Fences - Paint or stain? Which is best?

[coolas4k]

Hi,

I'm planning to either paint or stain my fences soon ready for the autumn/ winter ahead. I like colours from both types but I'm unsure which one is most recommended and will preserve my fences for longer and most comprehensively. Can anyone impart their knowledge and experiences please to help me choose the right route to go?

Thank you

 

[JohnD]

water-based stain

A paint will just keep the rain from drying out so they will rot.

 

[WalksWithTurkeys]

The Ronseal water based stain is cheap and easy to spray on with a garden sprayer. Not sure what paint you mean? I used Jotun Demidekk on my garage door frame, and at ~£25 for a ~1L tin, it'd cost a fortune to do a fence. It's look nice though.

 

[alan333]

Fences should be built with treated wood. Assuming you also have wooden fence posts remember that the sections of them which are underground are almost permanently soaked, and will never be painted. Therefore I reckon that painting is mainly for looks, and secondary for a bit of protection. You'll get 10-20 years from it before the posts rot and you need a new one anyway.

 

[JohnD]

...unless you are wise enough to use concrete posts.

 

[WalksWithTurkeys]

...unless you are wise enough to use concrete posts.

and want your garden to look like a council estate ...

 

[alan333]

...unless you are wise enough to use concrete posts.

Yeah I sort of said that above...

"Assuming you also have wooden fence posts..."

Sorry don't know how to multi quote.

 

[JohnD]

concrete posts (and gravel boards are great)

If you want to them to blend in with stained wooden fence panels, you can use dark brown masonry paint on the concrete.

View media item 975

 

[alan333]

concrete posts (and gravel boards are great)

If you want to them to blend in with stained wooden fence panels, you can use dark brown masonry paint on the concrete.

View media item 975

That looks great. I'll certainly consider it when the time comes for ours

 

[EddieM]

concrete posts (and gravel boards are great)

If you want to them to blend in with stained wooden fence panels, you can use dark brown masonry paint on the concrete.

View media item 975

They should of course be liberally primed with PVA first!! I've been on this forum far too long!

 

[JohnD]

(the idea of putting PVA on a surface that you hope one day to paint, is of course wrong)