DH has spent a good deal of time building a new fence and it looks great so now we want to stain it. The posts and the top rail are treated wood and the the uprights are pine. What have you used that you like the way it lasted and the way it looked. Anything special for the treated posts and top rail. I am hoping to go with a semi-transparent but do I need a sealer to go over it.
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Yes, let the wood weather before you stain.
One word of caution when it comes to looking up staining info on the web. Canada is a very different climate than the US when it comes to what does and doesn't work here so be aware company promises etc. vary depending on the conditions. Even in Canada, some stains work better in some places than others. For instance never mind the temp differences, Calgary gets more sun than a lot of other places so we end up repainting more than other parts of the country. Coastal type climates are a lot different than mountain or prairie or central regions. When I went looking the first time for the new fence I put up, I hit a shop that does nothing but build and sell cedar garden things and managed to find a guy who explained all the differences with the products to me, all the cautions, and made sure my expectations were realistic.
That was the Sikkens fence and I have to say I drive by it every now and then just to see how that stain is holding and as of last year it was still good so it was worth the time and effort and expense to do as he said. I almost wish I still lived there just so I could stick my tongue out at the neighbours who thought I was nuts going to all that work (they never heard of someone sanding the wood first for instance... something I forgot to mention in the other post. You have to get that millglaze off as noted in the thread Pearl linked. If you don't, the stain won't penetrate.) as they have needed to redo theirs since.
Wow, thanks for posting all the info, DBD! We're also needing to stain our fence. DH built a new section from the house out to the existing fence, and we need to continue the colour onto the side fence. I have tentatively picked out solid stain from BM colour CC-542 Willow (very dark brown).
Thanks DBD! We are going to be staining our fence later this month and I've picked out an opaque dark brown/taupe stain from Rona. We had planned on spraying it on but I guess we will have to brush it on.
If you have treated posts, you can't stain or paint them yet. Generally you need to wait about a year but you can tell by sprinkling some water drops on them. If they sink in, they will take stain/paint but if they bead up, no point as nothing is going to stick. Any of the other wood does need to be covered ASAP.
When you are doing new wood, you have to make sure it's nice and dry (and there is no guarrantee it was even dry when you bought it so you have to check it) . That also can take some time but there are meters you can get at the hardware store to help there. For sure when it rains etc. you pretty much have to wait a couple of days. There is just no getting around it or the paint/stain won't hold well. Once you get the first coat on though you are okay to put the second on as soon as you can. With the fence I built it was constantly cursing the evening rain as it kept wetting the wood so I'd have to wait and hope for 3 or 4 dry days to get that wood dry enough but you need to do that or you will just be redoing it next year.
Personally I like opaque stains. They look like paint but act like stain so they soak in and don't peel and you don't have to worry about whether they look even or not as there isn't the kind of variations you can get with transparent stains. Eventually they just sort of wear away and you can prep them pretty easily with a jet nozzle on the hose to get them ready for restaining vs having to scrape and sand old paint off. I painted the fence at my mom's house when she had it and that stuff was a #itch to redo when it started peeling 2 years later (that's when I had the house and decided to use the opaque stain). It was really bad where the hose had been hitting it when the sprinkler was on. Just bubbled and peeled and cracked. Stain won't do that. Luckily most of the old paint just came off but it was a lot of scraping and sanding and jet nozzling and I swore right then I would never use paint on a fence again.
When I was looking into it all trying to find the best thing for the least maintenance I was told to use the stains (opaque or transparent it doesn't matter they work the same). Apparently the guy who painted the stucco on this house was told the same by a painter from Banff as they found even in the extreme conditions of the mountains, it holds better. So far the opaque stain on this house is now about 6 years old and no chipping or peeling or fading.
The fist fence I built I was talked into using Sikkens opaque Oil stain and when I drove past that fence 4 years later even the hoizontal rails were still looking great. Last house I used a latex opaque stain from Rona and it was still fine on the vertical parts after 2 years but I have no idea how it held after I moved. The horizontals needed another coat after that first year and I suspect it was because the wood was a little damp when I put that first coat on. Also horizontal boards take a bigger beating from the sun, rain, snow. the latex stain on this fence is into year 2 and fine as well and it's from Cloverdale.
If you use a stain you don't need a sealer. Sealers and oils are used on untreated wood to help protect them (and you need to do that at least once a year) The stain/paint does that.
Word of caution, when you use stain you are supposed to brush it on. No sprays, no rollers. You need to push the stain into the grain and you can do that best by using a brush going back and forth with the grain. it's that penetration that protects the wood. A roller or spray just lays the stain on top. Your first coat will seem to just be sucked right in which is why you need at least two coats. It's really worth getting the best stain you can find and doing it right to save having to redo it again in a year or two.