Home / Paint or Stain for a Wood Fence in Pasadena
Should You Paint or Stain Your Wood Fence?
A wood fence faces harder conditions than almost anything else on your property. It stands fully exposed to sun on one side, often gets sprinkler spray on the other, has posts sunk into damp soil, and is built from boards that expose plenty of end grain. The finish you choose, paint or stain, decides how the fence looks, how it weathers, and above all how much work it takes to keep up. Because a fence has so much surface area, that last point matters a great deal. Choosing well at the start, or switching deliberately when it is time to refinish, can save a lot of labor over the life of the fence.
How paint and stain differ
Paint forms a film on top of the wood. It hides the grain completely and offers the widest choice of colors. A good paint film sheds water and protects the wood beneath it from ultraviolet light. When a painted fence starts to fail, though, the film cracks and peels, and that peeling paint has to be scraped away before the fence can be repainted.
Stain soaks into the wood. Penetrating stains come in transparent, semi-transparent and solid versions. Transparent and semi-transparent stains let the grain show, and they wear away gradually by fading and eroding rather than by peeling. Solid stains behave more like thin paint: they hide the grain and form more of a surface layer, and they can peel in a similar way, though usually less severely.
Comparing maintenance
Recoating a stained fence
The main advantage of a penetrating stain is how it ages. Because it wears by fading, recoating typically involves cleaning the fence, letting it dry, and applying a fresh coat. There is little or no scraping. Stain on a fence in strong sun may need refreshing more often than paint would, but each refresh is much simpler.
Recoating a painted fence
Paint may last longer between coats on a fence in good condition, but when it fails, preparation is heavy. Every loose flake must be removed, bare wood primed, and the fence repainted. With the many edges, joints and board ends on a fence, and the difficulty of reaching between boards and behind rails, this can be very time consuming. Painted fences also show failure clearly, since peeling paint is obvious on a surface seen from the street.
Switching between them
Going from stain to paint is fairly straightforward: clean the fence, let it dry, prime, and paint. Going from paint back to a penetrating stain is difficult, because stain cannot soak through paint. All of the paint would have to come off. This is worth knowing before painting a fence that has only ever been stained, since it is a one-way choice in practical terms.
Redwood, cedar and tannin bleed
Many fences in Southern California are built from redwood or cedar. These woods contain natural extractives, called tannins, that resist decay and give the wood its color. Tannins are water soluble, and when they rise to the surface they can stain light-colored paint with brown or yellowish blotches. Painting redwood or cedar requires a stain-blocking primer suited to exterior wood to keep tannins from bleeding through. Penetrating stains, especially in wood tones, suit these woods well and avoid the bleed problem.
New redwood and cedar may benefit from a short weathering period before finishing, and some products specify how long to wait. Follow the finish manufacturer's instructions.
Sun and sprinklers
A fence that runs east to west gets strong sun on its south face and much less on its north face. The sunny side will fade and weather sooner. Stain on the sunny side may need recoating more often. Paint on the sunny side will chalk and eventually crack sooner. It is reasonable to refinish the two faces on different schedules.
Sprinklers are a major enemy of fence finishes. Constant wetting at the base of boards causes paint to peel and stain to wash away, and leads to rot. Adjust irrigation so it does not hit the fence, keep planting beds drained, and leave a small gap between the bottom of the boards and the soil where possible.
Posts and ground contact
Whatever finish you choose, posts at ground level are the weakest point. Wood in contact with soil stays damp and is prone to rot and termite damage. A finish on a post helps above ground, but it cannot fully protect wood buried in soil. Check post bases at every inspection by probing just below and above the soil line. Posts set in concrete should have the concrete shaped to shed water away from the wood. Replacing a rotted post is a significant job, so watching for early signs is worthwhile.
Preparing a fence for refinishing
- Repair first. Replace broken boards, tighten loose ones with corrosion-resistant fasteners, and deal with any rot.
- Clean. Remove dirt, mildew and loose fibers with a cleaner suited to the finish you plan to use. Gentle washing is safer than high-pressure cleaning, which can raise the grain and damage soft wood.
- Dry thoroughly. Wood must be dry before painting or staining. In Pasadena's dry season this happens quickly, but allow at least a few dry days after cleaning.
- Protect surroundings. Cover plants, the ground and neighboring surfaces. Stain and paint drips are hard to remove from concrete.
- Coordinate with neighbors. For a shared fence, agree on color, timing and access before starting.
On older fences painted before 1978, paint may contain lead. Scraping and sanding create hazardous chips and dust, and soil beneath old painted fences can already contain paint debris. Wet-scrape, contain debris on sheeting, and clean up carefully.
Making the choice
Choose stain if you like the look of wood, want easier upkeep, and are willing to refresh the finish more often with less effort each time. Choose paint if you want a specific color, want the fence to match the house trim, or are covering an older fence with mismatched boards. Record whatever you choose, including product, color and date, along with your other paint records, so the next refinishing starts with the right information.