By staining early you provide uv and water protection to the wood.
Can you stain a cedar fence right away.
The climate and weather conditions in your area.
How long you need to wait before staining will vary depending on.
Using a sprayer to stain a fence is a lot faster than staining it with a brush or roller.
The moisture content in the wood.
Thus solid color stains let some of the cedar s grain show through but none of the color.
Staining cedar with a solid color stain.
This is easy to determine with.
Wash wait for it to dry.
Pressure treated wood that contains a water repellant will not absorb a water based stain as well as an oil based exterior stain.
If the wood absorbs it within 10 minutes plan to stain as soon as possible.
This is easy to determine with penetrating semi transparent stains.
Sprinkle water on the wood.
Apply the stain if it soaks in its ready.
If you installed a cedar fence you can usually stain or seal your fence right away without waiting.
If it pools on the surface do it later.
The sooner you treat your cedar the better.
The upside is that solid color stains will block most damaging ultraviolet light.
If you wait a year the wood will turn gray and may even show deterioration from the weather.
Although cedar is naturally resistant to rot and decay staining your siding promptly will help in the preventing of deterioration.
Depending on the wood and drying conditions you should usually wait 4 to 8 weeks after installation before staining a deck.
Kiln dried is more stable since it s already dry and ready to stain right away.
How to tell when the pressure treated fence is dry.
In fact if you wait too long it may weather too quickly and you ll have to sand it or wash it with a special cleaner in order to proceed to stain or seal it.
To determine if pressure treated wood is dry enough to stain try the sprinkle test.
The sooner you treat your cedar the better.
Roll stain on with a roller covering as much of the fence in one go as you can then go behind the roller with a brush to fill in and cover any spots the roller missed.
What you get is a very uniform opaque color.
You just need to wait a few days after washing it.
If you have a pressure treated fence you should wait.
Solid color stains have solid particles but not nearly as many as paint.
Whether the deck is in the sun or shade.
It s usually more expensive than wet pressure treated wood and it s not regularly stocked in most local lumber stores.
Once you ve decided on your finish it s best to get to work quickly.
Cedar should be stained as soon as it will accept the stain.