When and where to use.
Should you use exterior paint or stain? My rule is when painting rough sawn lumber, I use stain. When painting smooth exterior lumber, I use house paint. Solid stains are good for house exteriors, they do not hold up well on decks. Wood decks should be stained with specialty products designed for under foot traffic and for wood decks.
Misconception: Stains won’t peel:
Exterior house stains whether solid or semi transparent are film formers and can potentially peel. Latex paints and stains are much more resistant to peeling on an exterior for a couple of reasons : they are more flexible and the “breathe” allowing moisture vapor to pass through them. Only non film formers like deck toner stains and interior penetrating stain (used on raw wood and not on top of an existing coating) are immune to peeling.
Viscosity
The thinner viscosity of a stain enable them to be pushed into pores and crevasses better than a thicker house paint. This is the reason they are used for rough sawn lumber.
Self priming
A good stain must be self priming. The particle size must be such that it can penetrate into raw wood and anchor itself into the wood. Some stains, have tannin stain blocking additives in them to trap or block extractive bleeding of tannin stains. The stain blocking of these stains is not good enough to block out serious staining issues that cedar, redwood or knot bleeding causes. When coating such materials you will need to use a the correct stain blocker for the surface first.
Solid stain vs. semi transparent stain
I don’t use semi transparent stains much for a couple of reasons. Semi transparent stains are almost always oil based which means they will chalk and fade quicker than a latex stain. Semi transparent stains are semi transparent, which allows the sun’s UV rays through them allow for the UV rays to slowly break down the coating /stain . Pigment acts as a sun blocker, it protects the underlying surface and itself from the destruction of the sun’s UV rays. The more pigment (solid stain or house paint) , the better the protection. Semi transparent stains are also thin. Low build coatings are quicker to erode through, are not as strong (as a rule) than thicker build coatings.
Solid stains not only block out the sun’s rays better, they block out the previous coating color better. A good solid stain is a one coat job over all but drastic color changes. The best hiding of all stains is the house paint / Emulsa Bond mix stain. I like solid stains, next to house paint they are the coating I use most on exterior surfaces.
My favorite solid stains
As already mentioned, I don’t like or use semi transparent stains because or the considerable disadvantages of such. There can be a time or place that the oil based semi transparent stain is a better fit, but most of the time the solid latex stain is superior.
Sherwin Williams Woodscapes
A good hiding, easy to apply solid house stain. Self priming on new raw wood. Good color retention because of it’s acrylic resin. It can be used on smooth lumber if desired also as well as non porous material like (properly prepared) metal doors. Woodscapes can be used at lower temperatures (see label for instructions) than "standard" latex paints and stains.
Emusla Bond / house paint stain
Emulsa Bond is actually a penetrating oil that is manufactured into an emulsion so that it will mix with latex paint. The oil will separate once applied to the rough wood or raw wood and penetrate, leaving the latex portion of the mix on the surface. This system gives you a oil primer and latex top coat in one application so to speak. The advantages of this system is better hiding and color match options. You can use any color house paint with this system without limiting your color selection to the “solid stain” color chart only. If you use the very best house paints with the best hiding for making your Emulsa Bond stain, you will find that you have better hide than most of the pre-mixed house stains. Emulsa Bond is a great adhesion promoter and good for bonding paint to chalky surfaces also.
Limitations of the EB stain system:
The EB/House paint stain must be able to penetrate or you will end up with the Emuls Bond oil on the surface with the latex. An oil modified latex as such will probably fade and chalk a little bit over time as the oil portion will be prone to those drawbacks. Use the EB/House paint system only on new raw wood or rough sawn lumber only to prevent any fade or chalking problems.
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Exterior House Stain
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Emulsa Bond
Emulsa Bond is a paint additive manufactured by the Flood Co. It is a propriatary penetrating oil that will increase paint adhesion to chalky surfaces and new unprimed wood.
The Emula Bond stain mixture is generally 50% house paint and 50% Emulsa Bond. If you need a little better hide you can reduce the Emulsa Bond to 25% and the house paint up to 75% of the mix. Use flat latex house paint for this purpose.
Clean up your brushes and applicators with soapy water and clean water rinse, follow that with a cleaning in mineral spirts (spin dry), then repeat with a soapy water cleaning and clean water rinse.
