When it comes to creating a beautiful and functional outdoor space, you may have a hard time deciding between painting vs staining your deck. While both offer a range of advantages and disadvantages, the option that will work best will depend on your unique situation. At Ethereal Painters, our team can take care of all your deck painting or staining needs.
Why Should You Paint or Solid Colour Stain a Deck?
If you want to keep the appearance and protection of paint, consider painting your deck. Solid stains are a good option as well because they provide long-lasting color with low maintenance requirements. However, peeling is more likely than on other surfaces due to foot traffic.
Why Should You Semi-Transparent Stain a Deck?
If you want a deck that needs very little work in the long term, using semi-transparent stain will be best for you. New decks and existing stained decks must first undergo extensive sanding before being recoated with stain because they need to reach what is called “the wood’s absorption point”. If it takes several coats of the new finish on top of an old one (and if there are many scratches), restaining may become more challenging over time as stains fade or wear off.
How to Know Which Option Works Best for You
Before deciding if you should paint or stain your deck, you can take the following into consideration
What was Previously Done?
If the deck previously painted in good condition, repainting is a better option. If it has been stained and still looks fine, recoat will be beneficial. As for if the wood surface never received any treatment before or paint chips are visible on its surface; staining would work best!
What Looks Best?
Do you prefer the look of paint or stain? There are benefits to each. Paint is a solid color, but it can be difficult to match with other parts of your house and may not show off wood as well as stains might. Stain brings out natural aspects in the wood better, though this could make matching up colors more challenging too.
How Often will the Deck be Maintained?
If you’re likely to forget about maintaining the deck, staining will be your best bet because it doesn’t peel like paint does when old.
How Much do You Want to Spend?
When painting a deck, it is more expensive to repair old paint than to remove and replace the current existing stain.
For more info on whether you should paint or stain your deck, and if you’re interested in one of our services, feel free to contact Ethereal Painters at 604-788-3382. Or fill out our estimate form.