Painting - Paint or stain, that is the question

I had a wood patio cover constructed about 4 years ago. The posgts were primed and STAINED. Water from run off was gathering at the base of the posts so I applied Redgard (waterproofing material) to prevent the bottom of the posts getting damaged.

Now years later I had my yard landscaped and sprinklers are now spraying the upper portions of posts.

My concern is that posts being stained may not protect them from the almost daily water spray.

How is the best way to protect the wood posts?
- Stain again..and if so does that protect from water?
- Prime and Paint the posts
- Stain again and apply Thomson WaterProtection

Open to all suggestions and thanks

Paint offers more protection than stain although stain doesn't require as much work to freshen it up. I doubt adding a clear waterseal like thompsons will give any more than a tempory benifit.

Generally wood doesn't need a primer if a stain is used. One exception is with woods like cedar or redwood which have heavy tannin bleed. When light colors are used it is necessary to oil prime in order to get the tannins from discoloring the paint/stain.

It is hard to say from here what your best method would be. Personally I'd just restain the posts as needed. Stain will protect the wood from water although it won't last as long as paint. While paint will last longer, it may require more work at repaint time [scraping and priming] Coating over the stain with a waterseal may help some but it would need redoing atleast twice a year and might cause problems at repaint/stain time unless all the waterseal is removed.

Golly :o I overlooked the most obviousl solution :( can't you readjust the sprinkler heads so they don't hit the wood?

Thanks Marksr...I will see if I can redirect the sprinkler. Again a big thanks