Wood in Florida needs a finish that fights the sun.

Five services, one trade

Our Google profile lists wood painting, wood staining, wood varnishing, door painting and furniture painting as separate services. They are one trade with different finishes. The prep is the same, and the choice of finish decides how the piece looks and how long it lasts outside.

Stain soaks into the wood and colors it while the grain stays visible. Varnish or a clear coat sits on top and protects it. Paint covers the grain entirely with a solid color. Most jobs use two of the three, and picking the wrong one for the spot is why a front door goes gray in two summers.

Sun is the problem here. Ultraviolet breaks down clear finishes faster than anything else, and a west facing door or a deck rail with no shade takes the worst of it. The finish gets chosen for where the wood lives, and the product goes on the estimate by name.

• Old finish stripped or sanded back to sound wood
• Stain tested on the actual piece before committing
• Clear coats rated for exterior sun where the wood is outside
• Doors taken down and finished flat, hardware off
• Furniture degreased and sanded, then primed and sprayed

Front doors, and why they get judged

The front door is the one piece of wood every visitor touches. A wood door that has faded, checked or peeled is the first thing anybody sees, and a freshly stained or painted one changes how the whole house reads from the street.

The door comes off the hinges and gets done flat. Hardware comes off rather than being taped around. The old finish gets stripped or sanded back, the wood gets stained or primed, and the topcoats go on with time to dry between them. A door painted in the frame collects a run along the bottom edge that you feel every time you close it.

Garage doors, sidelights and shutters go with it. On a lot of homes the garage door is the largest single thing on the front, and doing the front door without it leaves the house looking half done.

Decks, pergolas, fences and railings

Exterior wood around here is decks, dock boards, pergolas, fence lines and porch rails. All of it grays under the sun, holds mildew in the shade, and splinters once the finish is gone. A wash, a dry, and sanding back to sound wood is where every one of those jobs starts.

Decks want a penetrating stain rather than a film that sits on top, because a film peels under foot traffic and a penetrating stain wears away evenly and recoats easily. Vertical surfaces like rails and pergolas can take a film finish because nobody walks on them.

Paint is the right answer for some exterior wood. Trim, fascia, a porch ceiling and shutters usually want a solid color, primed first, with any soft wood replaced before a drop of finish goes on. Paint on rotten wood is the most expensive way to hide a problem for one season.

Furniture, and what a spray booth finish looks like

Furniture painting is its own service on our profile. A dresser, a dining table, a set of chairs, a bookcase, an old vanity. The piece gets degreased, sanded, primed with a bonding primer, and sprayed, which is what gives it a finish with no brush marks.

Solid wood takes stain or paint. Veneered and laminate pieces take paint over a bonding primer, and we will look at the piece before saying which it is. Water rings and old finish come off with the sanding, and deep gouges get filled where the piece is being painted.

The same care goes to built ins and to interior trim. Stained baseboard, casing and stair rails in older Pinellas homes are worth keeping, and refinishing them is usually far cheaper than replacing them with something new that looks worse.