Staining
Staining your wooden fence not only enhances the beauty of your property but also provides essential protection. Regularly re-staining your fence every 3 to 5 years shields the wood from weathering and decay, significantly extending its lifespan. This maintenance routine ensures your fence remains a durable and attractive feature of your landscape for decades to come.
How Do We Stain Your Fence?
We employ a variety of protective measures, including using tarps, plastic, cardboard, water, overspray boards, and cleaning solutions, to prevent stain from affecting any surfaces other than your fence. This proactive approach ensures a clean, professional finish while safeguarding the surrounding areas.
Cleaning Your Fence
Befor Staining
Cleaning your wood prior to staining is an extremely important step in the staining process.
This involves several key steps, including:
1
Site Preparation
Assess and prepare for the cleaning process. Such as raking back rocks or mulch against the fence to in preparation for cleaning/staining. Depending on the condition of the fence a determination is made if chemical cleaners are needed for the fence, if so, utilizing tarps to protect the grass, or plants.
2
Cleaning
Next, we either spray a diluted chlorinated solution to remove the organic material such as mildew, then a gentle power washer to clean off any dirt and debris. Or we just use water with gentle power washing to clean the fence. We take particular care not to damage the wood with too much pressure or too much chemical as this affects the overall stained appearance.
3
Allow the Wood to Dry
Once prepped and cleaned, the wood needs to dry to 13% moisture or less before we can begin the actual staining process. In order to determine the moisture level, we test the wood using an electric moisture meter.
Rollers
Rollers are excellent for evenly coating large, flat surfaces, ensuring a uniform application. They allow for precise control and are ideal for smaller projects or areas where overspray might be a concern. However, they can struggle to reach into tight spaces and intricate details, such as around rails, in the cracks and crevices of gates, and along the bottom of the fence. And the cost of using rollers is usually 50% or 100% more than spraying.
Sprayers
Sprayers, on the other hand, are typically more efficient and cost-effective for larger projects. Targeted spraying with the right equipment enhances the quality of the job by delivering stain to hard-to-reach places that rollers and brushes can’t effectively cover. We use low pressure pump or back back sprayers to ensure excellent control of spraying and avoid overspray concerns.
Sprayers vs. Rollers
Once the wood is fully prepped, cleaned, and dried, we can begin the staining process.
The two primary methods for applying stain are using rollers and sprayers, both of which have their advantages. We typically use a combination of both to add the most value.
Low-Pressure
Backpack Sprayers
Using low-pressure backpack sprayers allows for a higher volume of stain to be applied with less overspray, ensuring thorough coverage without waste. These sprayers are particularly useful for staining around intricate details and along the bottom of the fence, where rollers might pick up dirt and spread it across the fence.
At Good News Fence Co., we utilize a combination of rollers, brushes, and low-pressure backpack sprayers to ensure a high-quality and efficient staining process. By spraying only when conditions are suitable and after proper preparation—we maintain control over the application, ensuring that the stain is applied where it’s intended. This approach ensures a saturating coat of stain is applied delivering a beautiful, long-lasting finish for your fence to help maintain it for years to come.
