Fence Staining Costs

Intro

Hey guys, Derek with Dependable Painting and Remodeling here, back with our “What does it cost?” series. Today, we’re talking about fence staining and sealing.

When estimating the cost of a fence, the first thing we look at is size — specifically, how long the fence is. The second factor is type of fence, which helps us determine the amount of material needed. Generally, in fence staining, the biggest expense is the material because of the surface area involved.

Typically, a standard residential fence ranges from 200 to 300 feet, often a 6-foot-tall privacy fence on the front and back, which adds up to a lot of surface area.

Next, we consider the prep work required:

• • Are there boards or pickets that need replacing?
• • Has the fence been previously coated?
• • Does it need preparation to remove old coating?
• • When was it installed?

If the fence was installed within the last year and hasn’t turned gray, usually we can just brush it off and proceed. However, if it’s already gray or has been previously stained, we’ll need to pressure wash it a day in advance to prepare it properly.

There are two main approaches:

• • Solid stain: looks like paint, durable, but gives a painted appearance.
• • Our manufactured penetrating oil: a semi-transparent, oil-based solution we custom-make. I wish good penetrating oils or semi-transparent stains were commercially available, but I’ve worked with a small manufacturer to develop this to our specifications.

It’s a superior solution — not film-forming, so it will never peel or fail. Think of it like dyeing the wood, similar to tie-dye on a T-shirt.

Larger fences (over 500 ft) are rare in most residential settings, but we do work on farms or larger properties. For these bigger projects, especially on farms, we often use more cost-effective coatings suited for large-scale work.