

brockmiera

If I use Douglass Fir, prime and paint, how long do you think before I would have to redo it?

ddawg16

A big key is the design.....PT wood is soft (because it's pine)...hence, you have use bolts and/or screws if you want it to stay together.

Since it's going to be painted...use pine...assemble with bolts and screws (nails will not hold). Good coat of primer and then a couple coats of exterior high gloss paint...if you can find oil based paint, even better.

And...put feet on those benches...by that I mean little pads that push into the end of the wood. That will help to keep water away from the ends where it can most easily wick up the end grain.

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brockmiera

Ok I can do that. When you say feet, what material are these feet? Plastic? These benches will span from support post to support post on my patio. They are going to stay in place vs being able to be moved around.

Does that change the plan? Here is a picture of the patio. I've drawn in the extent of two of the benches. It will ultimately wrap around and make a U shape.

Try to look past the big puppy.

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