Mixing 2 exterior solid stains

[Doug Hobkirk]

This is outside the normal realm of this forum, but maybe someone has relevant experience.

I am painting my house with solid exterior stain - Behr Premium Solid Color Deck, Fence & Siding Weatherproofing Wood Stain - $32/gallon, guaranteed for 10 on decks and 25 years on fences and siding (!!!!).

I have about 3500 sq ft to spray, it's cedar clapboard, I need two coats (the current stain was put on when the house was new, 18 years ago), and I will be using an airless sprayer, so there will be quite a bit of loss through overspray (40%?). The Premium stain says it covers 200-400 sq ft per gallon, so I am guessing I will need about 36 gallons total (assuming 300 ft / gallon, 40% loss, 2 coats).

A Sherman Williams paint store guy suggested I use the Behr $21 solid stain for the first coat - that it wouldn't compromise the final finish or longevity. He said the siding would simply be sucking up the first coat and the "lower quality" wouldn't make any difference. Is this feasible? It would probably save about $200 (20 gallons @ $11, assuming coat #1 will use more). It seems worth considering, but only if I can find someone who can confirm the idea.

Thanks, as always.

[Greg Cuetara]

Doug,
You would have to check with Home Deposit to verify their warranty. I believe that you would have to use the same product and you need to prep it right and then you need X amount of coats for them to honor their warranty...there are many outs on their end.

Wow....36 gallons...that is a lot. 40% loss through overspray...that just seems like a lot but I really have nothing to gauge it by. I am in the process of painting my house right now, with a brush, about 2,500 ft2 and I am anticipating to use around or a little less than 10 gallons and a few gallons for the trim.

Make sure you buy the 5 gallon containers and try to catch it when you can get $20 off per 5 gallon container then find a 10% off coupon and you are all set.

Can't really comment on the feasibility of your 'idea' to use the lower grade stain for a first coat. I would think if it was the same type then it shouldn't be an issue.

Greg

[Jason Roehl]

What's your time worth to you? Is it worth a couple hundred bucks to you to skimp on material now, but end up having to re-do it much sooner than the warranty period? Those warranties only cover material, not your labor, especially when you do it yourself. It's cheap for them to hand you a few gallons of product when you make a claim. It's not cheap, time-wise, for you to re-do it with said free product.

I'm not a fan of cutting corners on the product used. Paints and stains are cheap, it's the labor that's costly, even if you're doing it yourself. Not to mention, usually (not always) the premium products are easier to use and can result in a time savings.

That said, do you plan to back-brush after you spray? If not, this is all a moot point. Back-brushing is very important when spraying stain on exterior wood in order to get the wood fully saturated. The upside is that you can spray at almost point-blank range at very low pressure, and greatly reduce overspray. 40% is a LOT of overspray--you'll be staining all your neighbors' houses at that rate.

P.S. Sherman was a general (and a tank). SherWIN-Williams is the paint store. ;)