these will be lighted. but they are going to use a gray stain on the wood so it wont contrast well. I was worried about wood movement too. so I used cedar and planed it down to 1/8" as thats the thickness wood does not move very much. then the flexible epoxy should help. I wanted to use e600 but You cant glue large surfaces that way. but I also told them the face may fail and they were ok with it. they also need ot use a deck stain on it on a regular basis.