Exterior Wood Trim Staining Indianapolis

Custom Exterior Trim Staining – Indianapolis, IN 

This Fall Creek homeowner was looking for a specialized wood staining company to restain the exteior wood trim around their Indianapolis, IN home. Becuase of the high level of detail and difficulty, Legacy Painting is one of only a few companies in Indiana (let alone Indianapolis) that have the experience and knowledge complete this exterior trim staining project.

The stain was in bad shape, and at first, we were puzzled as to what kind of stain was originally used on the wood exterior. The stain was flaking and fading, unlike any other wood stain.

When the home was originally built, the homeowner was never told how to maintain the stain so when it started fading and flaking really bad, they thought it needed new stain.

Researching The Trim Staining Needed

Normally, we would apply a wood stripper to the surface to break up the stain and pressure wash to remove the old layer. However, this was not a typical stain and we knew it but wasn’t sure what kind. With a couple of days of research, we figured out the stain was PPG Cetol 1 and Cetol 23.

We took our time for the research because this house had a lot of limestone. The limestone is very porous and could be easily stained in the stripping process if we did not take significant precautions. A general stripping process involves chemicals that break up the old stain. As we pressure wash it off, the dirty water needs somewhere to go and that limestone needed to be protected. Our processes of making sure the wood prior to staining is prepped correctly is one of the things that set Legacy Painting apart from other painting contractors. Our research paid off and we did not need to use any stripper.

This is not a commonly used stain and most other painting or staining contractors probably would have applied a new coat of stain, which would have been a big mistake. All this project needed was a nice pressure wash and a clear maintenance coat. It did not need to be completely restained.

The Trim Staining Application

Cetol 1 RE is part of a unique 3-​coat sys­tem with Cetol 23 Plus RE. Cetol 1 RE is a translu­cent satin basecoat. Its supe­rior alkyd-​oil for­mu­la­tion has excel­lent pen­e­tra­tion and adhe­sion to ver­ti­cal wood surfaces. Cetol 23 Plus RE is a pre­mium, translu­cent satin topcoat for Cetol 1 RE. Cetol 23 Plus RE is a 2-​coat appli­ca­tion and enhances wood grain with rich color and sig­na­ture clar­ity. This stain is main­tained with a peri­odic sin­gle coat of Cetol Main­te­nance. The resilient alkyd for­mula offers excel­lent dura­bil­ity and pro­tec­tion for Sid­ing, Garage and Entrance Doors, Trim, Win­dows, and Log Homes.

If we would have applied a traditional stain overtop the Cetol 1 basecoat, it would not have penetrated the wood. Other stains would have simply laid on top, dried out and would have begun peeling after the first year. This would have caused a never-ending cycle of unnecessary staining and cost the homeowners significantly more money than was needed. That extra couple of days of research saved the homeowners thousands of dollars in maintenance cost and decreased the cost of our original estimate. 

As you can probably tell in the pictures, we took out time on this project. The angles and heights made it tricky. Bringing in any scaffolding or a lift would have resulted in additional challenges. Once we pressure washed all the surfaces, with water only, cleaning off the top maintenance coat, it was ready for another maintenance coat.

We covered all the limestone and wanted to make sure we protected everything as best as we could. The wood shutters were removed and workstation was set up for their refinishing. We did this in order to make sure we protected the exterior paint on the home. 

All of the maintenance coat for the stain was applied by brush. We did not want to risk unnecessary splatter or overspray.

The homeowners were very pleased with the result and thankful to learn how to better maintain the stain. When the topcoat starts fading again, they know it’s ready for a new maintenance coat, and now have a company they can call. 

Our typical wood staining project is deck staining, fence staining or log home staining, but if you are searching for a contractor for custom exterior wood trim staining, like these customers, consider Legacy Painting.

We take pride in our work and will ensure your stain is applied properly to give it a longer life.