DIY: Staining the Back Porch

She Says:

Once HoneyDo finished building the back porch, I stepped in with the stain.

In Canyon Brown.

Before staining a deck or porch, the wood surface has to be cleaned.  Older surfaces need a good cleaning and stripping.  Because the porch is new construction, the prep work for the stain was pretty easy.  

A sweep up of the pine needles (I love having pine needles to sweep!):

Light sanding of the wood with 60 grit on the sander:  

Wipe down with a damp cloth:

And let it dry:

Apply the stain with a brush.  The trick with stain (just like with paint) is to maintain a wet edge so you don't get a dark line.  Let dry for 24 hours; no one should walk on it.  I guess this guy couldn't read the wet paint sign...

I came back and gave it a second coat because we wanted the color a little darker:

One stained back porch: done.

Sorry about the dust- you never can really get rid of the dust when you're living in a reno.  We'll finish up this project by painting the banister and under the step, but that will have to wait until the front porch is done and ready for paint.