If your fence is looking faded and worn, follow this step-by-step tutorial on how to stain your fence!
How to Stain Your Fence
When we moved into our home nearly five years ago, our fence was brand new and in need of staining. Somehow, five years later and not-so-new it was still in need of staining! A lot of people are intimidated, or like us too lazy, to stain their fence because it seems like so much work. However, with the right products and supplies it is surprisingly easy! Who knew? Today I’m sharing a step-by-step tutorial on how to stain your fence using Flood Wood products. These products work on exterior wood, so if you have a deck, siding, patio furniture, dog house, etc. these same steps will apply.
In the picture above, you can see the before and after of our stained fence. What a difference the stain makes to the appearance of our tiny, urban backyard!
Supplies Needed for Staining Fence:
- Flood Wood Finish Remover and/or Flood Cleaner Brightener
- 5 gallon bucket (for diluting Flood Cleaner/Brightener Concentrate if you’re rolling on)
- Tarps to cover any nearby surface you want protected.
- Rubber gloves
- Safety glasses
- A broom (to sweep off debris from your fence before cleaning)
- 2 rollers with a 3/4″ nap (or an airless sprayer if you have one)
- Two synthetic paint brushes
- Stiff nylon scrub brush (to scrub your wood clean)
- Garden hose or pressure washer
- Flood OneCoat Waterproofing Finish
How to Prep the Wood Before Staining
1. Cover any areas you wish to protect with your tarp.
2. Use your broom to sweep the surface clean.
3. Follow the label instructions on the cleaner/brightener label and dilute accordingly.
4. Wet down your fence with your garden hose and then apply a uniform coat of cleaner/brightener with a garden sprayer, roller, or nylon brush, and lightly scrub .
5. Keep surface wet with solution allowing solution to stand for 20-30 minutes.
6. Scrub with a stiff nylon brush.
7. Rinse using highest pressure from a hose or pressure wash.
8. Allow the wood to dry for just a few hours before applying Flood® OneCoat Waterproofing Finish. (With most wood finishes, you have to wait 2-3 days after prep to make sure the wood is completely dry before you apply the finish. Flood OneCoat allows you to start staining just a few hours later while the wood is still damp, enabling you to complete your project in a day!)
How to Apply Finish Stain to Fence
1. Stir your Flood® OneCoat Waterproofing Finish and be sure to stir it periodically to ensure color uniformity.
2. Apply the finish evenly using your roller, brush, or airless sprayer. (If you use a roller or sprayer, backbrush to improve penetration.)
3. Follow all directions on the labels regarding additional coats and dry time.
I wanted to share with you how what our gate looked like after applying the cleaner. Although the wood didn’t appear green when dry, the cleaner brought all the hidden gunk to the surface which I scrubbed off. Ew! You can see how nice it looks after one coat of the waterproofing finish.
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We really need to stain our wood deck!
I need to stain my fence. I didn’t realize how bad it was until I saw how much worse it was than your before. It could look so much nicer!
our picnic table
I’d stain the fence in our backyard
My back deck for sure- it’s old and needs some major help!
Great timing! Refinishing our deck is the next item on my to-do list.
I just stained my new deck this same color this weekend! I can’t wait to do the fence next. What a difference!
Very, very cool, friend! You did an amazing job–seems like a big project…that’s a motivated DIYer!!
🙂
shaunna
We need to stain our new fence. This would help us get started!!!
I should have put a clear sealer on our new cedar fence in the fall, but failed to do so. Now I need to stain it because it is on its way to going gray! Silly, lazy me….. This give-away comes at such an opportune time- many thanks to you and Flood for it. 🙂
We just put up a new fence in our yard & this would finish it perfectly!
Would LOVE to win this! Our deck and a table could definitely use it!
The deck needs stained. Digging this giveaway!
I need to do my fence. Reading your post gives me hope that it won’t be too bad!
So glad this post is up. We are planning to stain our fence soon. Hope to win this one.
Would try it on our Siding !
I would definitely stain my fence. Good job Beth. Lookin good….
My sister’s house has a nice fence that is really needing a stain coat!! I would give this to her!
Wow! Looks wonderful Beth. We did this as well and it lasts for years.
Did you ever see our newly painted white kitchen cabinets?
I had it done back in March by a painting crew. They were reasonable in price and we love the change.
Happy weekend to you!
Our fence needs to be stained so desperately. It just seems to be a huge project that we have put off again & again. Winning the stain might just be my answer to get it done. Thanks!
Guess we would do our fence which would be quite a project
I have a small deck that needs staining and this would definately be helpful! Thanks for the chance to win!
o my gravy! I would do the deck! the fence would be next! 🙂
My patio set is in need of some work!
Beth your fence came out so nice !!! YES what a diff a little stain makes……
Would love to give this a whirl…..
Kathy 🙂
Amazing what a coat of stain will do! Looks great and I’m sure you are glad it’s done. I had a good chuckle over your shirt :)I have endless amounts of fencing for the horses that could use some paint and/or stain. Thanks for the giveaway!
I would Love to win this and use it on my Deck that needs attention!!
I would love to try this to finish my deck!
I have a fence on each side of my house that desperately needs treated. I would LOVE some nice stain to brighten things up!
We most definitely need to stain our fence! So we would use it on the fence and then perhaps our shutters on the house.
We have a fence almost like yours that needs stained desperately. We put it up last summer and it’s already been baking in the hot sun…
What a cool give-a-way!!!
Thanks!
♥’s
Sherry
I’m getting a new fence in the next few weeks. I will definitely be staining it now with this stuff
Man, we are in the process of replacing a HUGE length of fence this month, and are going to be out there sealing it anyways when done – There is no WAY I would go through and paint it twice over (stain + sealer) – but an all in one stain/sealer would look SOOO nice…..(plus the free gallons would help put a dent in our overall bill)
Our fence could really use some stain! Your fence looks great!!!
We just installed new fencing and it could really use a coat of stain and sealer.
One of our summer projects is redoing our fence so this would be perfect.
We’re currently building a new house, so I’d like to stain the fence – I think it would look great!
I’m changing up my deck!
I too have a fence that needs to be stained, but it’s alot of fence from the front of our property to the back!!!
It’s on our list this summer to finish staining our deck and fence, such a big project though!
OHHH I So need this. I have a backyard fence just like yours that needs staining desperately! Hope I win!
I would love to stain the fence that goes all the way around my house! It’s very old and could use a spruce up!
Susan
We installed a new fence 3 months ago & it needs staining badly! 🙂
Thanks for the awesome giveaway!!
We put in our fence last fall and still haven’t stained it. It’s on the honey-do list for this summer!
I have a new fence! Would love to protect it 🙂
Our privacy fence in our back yard definitely needs to be stained. This would be wonderful to win the Flood Finish you’re giving away. Thank you!!!
I have a bunch of wooden pallets that I am going to use to make a fence. This would be great to win this
AWESOME! I love the difference it made in your lovely get-away place! My fence needs some TLS (tender loving stain) too!!
Our entire pool fence and deck is in dire need of staining this year. Also our back deck too. 🙁
This is a project on my to-do list for this summer! Weird question – but did you do the other side too, the side that faces your neighbors? This is the first time we’ve had a fenced yard, and I wasn’t quite sure on the “etiquette” of a shared fence. LOL. Thank you for sharing this step-by-step project!
Oh what a great article just in time! our fence is 5 years old and needs it too! i just started googling how to stain the other day! thanks for the help!
My fingers, toes and eyes are all crossed! I REALLY hope I win this. 🙂
We have a fence on the back that is in desperate need of being restained this year. We installed it 8 yrs ago and it’s looking pretty shabby right now. But unfortunately, it’s at the end of our list of things to get done due to money. We could really use this big time! Thanks for an awesome give away!
I would love to win this stain. I have a fence that is 2 years old and I need to protect the wood so it will last longer. This is great!