Is there such a thing as clear sprayable fence treatment?

Conrad

Hello, having tried ALL cuprinol, Ducks Back and ronseal sprayable fence treatments, none are appropriate as the colours are far too stark.

It's not just me saying this, a neighbour raised eyebrows on seeing my test patches.

The problem stems from the fact I live on a main thoroughfare through the village and so the 6ft high fence has to look muted and in keeping. It began life as natural looking pressure treated wood with a nice light perfectly natural look resmebling plain light silvery pine (not an orangey tone).

The trouble is the treatments we've seen and tested are either too dark or too tacky - the orangey toned ones are like something from the 70's. Curpinol and the others seem stuck in a timewarp totally unaware of modern design conscious aethetics / sensibilities.

So can anyone recommend a clear or very light muted toned treatment, preferably sprayable?


Here's the tone of our fence when new;



Ours is more faded than this example above, but it's this type of tone we're after.
As far as I can tell we won't be able to get something to rejuvinate the tone back to this, but just a clear treatment would do.


And here's what we do not want;

art_for_arts_sake

No reason why you should have to colour or even coat your fence panels. Most water based finishes now are purely decorative, they won't add much extra to the life of the panels apart from protecting from sun damage and if they trap moisture may even promote rot. Difficult to maintain the existing 'natural' colour as algae and the sun will respectively grey or bleach the panels. There are plenty of clear wood preservatives, but be warned, they won't be cheap.

Conrad

art_for_arts_sake wrote: »

There are plenty of clear wood preservatives, but be warned, they won't be cheap.

Thanks - so your'e suggesting one that can only be applied by brush then? I was hoping for a lazy spray session!:beer:

art_for_arts_sake

Effective wood preservatives contain some pretty noxious chemicals so I'd hesitate to recommend spraying. It's blowing a gale here as I write this which would also put me off spraying, but a HVLP setup should help reduce overspray.

SailorSam

Those fence sprays get a pretty bad name, lots of people seem to complain 'cos they get blocked up easily.

budgetdiyer

Have you tried watering down any of the colours? That will soften their tones.

Davesnave

I bought Jackson's pressure treated fence panels about 20 years ago with the express intention of never having to treat them. They're still looking good.

So, if your fence is of good quality, you might not need to treat it. My experience is that panels of poor or average quality, like those I bought in Homebase, cannot be saved by treatment.

Treatment of an inherited shed with one of the green spirit-based preservers has also led me to think those are a waste of time for a decorative finish. Two coats, and now I can hardly tell that I did it!

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

I bought Jackson's pressure treated fence panels about 20 years ago with the express intention of never having to treat them. They're still looking good.

So, if your fence is of good quality, you might not need to treat it. My experience is that panels of poor or average quality, like those I bought in Homebase, cannot be saved by treatment.

Treatment of an inherited shed with one of the green spirit-based preservers has also led me to think those are a waste of time for a decorative finish. Two coats, and now I can hardly tell that I did it!

I have used the coloured type a fair bit ( chicken coops, fencing, garden bench). They do fade quite dramatically sometimes, but the last one is lasting well, no fade over, omgoodness, three summers now.

Cuprinol garden shades. If I were looking for a natural colour I would be looking for a silvery grey, the kind of colour wood fades too. The oranges, browns and forestry type greens are far from natural. In stead we opted for a stark greyish green which I adore. It' a much better backdrop for my planted colour scene than the natural fence colour ( in fact I inherited orange preserved panels)

Conrad

Davesnave wrote: »

I bought Jackson's pressure treated fence panels about 20 years ago with the express intention of never having to treat them. They're still looking good.

So, if your fence is of good quality, you might not need to treat it.

Good point and something I have been thinking, but I will likely go ahead anyway as I'm a little OCD with such things.

Incidentally I think I've found a product, and it's more eco freindly than usual, had a really helpful email from them to here > "


GreenLeaf Wood Treatment 25 litre pack, actually has 5 x 5 litre packs (A and Bconcentrate) inside, so you can make up just 5 litres at a time.

Yourfence panels are probably 6' x 6' or 2m x 2m Both sides, that is around 160square metres.

Each25 litre pack will cover around 80 to 100 square metres, so you would requiretwo 25 litre packs.



Althoughthe Wood Treatment is virtually clear, it does effect the colour of mostsoftwoods in the way that it works by locking tannins into the wood cellulose.

Pineand Spruce will initially go slightly darker and then mature in the normal wayto either a brown/grey or silver/grey, depending upon species and origin ofgrowth.



Ifyou require a specific colour, we make water-based natural colour wood stainsthat you can add to the wood treatment and apply in one application.



You can certainly use your sprayer to apply the product.



Ihope this helps and please do not hesitate to contact me, if you have any morequestions.

.........................


Me talking again - here's the product in case anyone is interested, they do other similar eco freindly stuff to;