Staining is an essential task for maintaining your deck. Decks provide a beautiful outdoor space to gather with friends and family. Without proper maintenance, these structures degrade over time, and repair/replacement bills can be very high. In this article, we will outline what equipment and supplies are needed to effectively stain a deck from the very basics to the more advanced setup EcoWash uses.
The Basics
The most fundamental supplies needed for staining a deck are brushes, buckets, rags, stain, scraper, and tape.
Brushes are more useful than rollers or sprayers for a deck as they have thin bristles that can get into the porous deck surface and better soak in. A 4” brush is ideal for the deck floor and a 2.5” angled brush is generally the best option for railings or detail work. If these brushes are high-quality, make sure to clean them well so they can be used repeatedly.
Buckets are simple. A 5 quart-bucket is a must for any staining project as it provides a larger opening for larger brushes to fit into. Using just the container the stain came in is less desirable as it makes work harder due to the tall and skinny dimensions of the stain can. A shorter and wider bucket splits the difference well and makes work easy.
Rags are needed for any sort of spills, clean-up, or splattering that can occur. No matter how careful you think you are, deck staining is prone to messes. Working on your knees it is easy to lose balance if just for a second, which can lead to major spills or small splatters. If this occurs on or near concrete, vinyl siding, or bricks, a quick response is necessary. Clean water and rags will eliminate permanent stains before they become a big issue. At EcoWash we train staff to always have a wet rag over their shoulder so it is easily accessible (and cooling on a hot summer day).
Stain is obviously required for a staining project. We won't get too far into the details in this article but feel free to read more about the different kinds of deck stain to find what is best for your project.
Scrapers are essential if you are prepping a flaking deck. Scrapers are a very labor-intensive tool to remove old flaking stain but if you do not have a pressure washer, a scraper does the job just fine.
Tape is required to separate areas that are being stained from areas that are not. As stated above, deck staining is prone to accidents, and being cautious generally pays off. This is also a time saver as the time required to put down tape is less than the extra time required to be super careful around sensitive areas, generally. In our opinion, always tape the siding that is in contact with or near the deck. The only major exception to taping is metal spindles on wooden railings. It is much easier to just remove these spindles than to tape them and remove the tape afterward.
Advanced Setup
EcoWash’s standard setup in our staining totes includes the basics and some extras. Here is what else we have in our standard kits: a tarp, extension pole, orbital sander, 60 grit sandpaper, Mostenbockers latex paint remover, garbage bags, first aid kit, 50’ extension cord, and an airless sprayer.
Having a tarp is just simply an extension of tape. We use these to cover sensitive areas, particularly beneath a deck as deck floors have gaps between boards and small drips falling between boards are common. Having drips fall on a tarp is much better than on concrete or furniture below a deck. Read more about why deck floors have gaps.
We use extension poles in our kit to save the knees and backs of our crew members. These poles can extend from 4’ to 8’ and can screw into the brushes we use. This allows our crews to stain deck floors while standing up and to reach tall areas without the need of a ladder. If anything were to be added to the basics on this list, it would be an extension pole.
Orbital sanders are effective in smoothing a deck surface and removing old stain. Sanding is a bit of a controversial topic around here as far as how much is necessary to do. For more on that read our article titled Should I sand my deck before staining?
Paint remover is great for removing stain that spills or splatters. Even with a tarp and tape, it is inevitable that when you stain a thousand decks a year, there will be splatter on the siding. Be careful in the selection of what is used to remove stain, as products that contain xylol will discolor vinyl siding. Read more about our vinyl siding stain removal products here.
Garbage bags are needed for waste products during the staining process. First aid kits are great in the case of minor injury, we rarely need them but when we do, we do. The 50’ extension cord is for the sander and sprayer.
The airless sprayer is another tool we can use on decks but often do not. There are limited circumstances where a sprayer works well on a deck. Railings, decorative aspects of a deck, and second coats on a deck floor are the extent of the sprayer's use. Never use a sprayer for the first coat on a deck floor, that must be done with a brush.
Sound like a lot of equipment, supplies, and know-how? If you need a professional to handle your deck staining job in Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis, or anywhere else in the Upper Midwest, contact EcoWash today.
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