Do I need to treat my new fence?

RachelS

Hi guys!
New to this board and would be very appreciative of any help.
I've just had a new fence put up. Do I need to paint it with Cuprinol or similar, or is it pre-treated?

Thanks a lot x

aboard_epsilon

Most likely the the colour it is now is a water based stain ..not a preservative .

I have a friend who builds them ..and the things are just dipped into a tank containing dye

You can put cuprinol on it ..but it's going to be expensive ..i think the stuff is over £30 a gallon ..and to do it properly would use up something like a 2 pints a panel.

Wise not to do it until the fence has seasoned ..as it will be saturated with sap ..and will not take up the preservative ..so do it next year after several dry days.

best preservatives would be the white spirate oil based ones ..

cuprinol is good, but expensive

cheap would be creosote substitute

if it has concrete posts ..treat the posts with Thompson's water seal ..or the water will soak into them ..cause the re-enforcing to rust ..and crack the posts ...in a few years time.

All the best.markj

RachelS

Thankyou very much, that's really helped.

torbrex

It may be obvious and I hesitated posting but when my dad had a fence put up some years ago, the wood arrived for the job certified as pre-treated, if you are in doubt could you not ask the contractor?

pinkteapot

We used Cuprinol Timbercare:

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=10298968

(comes in lots of colours but I only found the green one on the B&Q website to show you the product)

£10 a gallon, not £30!! (though it's not oil based)

We used 1.5 tins to do all the fencing around our garden (probably about 75 feet).

Prior to that, our fences were untreated and our house is 20 years old. The fences were still standing.

27col

Painting fence panels does not do much to preserve them. Most fences are replaced because they have been damaged by wind or flying objects like branches. We have larch lap fencing along part of our boundary, it is many years old. Some panels have been replaced because they warped and were storm damaged, but certainly not because of rot. So the answer to the question is. No you do not need to paint the fence unless you would prefer it to be another colour.