My wife wants a shower bench, and the local hardwood dealer carries cypress. I also have some air dried walnut. I've made adirondack chairs out of both, and both seem to be holding up well. Which would you choose?
Terry T.
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My wife wants a shower bench, and the local hardwood dealer carries cypress. I also have some air dried walnut. I've made adirondack chairs out of both, and both seem to be holding up well. Which would you choose?
Terry T.
Between the two, only cypress is naturally resistant to moisture, right? For that reason, I'd go with the cypress. Plus the lighter color might look better sitting in a shower stall, a location which is usually dimly lit.
Cypress will work fine. My recommendation, however, is to buy quite a bit more than you think you need so you can keep the sitting surfaces all rift/QS. One thing wood like cypress can sometimes do is peel in the cathedrals with moisture/weathering...from personal experience. So using the rift/qs sides of the boards helps to insure that doesn't happen on the larger flat surface of the bench where presumably there will be a lot of direct skin contact in the shower.
Cypress has to be good close grain heartwood , to be used in a shower. Or loaded up with a good thick plastic finish !
In my outdoor (very primitive) solar shower I made the walls and a bench out of aspen. It is traditional for sauna seats, I read somewhere, because it is splinter-free.
I made a shower bench out of cedar 4 years ago, still mold and rot free. Rather hard on the rear end.
I coated it with high quality water proof stain.
Saunas are traditionally made from western red cedar. That would be my first choice.
Not wood would be my first choice. Teak would be nice if it had to be wood.
I like wood, and I like showers, but unless it's a rustic outside shower, the two never meet.