Construction is like life.  Many small steps are needed to achieve a goal, and often those steps constitute the majority of the work needed.

The home that I’m rebuilding has 13 interior doors and those doors all have door casings.  The house has 600 feet of baseboard, face shoe, chair rails, and crown molding. All of these pieces have to be stained to match or complement the other woods in the interior of the house.

These items can be stained before or after they are installed, and I prefer the before option.  I use a Graco sprayer to apply the stain.  Each piece is then wiped down with a lint-free rag to evenly distribute the finish. By staining them beforehand I can spray the boards in a horizontal position allowing me to work on a number of them at the same time.  In addition, the fumes and excess stain stay in the garage, not in the house and on the walls.

Although my method is efficient, it is still a lot of work when you consider the sheer volume of the items that need to be sprayed.  One more job finished, and many more to go.