Finish for cedar compost bin?

[ear3]

Making a compost bin for my back yard out of 5/4 and 2x cedar boards.  There's no aesthetic need to finish it with anything, but I'm wondering if applying something like Thomposn's Water Seal adds extra protection/weather durability to the cedar?  Or is it fine untreated?

 

[Brent Taylor]

It's fine to leave them untreated,  but if you do treat them I found that spar varnish worked far better than waterseal. When I was living in Michigan the waterseal didn't work nearly as well as the spar varnish.  It will still rot, but the spar made it last years longer.  I built a lot with cedar over the years,  decks, siding, furniture and shingles.  I used a fire retardant and preservative, but I can't remember the name,  may want to see if there's a yard that sells cedar shakes and shingles. They stated that the roof should last 50 years, I know when I left  up north I had no call backs and some of the jobs were over 40 years . Hope it's some help.

 

[Pnw painter]

At a minimum I'd seal all the ends. Due to the high moisture content of the compost i'd be concerned that a lot of finishes might prematurely fail, especially waterborne finishes.

 

[ear3]

Thanks.

 

[leakyroof]

I don't know if it would work in a compost application, but for low outdoor maintenance on Cedar, I like Cetol finishes from Sikkens. I don't have to do anything but a single coat touch up every few years.
An Oil finish is cheaper but won't really slow the Lignin damage from the sun.
I've used a finish from Thompson that was like a flaxseed or other waxy additive in a water based liquid. Kept rot to a minimum for a lot of years, but I had to reapply it once a year.
It's different from their older 'Water Seal' stuff.

 

[jmarkflesher]

For shame. A true compost-er uses no chemicals that will touch the black gold that will in turn grow your table greens. That being said, you can use mineral oil or TRUE tung oil. Cedar that is in contact with the ground or the black gold will rot. MARK

 

[grbmds]

Other than sealing the ends, I wouldn't finish the cedar. The problem with most outdoor finishes is that they need regular maintenance. I've used the Sikkens Cetol finishes on an oak front door. If I didn't do some light sanding and touch-up each year, it would have been a major job the following year to get the finish back in shape. Since a compost bin is most likely exposed completely to the weather with no shelter, I don't believe that there is any point in finishing it at all. Unless you would redo it each year, I assume that, within a couple of years the finish would likely be gone anyway. Plus, it is a composting bin. Usually natural is the thing for that.

 

[ear3]

Yeah.  I decided just to leave it as is.  It's the first piece of outdoor "furniture" I've built out of cedar, so I'm actually curious to see how many years it will hold up with nothing applied.

Other than sealing the ends, I wouldn't finish the cedar. The problem with most outdoor finishes is that they need regular maintenance. I've used the Sikkens Cetol finishes on an oak front door. If I didn't do some light sanding and touch-up each year, it would have been a major job the following year to get the finish back in shape. Since a compost bin is most likely exposed completely to the weather with no shelter, I don't believe that there is any point in finishing it at all. Unless you would redo it each year, I assume that, within a couple of years the finish would likely be gone anyway. Plus, it is a composting bin. Usually natural is the thing for that.

 

[leakyroof]

Yeah.  I decided just to leave it as is.  It's the first piece of outdoor "furniture" I've built out of cedar, so I'm actually curious to see how many years it will hold up with nothing applied.

Other than sealing the ends, I wouldn't finish the cedar. The problem with most outdoor finishes is that they need regular maintenance. I've used the Sikkens Cetol finishes on an oak front door. If I didn't do some light sanding and touch-up each year, it would have been a major job the following year to get the finish back in shape. Since a compost bin is most likely exposed completely to the weather with no shelter, I don't believe that there is any point in finishing it at all. Unless you would redo it each year, I assume that, within a couple of years the finish would likely be gone anyway. Plus, it is a composting bin. Usually natural is the thing for that.

  Take a picture now of it while it's still fresh, and one later on as a few years go by to see how it's weathered.

 

[ear3]

Good suggestion. This is as good a place as Amy for a paper trail, so here we go:

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