When choosing your stain, prepping your wood, and choosing the best time to apply stain, it’s really important to consider the climate where you live.
Think regionally
Humidity is required for growth of mildew and algae, so homeowners in Phoenix and other hot, dry areas will have less of a problem with mildew than people living in humid or rainy areas like Seattle, Halifax, New England or Tampa. If you’re in a damper area of the country, you want to be sure you’re using a product with strong resistance to mildew, and that you clean your wood before you stain with a deep-cleaning product like FLOOD Pro Series Wood Cleaner.
UV radiation is really tough on wood too, so if you’re in a hot, sunny region, you want to look for stains with strong UV protection built in. In general, pigment equals protection, so a solid color stain offers more UV protection than semi-transparent stains, which offer more protection than transparent stains. If you like seeing the grain of your wood too much to go with solid color, semi-solid is a half-step between semi-transparent and solid. UV protection becomes more important as wood ages and loses some of its natural resiliency.
Watch the forecast
For those staining in wetter regions, the extended weather forecast should be a when-to-stain resource for you. Most stains not only require dry wood for application, they also need a precipitation-free window after you stain, to allow the stain to fully cure. For most wood stains, that rain-free window is 24 hours.
If you don’t have time to wait the full 24 hours though, a product like FLOOD Pro Series Solid Color Stain is resistant to the effects of rain in only 12 hours.