Is it essential to stain both sides of a fence panel

[platforminc]

Hi All.

I own the 2 sides of the fence on both sides of my garden, and i am staining the one which i see in grey. I want to know how important it is to stain both sides, because having to stain 20 + panels with a brush on both sides is no joke.

I was planning to use a clear wood preserver (sprayed) on the other side of the panels. Any thoughts

 

[mattylad]

Do NOT use a sprayer, it will go all over the place, all over you, your garden furniture, your neighbours garden furniture, the dog, the cat and George the squirrel.

No you do not have to stain the other side, but it may run down in drips when you do your side with the brush so be prepared for turning the panels round to do the other side.
Use a bigger brush and a big bucket.

The panels should be covered in preservative in the first place, stain just refreshes the colour.

 

[conny]

Theoretically you should treat all surfaces each year to help prolong life of the wood. If you can reach all surfaces then I would advise doing them. As Mattylad says, drips and runs will often come through on the other side, so you may as well do them on both sides where you can. Use a 4"-6" decent quality brush and stir the stain occasionally whilst using it. By decent, I mean one with a good body of bristles that will hold a sufficient amount of stain. Cheap ones will be too thin to hold much and your hand will be going in and out the pot like a steam piston.
Forget spraying them unless you are a spray painter and have a proper compressor which gives a constant supply of air pressure. The manual pump bottles are no good for anything except pest control solutions. Absolutely useless for trying to spray fence stain or preservative.