Well, I think the cost isn't so much in the appliction of the paint vs. stain, it is the fact that paint grade wood is significantantly less expensive that stainable wood. I have a TON of trim in my house, and let's just say I am very glad that I wanted painted trim because we would have been way over budget if all this had to have been stain grade! If your trim is already up and it can be stained, I'd do it if that is what you want. Surely it couldn't cost that much more to stain it...the labor isn't all that different.

hi nini, for the quotes i got, there was not much difference between the fir (better for staining), than for pine (better for painting) for my windows and doors. so it is just i need to pay someone else to do staining outside of my current GC. i don't know if staining takes more work, than painting?
my gc is willing to do paint but not staining for some reason, i am guessing because it is more labor? anybody know? thank you!!

Staining is costly.

Staingrade casing $2.60/ lf
Staingrade baseboard: $3.40/lf
Door: $40/side
Casing 34 lf x $0.90
Jamb: $20
Staingrade door $155

Do the math.

There will be regional differences in labor and all that jazz, but in my case I am in the Midwest. It cost me several thousand just to have my pine window interiors (I have traditional grilles in all windows...very time consuming to stain), 2 sets of french doors, 1 set of 8 ft. tall Knotty Alder barn-style doors, and 2 KA patio doors stained.

This is NOT including the cherry trim, maple floor, KA interior doors, KA formal entry door, and KA "friend's entrance" door, which were also stained but by a different outfit. Can't remember exact cost of that...but I know it exceeded a couple thousand.

I think its very safe to say that staining costs more (stain grade wood, especially 'fancy' woods, will run quite a bit higher than paint grade), and I would expect to budget at minimum several thousand dollars, depending on the number of doors, windows, etc. In our case, we do have lots of windows, 23 interior doors, yada yada so that needs to be factored in as well.

Thanks all for the input. did any of you who did stained consider buying factory stained? or is it still more cost-effective to do the staining after install?

fwiw, we have stained doors, windows and trim. The trim was stained before it was installed. We also distressed each piece - one by one. PITA, but well worth it to us. I don't recall prices, but wanted to let you know trim was stained before installing and did not require touching up after (for the most part).

My trim, flooring, doors were stained before install. I'm pretty sure that's normal procedure for stained trim. My windows were the only thing stained after install. I could have ordered the windows pre-stained, but it is a considerable upgrade and I wanted to have more control over the exact color to ensure it matched my trim, doors, etc. Trim will usually require minor touch ups as it is installed. The trim guys cover the tiny nole hails with that putty stuff, and touch up raw edges that have to be trimmed away to ensure perfect fit.

allison and tinycastles, thanks for your input. it sounds like getting pre stained is very workable with just a little touchup. i am thinking maybe to go factory staining on interior doors, but having a painter do the staining on the windows and patio doors to match since it is less wood that way and maybe will be the lower cost route. i have always thought factory stain would be better quality too, but not sure if it just marketing hype. would love to hear your thoughts!

my contractor has painting interior doors built into the cost of the home, but staining them would be $40/door extra. He also built $110 into the bid of solid core doors (pre-hung), and I found stain grade mahogany doors for about $200 + whatever cost it was for pre-hanging (ETO doors). The stain grade vs solid core doors was the biggest price differential. Good luck!

juniork, wow, that is a great price for mahogany doors! i currently have a quote for about $450 per solid wood fir door pre hung, no finish. can you share info on your company, and are you happy with your doors?

michou, it was ETO doors, and they're an internet company. We actally drove to LA to their office/warehouse, to make sure they were real, before buying 30+ doors from them! It's African mahogany, which is better than the meranti mahogany (which apparently isn't even really mahogany!), but it's not going to be furniture grade, by any means. It has more grain than my friend's cherry doors. If you're looking at a darker stain or you like grain, then I think it'll be fine. We're quite happy with it, but then, at one point, we were looking at knotty alder, which would have alot of grain AND knots. Good luck!

juniork, i think a grainy door would be fine for us since we are also considering knotty alder and dark stain. I filled out their online contact form and somebody already called me for a quote, so it is looking pretty promising on the customer service front. thanks and looking forward to seeing your finished house pics soon!

When I built, my builder suggested I get the doors, baseboard and trim all prefinished at the factory, rather than trying to do it myself (I did the painting myself). I'm so glad I listened and got the prefinished. Love the solid 6 panel doors. The wood millwork place then sold me the same colored stain for me to use on the interior wooden window parts.

I too love the look of real wood, and I didn't mind that it cost extra. Imho, it was well worth it.

Sue

Sue, i am thinking of getting everything pre-stained from the factory too because I just got one quote from a local guy for staining which came in at $300 per door! that costs more than the door! I stained our front door myself 6 years ago, but now with twin toddlers, i don't think it is feasible... I am still searching to see if there is someone local who is more reasonably priced.

Since I didn't get some quotes beforehand (using the painter who painted our basement), I am wondering what the going rate is for staining sliding doors and windows. Seems like tedious work, but we paid $500 for stain and top coat (forgot the name) and supplies for one sliding door and 3 windows. One smaller bathroom window and two larger windows--one bedroom and one when you walk in exposed part of the basement. It seems high, but perhaps it isn't?? Thanks for any help! Oh, and doors would be $75 each if we decide to have the painter do them.