Exterior Coatings Clear vs. Natural and Our Burlington Gold

Deck Restoration PlusBurlington GoldDeck Stain

Feb 4

When explaining the differences between Clear Exterior Coatings and Natural Coatings the conversation turns to UV protection. Exterior coatings need to have some type of UV protection to combat the sun and create some type of durability. Clears have no UV protection and the wood quickly returns to a gray or patina look rather quickly and within three months it is easy to see the difference. Clear coatings are usually for an indoor, temperature controlled atmosphere or as a two-part system where a stain is applied and then clear coats are added with sanding between coats of the clear. You see this on wooden boats, front doors, and garage doors where a desired tone of stain is used and a clear polyurethane or marine varnish coating is used to both highlight and protect the stain coating. For most outdoor exterior coatings they are a one-part system where everything is in the sealer or stain. These types of coatings need the pigmentation in the coating and when this occurs it tints the coating even at the lightest levels. Usually that light tint is called a “Natural” and for Deck Restoration Plus we call that our Burlington Gold. The UV protection comes from the pigmentation in the stain and this is what makes it last longer. A good way to ook at it is, when the wood is wet and restored it basically has a “wet look” when using a natural. Here is a cedar shake home we used Burlington Gold on that we are every proud of and check out some others on this site in our gallery!