cypress for shower bench?

[Terry Therneau]

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.

[Mike Ontko]

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.

[Jim Becker]

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.

[Mel Fulks]

Cypress has to be good close grain heartwood , to be used in a shower. Or loaded up with a good thick plastic finish !

[Zachary Hoyt]

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.

[Michael Rutman]

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.

[Greg Quenneville]

Saunas are traditionally made from western red cedar. That would be my first choice.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Not wood would be my first choice. Teak would be nice if it had to be wood.

[Tom M King]

I like wood, and I like showers, but unless it's a rustic outside shower, the two never meet.