Stain & Sealing Siding, Decks, Trim
Staining Protects & Beautifies
Stains are penetrative coatings that beautify, seal and protect wood and masonry. While paint is a protective barrier that sits on top of the surface, stain sinks into the surface. Failing paint peels; stain eventually fades but cannot peel.
At OPPW we rarely stain entire houses; more commonly, as part of a whole-house painting project we stain:
- Decks
- Fences
- Sheds
- Lawn Furniture
- Yard Playsets
- Porches and steps
- Foundation bricks
Cleaning
The first step in the staining process is surface cleaning. Stain can be applied to bare wood, or wood that was previously stained (it can’t be used over paint).
New decks need to “weather” for a period of time before staining — two to three months is typical; for pressure-treated wood, six months is recommended. The wood needs to dry out completely; if water beads on the wood it is still too wet.
Application
Spray followed by back-brushing and hand brushing. Stain MUST be worked into the wood or masonry – spraying alone is insufficient. Wood is particularly porous and stain must penetrate in order to create a seal.
We will apply two coats of stain. Primer will be used as needed, depending on the surface and the transparency of the stain.
Sealing or Stain-Sealing
Stain-Sealers are sealers with color; Sealers are entirely transparent. Both penetrate and protect wood.
Transparency
Exterior Stains come in levels of transparency:
- Transparent,
- Semi-transparent,
- Semi-solid,
- Solid
Semi-transparent and Semi-solid stains are like glazes, containing levels of color but allowing the underlying surface will still show through. Semi-solid is more opaque than Semi-transparent.
Solid stains have no transparency; the coating is completely opaque.
Recommended Stains for Wood
For decks, we use Sherwin Williams Superdeck. This product is meant for use on horizontal surfaces.
For siding, fences and other vertical surfaces we recommend Woodscapes Stain from Sherwin Williams.
We will use other products at your request, as long as they meet or exceed our minimum standards of quality.
Staining Bricks and Concrete
For masonry we recommend a line of Sherwin Williams products called LOXON. This line is relatively new so only time will tell how well they hold-up but preliminary reports are excellent.
The benefit of using a stain versus a paint on masonry is that the coatings will fade rather than peel; and the surfaces can be re-coated in the future (without having to remove previous stain).
Photo of stained vertical siding courtesy of Jon Moore
Photo of house and deck courtesy of Im3rd Media
