Is It Better to Paint or Stain a Wood Fence?

There are a lot of reasons to choose a wood fence for your yard, but primary among those reasons is that it looks great! You simply can’t beat the aesthetic of wood. However, if you spend the money to install a wood fence, you’ll want to keep it looking nice for as long as possible. In this regard, it is best to cover a wooden fence with a protective coating… but is it better to choose paint or wood stain? That is the common question.

While both options are good for preserving the wood, choosing which is best for you is more about how you want the fence to look and how much time you want to put into it. Paint has become fairly popular because you can have a wide variety of design options available. However, the downside of paint is that you will need to repaint the fence every three years for optimum protection. Furthermore, before repainting, there is a lot of prep work that needs to be done. The cracking and peeling paint needs to be scraped off, and that is a time-consuming affair! So repainting a fence is often a multi-day job.

Staining is usually the preferred option by wooden fence owners. The stain protects longer and requires much less work when it comes time to re-stain it since the stain doesn’t need to be scraped away. However, stains are best at highlighting the wood features. This means you have less color options available, but the results are still beautiful. If you enjoy a natural wood look as opposed to colors made available from painting, then stain is to be preferred. Furthermore, stain tends to fade much more gracefully than paint, without any flaking or peeling; so even if you are taking your time getting around to staining it again, it will still look acceptable.

Do you have questions on the information above? If so, please don’t hesitate to contact us; we would love to help you come to a decision!