[cwcarpenter98]

On the wood, I made the mistake of not using a good sealer when I put new wood in. After about a year, the color dulled and just overall looked sad compared to what it was when fresh. I finally decided to pull the wood back out, sanded it down, and reapplied the same stain/sealer combo I had used before. The second time around, with about 2 years or so of sun damage, led to the color of the wood being darker. I actually like the darker color in my application. The stain I used was a pecan color.

To finish it off the second time, I used a generous helping of Spar Urethane. That sealed the wood up nicely, and after a year of sitting in GA weather, I haven't noticed any change in the color of the wood