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PRO FENCE DESIGN BLOG

Why We Stain vs. Paint

Today, there is only one way to color your fence....stain. Solid stains now offer the benefit of full color coverage in a variety of colors. Not only can you dial in your color choice, staining provides a significant cost savings to colored vinyl or metal fence materials and protects the wood as well. 

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SUBMITTED:       PRO FENCE Design

POSTED:               August 2024

For years, the traditional white picket fence meant you have to paint it. Though beautiful when completed, painted fences start to show inevitable cracking and chipping sooner than later. For this reason, most homeowners shy away from painted fences since refinishing them every 2 years is a chore and cost.  Solid stains offer a great solution. 

PAINT.....Prone to Chipping and Peeling 

When painitng a fence with a latex or even oil based paint, moisture is the enemy. We are talking about the moisture found in wood which can range from a low of 15% to 30% moisture content ("MC"). Over time, the MC drops in wood as moisture is released from the wood cellulose. When left natural, wood will leech out its moisture over the years - e.g. 30% MC wood can take more than a year to reduce to 15%.  Even at this lower MC, moisutre is still therein and will try to get out by any means possible. When painting wood, you are sealing in that moisture. This is a loosing proposition since "water always wins" and will escape by taking its latex or oil covering with it.  Cracking, blistering, and chipping painted fences and railings will be the result.

Barn red paint chpping off a privacy panel

White paint coming undone from its pickets

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STAIN....The Professional Choice

Stain is most often associated as a transparent or semi-transparent treatment but few know that it can also be solid. A transparent stain is good for a protectant of higher wood grades like maple, oak, red cedar and exotics, like ipe. A semi-transparent can covert lesser wood grades like pine, fir, and spruce to look like their more expensive cousins.  A solid stain will completely convert your fence into whichever color you like. 

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Stains, unlike paints, are pourous and allow for wood moisutre to exit and evaporate without blistering or crackings its colored covering. Stains also provide better protection to wood as they are designed to penetrate the wood deeper.  While you can expect a painted fence to last 2-4 years, stained fences last much longer and many manufacturers give an 8-year warranty on their products. Best yet, when it is time to restain a fence, there is no need to scrape, sand or powerwash it....just grab a brush and away you go. 

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Spruce wood in a semi-transparent cedar stain makes an economical wood choice look like its more expensive cousin

Solid stain will give you full coverage and protection and provdie you a spectrum of colors to match your fence to your home's colors and lanscaped areas

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