We’ve chosen White Pine over Red Pine for our exterior siding products due to a couple of its significant inherent qualities:
Stability
A 90%+ reduction in sap bleeding
Stability in wood helps to maintain straight boards & logs and naturally resist twisting and warping.
Sap bleeding knots make a mess on the wall and when touched, or brushed up against, gets on skin, clothing and ends up elsewhere such as indoors when contacted by adults & children (especially children). Removing pine sap from skin and other surfaces (including the siding) is no easy task.
Also, when sap bleeds out of knots, it not only discolors the existing stain, but makes it difficult to match the color when re-staining. Typically, each knot has to be tediously touched up to match the surrounding stain color, otherwise these knot areas will show up as discolored spots on the wall.
The really bad news is that these same knots are prone to bleed again, even after multiple clean-ups and re-staining, creating an ongoing maintenance problem for years into the future.
Why then do some log siding companies even consider Red Pine for exterior siding?
One likely reason is to increase a greater production quantity of siding in less time. It simply takes more time to dry White Pine in the kilns than Red Pine.
Why we strongly recommend white pine for your exterior
Red Pine exterior siding products are produced faster than White Pine, but at the expense of stability and bleeding knot problems. White Pine siding may cost a little more, but provides a siding product with greater stability and 90% less knot bleeding headaches. If you compare the minor difference between the price of our White Pine Exterior Siding Products over other’s Red Pine Exterior Siding Products, we’re confident that our Woodhaven Log & Lumber White Pine siding products will provide more value and prove to be a wise investment over the long term when it comes to appearance and maintenance.
NOTE: Red Pine products used for materials other than exterior applications are a fine choice for interior use such as paneling and flooring since they are not subjected to the adverse exterior conditions and direct sunlight which tends warp material and draw sap from Red Pine knots.