7 Tips For Staining A Wooden Picnic Table in West Chester, PA

There are few things that are quite like a wooden picnic table — in terms of having a family get together outside, you really can’t compare the experience of sitting around it and enjoying a good meal or even a good conversation.

Whether you are buying a new table (or even if you have built one yourself) or are just looking to make an older table look better, a good staining can be just the thing you need to enhance and improve your wooden picnic table.

Let’s now look at seven tips for staining a wooden picnic table in West Chester, PA

1. Make Sure You Have The Right Materials

Before you start your staining project, you’re going to want to make sure that you have all the relevant materials that will be necessary for the project.

This will include things like the stain itself of course but also the kinds of brushes you will use to apply it, protective materials, drop cloths, and of course cleaning things like soap and a good applicator.

2. Check For Mildew And Mold

One thing that will be quite ruinous for your wooden picnic table is mildew and mold.

It is therefore important that you check over the surface of your wooden picnic table to make sure that there is neither — and if there is, that you take the appropriate measures to remove it.

3. Transparent Stain For Attractive Grain

If you happen to have really nice looking grain on your table, it’s important that you show off that grain — for what good is a quality grain wood if you cover it up with a thick stain that makes it impossible to see.

The best thing that you can do is to get a more transparent stain so that you can better see the grain of your wood.

4. Make Sure All Dirt Is Removed

The staining of your picnic table means that you have to properly apply the stain evenly over the surface.

When you have even a bit of dirt, you will have more difficulties getting the stain on and you will in fact find yourself with dirty stain — and that’s not a good look for your wooden picnic table.

The best thing you can do is to fully clean the picnic table before you continue the staining process.

5. Allow Time For Your Table To Dry

After you clean your wooden picnic table and even after you apply possibly the first coat of stain, you are going to have to allow time for the table to dry.

The reason that this is the case is that you are going to have big problems later if you for example apply stain to a wet picnic table — it can make the difference between a wooden picnic table that looks like it was stained well and one that ultimately will have to be stained a second time.

6. Remove Rotten Boards And Replace

You cannot stain your wooden picnic table if you have rotten boards as part of them, as you’re not going to fix any problem with rot just by staining.

The only thing you can do is to entirely remove the rotten plank and replace it with one that matches the same kind of grain and ideally the same kind of wood as the one that was removed.

7. Additional Coats Can Be Added

Lastly, you should be aware that as good as your wooden picnic table looks after you have applied a coat of stain, there’s always the possibility that you can go darker — and this means that you will be able to stain further.

Specifically, each additional coat of stain will cause the table to be darker in appearance.

Consider hiring a professional painting contractor in West Chester, PA like Left Moon Painting. We have years of experience offering residential repainting services in Kennett Square, PA, and West Chester PA. If you would like to try us, request a FREE estimate below to get started or call us at (484) 757-5295 for more information.

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