Staining Fence

My husband is the stain master. You will have to power wash it and sand it, then you can stain it with a paint brush or rag. Yes it will take a long time and alot of work but it will be worth it with all the money you save.

We always do our own. Olympic lasts the longest. Clean it first you don't need a pressure washer unless your yard is muddy. As long as your hose pressure is decent you should be fine. We use a scrub brush in the tricky spots with a mild bleach solution. Use a four inch brush and paint from top to bottom. We used a Wagner power sprayer once but it honestly made a huge mess, you put a tube in the can and it sucks it up and the overspray was terrible. The other tip is to make sure your can of stain is VERY well mixed or you end up with more concentrated tint at the end. We stop about halfway through and shake it and stir again.

The only advice I can give you is to be sure its non toxic.

No tips, really. Just read the directions. Make sure the fence is clean first. You may have to rent or buy a pressure washer. Do it neatly so it's even with no drips.

It's not rocket science, so yes you should do it yourself to save money. I'm planning on painting the outside of this house myself when it needs it.

We stained ours earlier this year. We started with a pressure sprayer but did not have good luck. We bought the exact pressure sprayer that was recommended for the stain we used, but it did not spray out of the sprayer evenly and just made a big mess. We ended up painting it on with paint brushes, which took a few days. So it turned out to be a bigger project than what we planned for but I'm glad we did it.

We bought the stain at Lowe's. Someone had told us that they will deal with you on prices. We were skeptical but decided to try it. We asked the sales person if he could come down on the price. At first he seemed reluctant but then he turned us over to his boss, who gave us a 10% discount, which was quite a savings on 3 5-gallon cans, a sprayer and some additional stuff.

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My husband did ours and it looks awesome and he saved a lot of money. He used a cheap sprayer like you use with bug sprays. He threw it out when he was done. The biggest tip I can give is buy an overall and mask. Cover yourself completely, especially so that you don't breath it. My son and husband started at first without coverings and they were really ill for several days. When they got back to it, the coverings made all the difference. You can get it in the paint aisle of Lowes or Home Depot.