Exterior wood staining is a method that enables the wood of your home’s exterior walls and floors to look much better while also being more durable, as the stain applied to the wood can also serve as a layer of protection against the different harmful elements found outdoors. Whether it’s a deck, siding, fence, or outdoor furniture, exterior wood staining can provide aesthetic upgrades and protection for anything made of wood.
While exterior wood staining is fairly straightforward, trusted painting contractors in the Bay Area typically need to prepare the wood before they stain it. To learn more, here is a guide to preparing wood surfaces for exterior staining.
How to Prepare Wood Before Staining
Preparation is an important process for exterior wood staining, as preparing the wood ensures that the stain will adhere to the wood and that the wood won’t have issues with its surface. Take a look below for the steps that painters follow to properly prepare wood for staining.
Make Sure the Wood is Dry and Clean
The first thing painters would need to ensure is that the wood is dry and clean. If the wood is wet, the moisture will get stuck inside it once it is stained. The trapped moisture would then severely damage not only the wood’s surface but also its insides, which can then lead to deterioration. To increase the durability of the wood, it must first be cleaned by rinsing it and then letting it dry thoroughly.
Spot Problems on the Wood’s Surface
The next step is to spot problems on the wood’s surface. Some of these problems include dark spots caused by mold or fungus, cracks, holes, and knots that can lessen the sturdiness of the wood. Once the problems are spotted, it is up to the painter to determine if the issues can be fixed or if the damaged wood should be replaced.
Sand the Surface
For the stain to adhere well, the wood must first be sanded so that problems on the wood’s surface can be removed. In addition, sanding the surface of the wood would produce a smoother finish that is more pleasant to touch, which is important if the wood is used for a piece of furniture like a chair or a bench.
Treat the Wood Before Staining
There are particular types of wood that are porous and don’t allow stains to adhere well to their surface. So, in order for these wood types to have better adhesion when it comes to stains, the painters would apply a pre-stain wood conditioner. This particular wood condition penetrates and seals the wood, which would then close the pores of the wood and adhere better to stains.
Sometimes, there are sections of a slab or piece of wood that are more porous than other sections, so when you stain them, the more porous sections would just absorb some of the staining liquid, which would then produce a lighter stain compared to the other sections that are significantly darker. So, with the help of a pre-stain wood conditioner, the painters can make sure that the color of the stains is even on all sides of the wood.
The Advantages of Hiring Professional Exterior Staining Services
Although you can do exterior wood staining on your own, it would be better if you could just hire a professional to do it for you, as they have more knowledge, skills, and experience in creating the best results for your deck, walls, fences, or pieces of wooden furniture. Here are some of the advantages of hiring professional exterior staining services.
Convenient and Hassle-Free
Doing the exterior wood staining on your own would require you to prepare a lot of materials and tools needed for the task. In addition to buying and preparing the materials and tools, you would also need a lot of time and effort to research exterior wood staining and to actually stain the wood yourself.
So, to save time, money, and effort for this task, you can just hire a reliable painting contractor in the Bay Area who will stain the pieces of wood for you. So, getting trusted painters for exterior staining would be convenient and hassle-free for you.
Efficient Staining
What’s also great about hiring painters for exterior staining is that they will already do the task right the first time, as they already have plenty of experience in staining and have sufficient knowledge on how to stain different kinds of wood. Besides being efficient at staining with little to no mistakes, trusted painters in the Bay Area can also stain exterior wood for a short period of time, so you don’t have to wait long in order to see the finished product.
Preparation and Repairs are Included
Besides staining exterior wood, the best painting contractors will also take time to inspect, repair, and prepare the wood for staining. After they have determined that the wood needs repair, they fix the issues first before starting the staining process so that their efforts won’t be wasted on problematic wood. Once the repairs are done, they would then prepare everything that the painters need to stain the exterior wood with care and efficiency.
Professionally Stained Wood Lasts Longer
Because of how well the painters have conditioned and stained the wood, the finished product would typically last longer compared to stained wood that is done by someone who doesn’t have the skills and experience for wood staining. So, professionally stained wood would also save you money because you don’t have to re-stain the wood regularly, which can then lead you to buy more products or materials for staining. The stain on the wood would last for years if it is done by professionals.
Choose Custom Painting, Inc. for Your Exterior Staining Needs
Exterior staining may look like a simple task to do at first glance, but there are extensive preparations and possible repairs that people will need to do in order to stain pieces of wood properly. At Custom Painting, Inc., we offer professional exterior staining alongside our other painting services. If you want to set an appointment with us, you may contact us (925) 294-8062 or fill out this form.