If you want to protect your wood fence, deck or siding, you know stain and sealer are great ways to make them last longer. You may be wondering, however, “What is the best outdoor stain to use at my OKC home?”
We have tried many fence and deck stains in the Oklahoma City metro and would like to share with you what we have found. When I am looking for the best outdoor stain I look for these qualities.
- Protection from moisture, UV rays and mildew
- Ease of long-term maintenance
- Good value for the price
At Hometown Painting, we recommend using a quality oil-based penetrating stain for most of our fence or deck projects. These products check all the boxes for what we are looking for.
Our favorite brand of oil-based stain is Wood Defender. We don’t use a one size fits all approach though, so we may recommend another option at the time of your estimate. As always our goal is for you to understand what are the best options for your situation.
With that in mind, let’s learn more about what makes for the best outdoor stain.
The Best Stains Protect Wood
Outdoor wood must be protected from many threats. Nature wants to break down your fence or deck. The best wood stain will provide great protection from all three of the major threats your outdoor lumber faces.
- Moisture
Water is the leading contributor to rotting and warping in wood. An Oil-based stain will protect wood by keeping water from absorbing into it. The stain penetrates into the wood fibers. Since oil and water don’t mix, moisture cannot enter and then rot the wood. - UV Rays
Wood is damaged by UV rays just like our skin. A stain that uses quality pigments will block UV rays and protect wood. It’s like sunblock for your fence. - Mildew
Mildew can be a green, gray or black substance growing on the surface of your fence, deck, or siding. It makes the boards look unattractive and can contribute to them breaking down over time. A great wood stain will inhibit mildew growth.
Wood Defender and other similar oil-based, penetrating wood stains provide protection from all three of the hazardsmentioned above.
The Best Outdoor Stain is Easy to Maintain
We look at stained wood as a long-term investment. All wood stain products will need to be reapplied every several years to maintain the look and protection you want. It is best to choose a product that will allow for easy maintenance.
We recommend fully penetrating stains. This means that all of the product soaks into the wood instead of forming a film on the surface. Surface stains will cause two problems that make long-term maintenance more difficult.
- The film on the surface will block new stain coats from soaking into to wood.
- The surface of these stains will tend to peel or crack. This means they will have to be scraped and sanded before a new coat is applied.
Because fully penetrating stains do not form a film on the surface they do not interfere with new coats of stain and are not prone to cracking or peeling.
The Best Stains Offer a Good Value
I intentionally mentioned good value vs lowest price. There are some very inexpensive water-based surface stains on the market. These do not offer as good of protection and are not easy to maintain. For this reason, I don’t think you are getting your money’s worth out of these cheap stains.
While oil-based penetrating stains can be more expensive than other options, their high-quality makes them the better value. Hometown Painting LLC has shopped around all the available suppliers in our area to get the best prices for our customers. Our wholesale pricing means we can provide very high end stain products to our customers at good prices.
What’s Next
Once you have selected the best outdoor stain for your project, it’s time to get the stain on your wood. If you are planning to do it yourself you can find great articles online about how to stain.
If you would like professional help, Hometown Painting offers free estimates for the entire Oklahoma City Metro.
