From Nantucket to Malibu, and in any number of landlocked neighborhoods in between, houses are stained rather than painted.
Stains add color yet can reveal the texture and grain of cedar shakes or clapboards.
If the results of our tests are any indication, a good stain can be hard to find. We've embarked on a five-year project to find out how well popular brands of stain last. How we tested We applied one and two coats of each stain to southern yellow pine clapboards. We also sent sets of stained boards to southern Florida, to find out how well the stains held up to fierce mildew and sunlight. The box at the end of the Ratings lists the products we've already dropped from the Ratings.