7 Tips To Staining Deck Furniture in St. Louis, MO

Living in a home in St. Louis, MO there are many things that you can appreciate when being in and around your home including being on the front or back lawn relaxing and perhaps having a snack all while lounging on deck furniture.

Of course deck furniture is traditionally held on some sort of deck but perhaps almost more importantly than the fact that it is on the deck is the fact that if it is well made wood, it should be stained — you don’t want to sit on wooden furniture that looks like a pallet that was broken apart and formed to look like furniture.

With that in mind, here are seven tips to staining deck furniture in St. Louis, MO.

1. Sand In The Direction Of The Grain

As you may know, sanding can be a good way to get surfaces to achieve a certain level of smoothness, and this is the case with wooden deck furniture as well.

The thing you need to bear in mind is that since you are going to be staining and not painting, you will need to both lightly sand the furniture as well as make sure that you are sanding in the direction of the grain.

The reason that you want to sand in the direction of the grain and not against the grain as it were is that if you sand against the grain, you’re going to end up with wooden furniture that is badly scratched, and all of those scratches are going to show through the stain.

2. How To Pick A Stain For Your Wooden Deck Furniture

One of the first thing you’re going to do when you’re making plans for staining is to choose the kind of stain that you’re going to want — the shade of said stain, specifically.

There are many factors that will go into your choice of a stain, one of which happens to be that you should like the stain and how it will look, at least in theory, on your wooden deck furniture.

The next element is going to be the rest of the deck and what you have on it — do you have other wooden furniture?

It’s worth comparing the wooden furniture you already have to the stain you have in mind to determine if you should choose that stain or perhaps go with another one.

3. Protect Yourself From The Staining Process

Staining furniture can be a messy process and just as easily as wood can get stained, your hands and clothing can also get stained.

Firstly, you’re going to want to wear disposable gloves — better to get the stain on the gloves and then toss them than to try to get the stain off of your hands.

As for clothing, the likely best option is to wear clothing you don’t mind getting ruined as it will.

4. Do Not Try To Use A Paintbrush

Just as it’s difficult if not impossible to get stain out of clothing, it’s equally difficult to remove it from paintbrushes.

The best option honestly is to get foam pads that can be used and then tossed.

5. Avoiding Bubbles In Your Stain

Bubbles come about in your stain from just about one thing and that is shaking the can of stain in order to mix it.

This is not the correct way to do it — you want to stir, not shake — so it is the opposite of how James Bond orders his drinks.

6. Multiple Coats Are A Must

In staining your wooden furniture, one coat is not going to do — you will need two at least.

If you want to have a darker shade of the stain, you will need to add additional coats.

7. Test First

Lastly (though perhaps this should have come earlier in this article) when you have a stain, you should test it out first before you really stain your wooden furniture.

Better to have a little stain in a hidden place and find out you don’t like it than to only make the discovery after you’ve applied the first coat!

We would love the opportunity to be your go-to exterior painter in St. Louis, MO. Call us at 314-582-5272 to book a FREE estimate, and let us help you enhance the interior of your home so you can focus on other things.

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