At Absolute Painting & Power Washing we often get asked about how to stain a fence and what it does. Staining your fence can do a couple things. It will make the fence look nice and it will also help to protect it.
Fences are much like a deck as far as protecting them goes. Only a fence needs to be stained much less than a deck because the rain can not sit on them easily. You can stain a fence with a solid stain or a semi-transparent stain. The solid stain looks more like a paint and does not really show the grain of the wood. The benefit to a solid stain is that it can be made in almost any color. If you use a semi-transparent stain you will be able to see the grain of the wood and it will look more natural.
The darker the stain, the more UV protection it will provide. If you choose a clear or very light semi-transparent stain you will find the sun will turn the wood grey quickly. The best time to stain the fence is usually within a few weeks of when it is built. Our weather in Portland is very hard on all wood surfaces so the sooner you apply stain the better. If you use a good quality stain on a fence you should only have to do it about every 5-7 years depending on weather exposure.
If you do not protect a fence you will start to see it discolor within the first year and extra steps are needed to make it look new again before staining. Feel free to call us with any question on deck or fence staining or talk to your local paint store for great information.
