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wicks up from the soil. You'll also promote peeling if you apply too many coats. Just enough to form a film is all you need. On the plus side, film-forming finishes are amongst the best at preventing surface cracking, and transparent formulations let lots of wood beauty show through, too.

Option#3: No-Film Stains
These inexpensive products form no surface film, so they can't peel, though some do rub off. And their opaque or semi-opaque colour means they also hide wood grain. And since they don't shield wood under a protective layer, they can't do a lot to prevent surface cracking, either. On the plus side, no-film stains are often the best choice for colouring very old wood that has surface cracks too deep to sand out. If you just want to add some quick colour to an old, grey structure, no-film stains are often an excellent choice. Their thin consistency makes them one of the easiest things to apply to rough wood siding and cedar shingles.

Option#4: Opaque, Film-Forming Products
These look like paint, but their greater resistance to abrasion means they're better suited to high-traffic areas like decks, verandahs and stairs. The same consumer testing that noted the durability of specific brands of transparent, film-forming finishes also laud some opaque, film-forming products. But be prepared to lose sight of wood grain in the bargain.

Sidebar: A Water-Based Future
Concerns about product safety and convenience have been advancing the cause of water-based paints for years. But more recently this same impulse has also spawned changes in transparent outdoor wood coatings. Brian Morse, Vice-President of Manufacturing, Research and Development for Bio-Products Canada Inc. - a leading developer of water-based wood finishing systems - explains that getting the most from this new breed of products depends on a unique set of preparation strategies. And one of the most important is also the least understood.

Any water-based coating will have a pH in the 7.5 to 9.0 range. This is due to the current chemistry of all such products. But the tannic acid in wood often causes surface acidity on lumber to be much greater than this. Problems with blushing of clear, water based products or premature peeling of latex paints will result unless wood surfaces are first treated with an alkaline wash, to buffer this acid. The best products also remove mill glaze in the process.

Water-based products are often touted as being damp-wood friendly, meaning they can be applied to lumber with

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