How to clean fence before staining?

egyptiancotton

I bought a couple of tins of Cuprinol Ducksback ready to stain the fence. It's not an old fence - maybe 8 months old. The advise seems to be to clean the fence before staining. There's the odd small green patch but nothing serious. Would household bleach be sufficient to clean the fence and kill off mould/algae/mildew or should I buy something along the lines of Patio Magic?

Silver-Surfer_2

I've never bothered.

Sagz_2

I'd just paint over it.

Jonesya

I'd clean it, otherwise the ducksback will be sticking onto the algae/moss/dirt not onto the wood, so more likely to flake or peel off.

I've always used a patio or decking cleaning fluid to kill any moss/algae then washed and brushed down to remove it. I'm sure bleach would also work, just it doesn't get onto any plants.

olip74

I've just done my 6 ft high ranch fences. I did scrub one section down with a bleach solution and it greyed the green algae but it was pretty difficult to actually remove it and a lot of work! In the end I put some decking cleaner solution in a watering can and sprinkled the worst bits of the rest of the fence. The next day I gave it a rough scrub with a broom and painted over everything. We'll see if it does the job but at the end of the day it's just a fence, no point getting too anal about it.

maninthestreet

I've used dilute bleach in the past to get rid of the green algae growths before painting a shed. Also used a stiff brush to get rid of any surface dirt.

TheCyclingProgrammer

I'd just go over it with a stiff brush, if that doesn't remove any moss a wire brush should remove it.

baza52

pressure washer

Furts

baza52 wrote: »

pressure washer

Think this one through...fencing uses low cost, poor quality timber with knots and sapwood. It is wafer thin timber, To last it is soaked in preservative, but some suppliers give it a cursory spray or coating. To apply high pressure water to this timber is asking for trouble. Basically, it will destroy the surface, remove the current colouring, wash out the preservative...you get my drift!

egyptiancotton

Thanks for the advice, all. In the end I used some household bleach mixed with hit water, and gently scrubbed with a hard-bristle brush and rinsed. Left it to dry for a couple of days and it's done a good job. Started painting the fence earlier this evening and it's covered the spots nicely where the traces of algae once was.

baza52

lloydyyy wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, all. In the end I used some household bleach mixed with hit water, and gently scrubbed with a hard-bristle brush and rinsed. Left it to dry for a couple of days and it's done a good job. Started painting the fence earlier this evening and it's covered the spots nicely where the traces of algae once was.

so you asked the question after you had already cleaned it?