Is it okay to stain or paint pressure treated wood? | Hyde Tools

The short answer: yes. You CAN paint and/or stain pressure treated lumber. But you need to be sure the wood is dry. In this video, professional painter Jerry Vargo shows you a few quick tests you can conduct to check the moisture content of the wood and ensure that it's okay to be painted or stained.

Tools seen in this video:
General Tools MM1E Moisture Meter

Chapters:
0:00 Kiln dried vs. air dried
0:32 Testing moisture: water sprinkle
1:02 Testing moisture: moisture meter
1:50 Which paint/stain to use?

[haroldwonder]

After many years of building and repairing fences I would suggest that only semi transparent stains, water or oil based, be used after moisture levels are acceptable and most certainly on fence posts and boards that are new. "Solid" tint anything, traps moisture behind the thick pigment when it cracks from the heat of the sun. Then rot starts and damages the fence in a big way shorten it's life dramatically. Re stain every three to four years depending on the wear and tear or look and you should get 15 to 20 years out of that deck or fence.

[smirkinatu]

Thank you for recording and posting this valuable educational video.

[julioabreu]

Thanks for the excellent video! Straight to the point! No YouTuber bs….
The way it should be!

[carlamcdaniel]

Love your videos, i’m painting my 115 year old house exterior and without watching your video I did exactly what you said to do. Thank you so much

[alanrawson-wgio]

A contractor friend of mine told me not to paint or stain for 2-3 years. Then after a few sunny days do either one. I’ve followed his advice used Thomson’s water seal stain and it works well.

[jongolsteyn]

I live in Wisconsin, and I have given up on painting pressure treated lumber. I primed and painted for many years, but it always ended up peeling and flaking off. I had to do touch up every year or two. Now I use untreated wood with a primer and the finish paint, and it holds up well to our seasons here.

[Alan_CFA]

I built some raised beds and the “air dried” pressure-treated wood was sopping wet. A few months in the Texas sun and it was dry enough to paint. Of course, the fast drying of intense summer heat led to some warping and twisting, but it still worked. Kiln dried would’ve been better, but also more expensive. Thanks for the video!

[ScapeSmart]

Many thanks for the video! Very useful!

[johnclavis]

This is all useful. Thank you. The meter also works on doody.

[jimsmith]

Very interesting and helpful. Thank you.

[myradioon]

Never paint pressure treated. Even after the moisture is mostly gone the chemicals will want to leach. Paint will always peel off of pressure treated. Even primed. Opaque Stains are just as bad. They seal the wood and it cracks quicker. Only use thin oil based stain, teak oil or nothing at all.

[peterbarlow]

Hyde! Please bring back the early style handle on your putty knives. The new wider butt handle is useless to me. Buying old used stiff back single bevel knives when I can find them

[tomasaldente]

Another question is should you or must you stain or paint presssure treated wood on a deck?

[johnibrahim]

Thank you for this nice info. I have maintenance free deck which I believe the floor and stairs are made on plastic or composite wood which does not require painting. However the deck posts and under the deck is wood. Shall i seal the posts and under the deck or not? some ppl says that this would not be a good idea because it would trap moisture in the wood. what do you recommend? shall i paint it or not. thanks

[rickscoat]

I asked about priming pine knots. You said the primer might show through the white wood stain. Can I prime all the wood? Do anyone ever do that?

[MrRedHotChiliMan]

Any recommendation for a paintable wood sealer to go under acrylic latex paint?

[Isaacelijahmusic]

What is the best white paint to use on railing? I’ve failed a couple times already over the past few years. Possibly because I didn’t let the wood dry after power washing and lack of research and what not. Thanks

[rickscoat]

My friend wants to stain his fence a solid white. Will the pine knots bleed through or should I prime pine knots with oil primer before staining? Thanks for the video.

[edilbertoportillo]

what did you use for the top of your rail?

[orozco]

What about a primer if you are painting white?