Hi. I was wondering if someone could give me some advice and perhaps a bit of hand holding. I am a newbie when it comes to staining and have never undertaken such a project.
I have just built ( not by myself ) a raised garden bed with Ironwood CCA treated sleepers. I have lined the insides with builders plastic. I would like to stain the external sides with a darker colour which I think would look better than the default colour of the sleepers.
I have read about staining on the internet and have information overload which has resulted in me stuck in square one and not making any progress.
I would like to keep the job simple and be done with it.
My questions are:
- Do I need to wait for a specific period of time before I stain the sleepers? Or can I do it straight away?
- Do I need to sand the surface or prepare the surface before staining?
- How may coats should I do? And how often do I need to apply the staining (1 or 2 years) ?
- Does the entire area need to be stained in one go? Or can I do it parts over a few days/weeks?
- Should staining be done when there is no rain forecast in the next few days?
- Any product recommendations that is easy to work with for newbies?
- The sleepers get sunlight most of the day. Should I use a stain that will weather proof the sleepers?
I am thinking of going with a water based stain instead of oil. This is because if I understand correctly, water based stain holds less moisture and and is more breathable which is better for sleepers. Is this right?
I would appreciate any advice on this matter. This is my first attempt at doing work on the house by myself. So pretty nervous and anxious.
Thank You.
