​​Stain and Sealer

Stain and sealants are extremely important and guarantee your fence’s longevity.  Clients often ask about the different between stains and sealers.  The definition is in the name.  Stains add pigment to wood fencing while sealants help protect pickets from the elements, rot, mildew and discoloration.  Technology has evolved significantly since your dad spent his weekends toiling over the family fence.  Today, stains and sealants are combined within the same container.  Stains come in a variety of colors and tints.  Sealants can be plasticized, oil or water based.  Each option has its pros and cons.
 
Why Seal your Fence?
We’ve all seen fences blackened in color and streaked with water marks and discoloration.  Just because it’s customary, doesn’t make it right.  It is reasonable to expect your fence to look as good as it did when it was first installed.  When you see a weathered fence, it is because it was never properly sealed or hasn’t been sealed in an extraordinarily long time.  Sealants protect your investment.  By applying an evenly sprayed sealant, your fence will be impervious to inclement weather and water.  Water erodes fencing to the point where its nearly unrecognizable.  The only way to restore it is via power spraying. 
 
Why Stain your Fence?
The sun is an extremely powerful star.  It’s not the biggest or the brightest, but it is the closest star to planet earth.  While it is 93 million miles away, the power and energy it emits is undeniable.  The sun warms the planet each and every day.  It provides a consistent light source to all living things.  Our favorite star also has the uncanny ability to fade anything in its sphere.  Hence the need for stains.  A quality stain protects wood, metal and PVC fencing from being negatively impacted by harmful UV rays.  Without it, your fence would be discolored within a few months’ post installation.
 
Application Technique
There are several ways to apply sealants and stains.  At San Antonio Fence Company, we prefer to use a spray/brush combination.  For new installs, we use a pressurized spraying device to coat each picket evenly.  Within every few feet, we go over the stain/sealant with a wide brush.  This technique ensures that the stain penetrates beyond the surface and into the pores.  In many cases, we are contacted to stain an existing fence that is weathered and discolored.  Before we apply the stain/sealant, the team will power wash it to strip the top layer for a gorgeous finish.
 
Power Washing
Trees are the oldest organisms on the planet.  It makes sense that wood fencing, when properly cared for will last for generations.  While we stand to make more money by tearing down your old fence and installing a new one, it’s quite possible that your old fence can be saved.  We employ a pressure washer set to 4000 Psi to restore weathered, wood fences.  A rotator stripper nozzle has the power to remove a minute, top layer of wood.  This process rids fences of discoloration and blackened mildew.  We work one picket at a time, moving with the grain in vertical strokes.  The results are absolutely amazing!