4 Easy Steps For Painting Pressure Treated Wood – Detailed Guide

Read below to know the process in detail:

4 Easy Steps For Painting A Pressure Treated Wood

STEP 1: Thoroughly Clean the Pressure-treated wood

Before you start the paint job, you should wash away any dirt or debris that is on the wood. You need to perform this using soap + water and scrubbing every inch of the lumber by using a rag.

Further, rinse the soap off the pressure-treated wood and dry it using a clean dry rag.

Deeper Cleaning

If the wood is not in a proper shape and requires a deeper clean then using a power washer or a commercial wood cleaner will be perfect for the job. This is usually done for the pressure-treated lumber that has been sitting for a long time showing signs of wear and damage.

STEP 2: Let it Dry and Assess the Moisture

The drying time may be stretched out for a couple of weeks or a few months between the chemical usages for treating the lumber. Now, how will you know when the wood feels ready? Just sprinkle some water when the wood feels dry to touch.

In case the water soaks in, then stay assured that the wood can be painted. Start the waiting game again if the water still beads up. If you have a time sensitive project on the cards then you should select pressure-treated wood. After treatment this should be marked as having been kiln-dried after treatment (KDAT).

The timing for painting KDAT wood is significantly is shorter.

STEP 3: Prime & Cure

Once you have the confirmation that your wood is dry, then you can start painting pressure-treated wood.

For exteriors you can begin with primer formulations and ensure that the manufacturer lists that the coating is ideal for pressure-treated wood.

A paint sprayer may be the easiest for priming or painting pressure-treated wood. If the job necessitates detailed work then opt for a brush instead.

STEP 4: Apply 2 coats of paint

After priming and allocation of adequate drying time, you should apple 2 top coats. Expectedly you should go for 2 coats, but remember to avoid using oil-based paint here for your pressure-treated lumber. Latex offers a much better performance

The finish of any outdoor applications is subject to various elements. It’s obvious that the paint lasts longer on vertical surfaces (fences) rather than horizontal surfaces (decks).

If repainting is something you do not appreciate then consider staining your pressure-treated wood (check out for details below).

Another option you have here is to let the wood weather away and turn gray and then use a protective sealant instead. Even sealant also needs to be reapplied with time. Many people consider all this less demanding than repainting but this leads to scraping away of the parts.

Staining VS Painting Pressure Treated Wood

As mentioned above also, you can choose between staining and painting pressure-treated wood. This can be done after primer cure. But both these options come with a set of positives and negatives.

1. Staining the Wood

For changing the color of your wood you can use a stain. This is easy to apply and penetrates deep inside the wood.

But note this is not going to fill any imperfections or cracks like the paint does. Even the color options at your disposal will be less too as these offer more shades of brown.

2. Painting the Wood

Pressure-treated wood can be painted with vibrant new colors adding new life to it. With loads of color options and much brighter colors unlike stain, the paints can be used for your lumber.

Some people do ask, can one paint over exterior stain? We have answered thus below in our FAQs section.

The paints tend to fill any sort of imperfections and cracks too giving your wood a smoother appearance. But the paints do not soak well and take slightly longer to finish.

What Kind Of Paint Should Be Used On A Wood Deck?

When you paint you deck its gets full of life and many of the homeowners paint their posts, stairs, and railings and prefer to stain the decks.

As discussed above in the write-up also the stains have the ability to hold better, especially the foot traffic than paint. This is the reason as to why people prefer to stain their decking.

It is certainly possible in every way to paint the decking boards. Though painting tends to hide the grain completely. Matchless personality and glamour is what the paints do to your deck surfaces.

The deck painting ideas also comprise of patterns, like the stripes/checker-boards, or faux rags.

A good quality of primer needs to be applied on the wood of the deck, as well as all sides of the boards prior to installation. Though a bit troublesome the entire process could be but this will surely go a long way keep the moisture away from underneath your deck. Otherwise there could be centration and expansion of decking boards leading to chips and peels of the painted surface.

You can go for two paint types when you want to paint your deck:

Both these products are amazingly good and can be used by any homeowners. Slow drying forms part of the oil-based paints and keeps the outdoor applications with zero error.

While acrylic paints have low VOC and they clean-up quicker.

One best option for deck wood is solid color stain. They are similar to paints in terms of performance and created to withstand foot traffic with ease. But solid color stains are not as tough as paints and come with less color opyions.

For accenting & painting your outdoor deck just follow these easy steps:

DEFY Extreme Exterior Wood Stain

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THOMPSONS WATERSEAL Waterproofing Stain

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The ONE Paint and Primer

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STORM SYSTEM Storm -Penetrating Sealer & Stain Protector

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Will Anything Happen If I Paint Pressure-treated Wood Too Soon?

Ans1. If you happen to paint on a pressure-treated wood that’s still wet, then it will result in paint failure. As the wood won’t be able to absorb the paint and it will dry-up on the top with very little adhesion.

Best way will be to wait for 6 months at least.

Q2. Why Cannot I Use Pressure-treated Wood Inside?

Ans2. Even after installing the pressure-treated wood inside, some people have asked about its threats to have it inside. The answer for this is ‘No’. As the wood is treated to keep itself protected from outdoor elements that may cause it to decay, rot, or have termite infestation.

Q3. How Long One Should Wait For Painting Pressure-treated Wood?

Ans3. The opinions vary widely for this, as some people say it is right to wait for a year and some say it six months. Before you start your painting project, just do a simple sprinkle test for assessing the dryness of the pressure-treated lumber.

After you sprinkle water, if the water gets absorbed then it’s ready to be painted.

Q4. Can I Paint Over Exterior Stain?

Ans4. If the stain happens to be latex then you can paint over the stained siding. After the stain had weathered away, then firstly I sanded it, applied an exterior acrylic stain-blocking primer, and latex paint on top. With stain the sidings tend to weather away faster.

Q5. Which Primer Is Supposed To Be The Best For Pressure-treated Wood?

Ans5. The undermentioned three products are supposed to be the best primers for your pressure-treated wood: