Heather is on the homeowners association for our neighborhood and since she’s such a “go getter” she ended up coordinating the fence staining for our subdivision’s common areas. Contractors wanted to charge $2.50/square foot which would have ended up being a total cost of around $25,000!!! Surely we can get enough volunteers to do it ourselves!

Heather had the onerous task of recruiting the volunteers, purchasing the stain and coordinating the equipment. I managed to squeak by with just helping on the stain selection and pick-up. From durability studies of various stains, the difference between a good stain and a bad stain is huge. In units of time it’s the difference between staining every 3–5 years versus every 10–20 years! So we wanted to make sure we got the good stuff!

Heather worked hard all morning on the common areas and then we both did our own fence in the afternoon. We choose an opaque stain (as opposed to a semi-transparent) as they last longer than semi-transparent stains. It was a messy affair and the most time consuming part was painting the tops of the fence boards by hand. But once it was done it was a relief, especially knowing that it will be at least a decade before we have to do it again!