How to Apply Wood Stain

Stain wood when it hasn’t rained for three days and when the forecast calls for at least two days of dry weather (or two and a half days if you need to apply two coats of stain) with temperatures between 50° F and 90° F and low to average humidity. This allows the stain to soak in and dry properly. But be mindful of light, too. Our experts note that direct sunlight can cause the stain to dry too quickly, before the wood can absorb it. If you’re working on a project that gets direct light, pick a time of day (usually early morning to midmorning or late afternoon) that will give the stain several hours to permeate and dry before the sun hits it.

If you’re working on a previously stained deck, fence, or piece of outdoor furniture, you need to remove the old stain to ensure a uniform appearance and proper permeation of the new stain. Start by using a stiff-bristled nylon brush and deck cleaner—sold at home centers and hardware stores—to remove any flaking or peeling stain. For the remaining stain, coat your deck, fence, or furniture with wood stain remover (also called wood stain stripper) and allow it to work for the time specified on the packaging, typically about 20 to 30 minutes. Then use the nylon brush and water to clean away the stripped stain, revealing the bare wood below. Repeat the application for any spots that don’t come clean. Allow a day for the wood to dry out before sanding and prepping.

The best brushes and rollers allow for smooth, even layers. So make sure you have:

A synthetic-bristled brush: These brushes work best with water-based stains (the only type we test because they’re easier and safer to use than oil-based stains). Synthetics maintain their integrity, whereas natural bristles can become limp as they absorb the water in the finish.

A short-nap roller: A ¼-inch or shorter nap allows each stain layer to adhere to the wood and prevents pooling. Rollers with a longer nap will apply too much stain at once, making it hard to get even coverage.

These extra steps, taken before you even open a can of stain, will help make your stain go on more easily.

Sand the wood. Smoothing out any blemishes, splinters, or splits goes a long way to ensure an even application.

If your wood deck, fence, or furniture was built from pressure-treated lumber made after 2004, you can strap on your safety mask—or N95 mask—to avoid inhaling dust and do the sanding yourself. Start with coarse sandpaper to remove damaged spots, then progress up to finer grits to create a smoother surface prior to staining. Remember to sweep or wipe down the wood surfaces once you’re done. Use a putty knife to clean between deck boards.

If you’re staining wood made from pressure-treated lumber before 2004, hire a pro to sand the surfaces. (These may contain chromated copper arsenate, a chemical that releases toxic arsenic into the air and the surrounding soil.)

Make sure the surfaces are clean. If you have an old, unstained deck, or one from which the stain has worn off, use deck cleaner, a scrub brush, and a pressure washer to clean it at least a day before you plan to apply the stain. Let the wood dry for as long as directed by the instructions on your can of wood stain. For newly built wood structures, which don’t need a cleaning, simply wait six to eight weeks after installation for the wood to fully dry before applying stain.

A little patience and prep work before staining can help ensure a frustration-free experience and seamless results.

Read the instructions on the can carefully. This will tell you how much coverage you can expect from a single can—and whether you’ll need more at the ready. It will also tell you how much drying time the product needs. This can vary by stain type and manufacturer.

Protect the surroundings. Water any plants and shrubs near the project and cover them with plastic sheeting. The sheeting will protect them from overspray or runoff, while watering beforehand will help keep their roots from soaking up any spilled stain.

Protect yourself. “Use a combination of chemical-resistant gloves, aprons, and even a face shield to prevent stain from getting on your skin,” says Bruce Brod, MD, a clinical professor of dermatology at University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

An even application of stain across all surfaces will prevent water and UV rays from permeating the wood. To achieve this, apply a thin coat with a brush or roller. Don’t stop in the middle of a board or let puddles form because the excess stain will dry on top of the wood and flake off. (Plus, it’ll look splotchy.) Stir the stain as you go to keep it well-blended.

Decide between a roller and a brush. Rollers are best for large, flat surfaces, like a flat deck railing or fence panel. Brushes can help you get into tighter spots, like between deck boards or individual pickets on a fence, but they also make it easier for the stain to pool in one spot.

Or try back brushing. An ideal balance can be a process called back brushing. That means using both your brush and roller: Start in tough-to-reach spots with a brush, working quickly to ensure even coverage. Then roll back over the entire surface with a roller. In addition to helping you avoid pooling, the roller will ensure complete coverage and prevent brush marks.

Some spills are inevitable, but wood stain can be miserable to remove from your hands. “The most important advice is to protect your skin from exposure to stain in the first place,” Brod says. If you do get stain on your hands, Brod says washing them with soap and water should be the first step, and suggests using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer if that’s not enough. Don’t use solvents like turpentine, because they’re toxic, flammable, and not intended for skin contact. He also advises against rubbing your hands raw in the effort to get stain out. “Over-washing hands can irritate the skin, leading to a condition called hand dermatitis.”

It can take 1 to 48 hours. That range may seem huge, but typically, fast-drying clear sealants can take as little as an hour, while some solid stains, which have lots of color pigment, take a day or longer to dry. The stain packaging will typically have three pieces of crucial information.

Time to dry: This is how long stain takes to dry, after which you can walk on the surface of a deck or sit on a newly stained chair. But note that newly stained surfaces are still vulnerable to damage until the stain is fully cured.

Time to recoat: If you’re applying multiple coats of sealer or stain, this is how long you need to wait between applications.

Time to cure: Even once a stain dries, it may need up to several days or even weeks to fully cure before it provides maximum protection. This is how long you should wait before throwing a party on your recently restained deck, or before dragging grills, firepits, or heavy furniture across the surface.

To test wood stains, CR’s engineers apply two coats to pine boards, then place them on the roof of our headquarters in Yonkers, N.Y. They face the boards south and angled down, like a roof, to intensify the effects of the sun and weather for up to three years.

Because manufacturers periodically reformulate their products, we retest samples from time to time to make sure our ratings reflect the most up-to-date information available.

One year of testing tells you how a stain will do after a year on your deck or about three years of weathering on vertical surfaces (siding or fences), as you’ll see in our wood stain ratings.

CR members can read on for reviews of three of the best wood stains in our tests. For more options, check out our full wood stain ratings.