IROCSS

iTrader: (2)

Just bought a house with a 1/2 acre backyard, fenced of course. Has anyone ever tackled staining such a huge area or have any advice on the best way to stain such a large area? Thanks for any help!

SEB

iTrader: (12)

You will want to buy a spray gun. They are like $80 bucks at Home Depot. But make the job so much easier!

derrickman05

iTrader: (4)

Yes I got a sprayer and did mine like that. But I broke it down with bleach before staining. Don't skimp on the stain. Buy the good stuff and do it once. I did mine 4 years ago and it still looks good.

marksLT

iTrader: (1)

make sure it is a sealer type of stain also or the stain will fade quickly

pir7tr

iTrader: (23)

Power spray/prewash and dry the fence first for best results.
Use a cheap weed/bug sprayer from HD or anywhere you can find one. I have seen them go for $10.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

LeadfootDuramax

iTrader: (6)

I just built a new fence and stained it before I put the boards up so that they were protected everywhere. It took some time, but looks much better. I did it all by hand with a brush. It took some time.

A friend in the paint / stain business recommended sikkens products, but they were $$$ and much more work. He said for the big box stores to use Cabots from Lowes. I was pretty impressed with the quality and color (I went with cedar color). He said doing nothing was better than using Thompsons for what its worth.

IROCSS

iTrader: (2)

Are there any spray guns that have a battery? Don't really wanna buy like 300 ft of extension cord. Tis is all new to me.

Like the bug sprayer option.

Brushed my last fence at the house and it sucked. Will be using a sealer this time also, so I don't have to do it again.

Thanks for the info lead foot.

IROCSS

iTrader: (2)

1 acre lot/ 3 car garage/ 3000 sq ft/ man cave up stairs

Quick pic of the house

red90cobra

iTrader: (36)

should post pic from your back door to get an idea of how much fence it really is. nice house btw

texasglock23

iTrader: (1)

The bug sprayers will not work, they gum up...ask me how I know. Buy a backpack style sprayer. Or pm me and I can help you out. I have a firefighter neighbor that stains on his off days as well as texturing garages and painting them.

texasglock23

iTrader: (1)

And the stains that sherwin-Williams sells is cheaper than lowes or home depot and works just the same.

Sales2@Texas-speed

iTrader: (5)

I did spraying as a side job for a few years and will give my $.02. On an old fence, use a bleach/water mix to get the gray (which is mold and mildew) killed off first. Many times this is good enough for prep and you can stain after you do that without more work. If it has been stained prior, and look blotchy and/or streaky you might want to hire it to be pressure washed or you can rent the machine and do that yourself. Most charge by the square foot, so be prepared if you hire it out to pay a pretty penny!

Make sure the fence is dry and clean before staining. if you power wash, inevitably you get some dirt and trash that was at the surface of the wood kind of floating and ends up sitting on the wood. You need a very low pressure rinse after pressure washing to simply run that junk to the ground.

I only use Wood Defender stain. I tried Penofin and all sorts of others before finally coming to the conclusion that the Wood Defender (they are in Mansfield) costs a little more but blends and mellows much better! So even a rookie stainer can make a nice finished product. The crap they sell at Sherwin Williams and the like is terrible, save your money. Penofin comes closest, but still doesn't have the customer support or quality product that WD does. Buy a backpack sprayer from Tractor Supply or similar. Should be about $60-80 for a 2-3 gallon backpack unit with wand and multiple different tips.

Wood Defender's website will give you a good idea of how to calculate how much stain to buy, you'll just have to measure the dimensions of your fence and so a little 1st grade math. Hope that helps!

texasglock23

iTrader: (1)

Also, wet the grass around the fence you are staining so that the stain won't stain the grass, or use a drop cloth.

Sales2@Texas-speed

iTrader: (5)

Good point....protect concrete, grass, the house, cars, etc around you. That Texas wind can carry the stain quite a distance if you're not aware and prepared for it!