Painting garden fences

ashe

We bought a house last year and are just getting round to painting the garden fence which was fairly newly installed just before we moved in from the looks of things. There's a few parts where there's a little bit of green algae/moss buildup, so appreciate we need to clean this off before painting. What are the correct steps? Can we just power wash it off or do we need to treat it with some bleach or a special product?

is it; (one we hit a dry patch of weather)

1) Powerwash
2) allow to dry
3) Do we need to use a wood preserver on the wood before painting? We've got loads left over from another project so not a problem if so, but dont want to use it needlessly. lIkewise dont know if need to use any kind of anti fungal or anti algae/green stuff treatment
4) if yes to above, allow to dry
5) treat with fence paint

? Or is there anything else we are missing out?

We also have concrete fence posts and a gate with some pieces of metal for hinges, lock etc - any tips fo not getting any on these? do you take them off? tape them up in case of metal pieces? and concrete posts just tape off?

Any tips for where fence borders neighbour as assume the paint will go through on their side somewhat?

Aylesbury_Duck

Do you own the fence? If not, you'll need the owner's permission before you paint it.

ashe

Thanks for the comment, but that wasn't a question asked in my post. Ownership of the fence is not an issue.

Aylesbury_Duck

It was a question you asked:

ashe wrote: »

Or is there anything else we are missing out?

It's a pertinent one because nowhere did you say who owned the fence and particularly because you also asked this:

ashe wrote: »

Any tips for where fence borders neighbour as assume the paint will go through on their side somewhat?

I speak from experience. When I paid for a new fence, my neighbour painted his side of it and it dribbled through panel laps and knots. I get on well with him so I was happy to let it lie but not everyone is relaxed about these things.

Slinky

Wear a face mask and brush the algae off, no need to powerwash in our experience.


You say paint, do you really mean paint or are you using some sort of woodstain like Cuprinol. If so, no wood preserver required.

-taff

You can brush or power wash the algae, it's up to you. I'd powerwash personally because I find it a fun thing to do and I enjoy watching the dirt get blown away, very satisfying....But if there is a build up, it will continue to build up there if you paint it if it's due to the area being shaded.
We used ducksback stuff on our fence [ well, the neighbours fence], he asked us to put some stuff on because obviously he didn't want it rotting away, and we used brushes to put it on, not a sprayer so none of it went through to his side. We've only put one coat on so far, but it's doing it's job, water runs off it [second coat planned this year when sunny] We didn't use any wood preserver because the wood was tanalised.

-taff

Forgot to say, we also painted the concrete posts the same colour at the back of the garden [our fence]. The side fence is one long expanse of feather edging. We chose black because it was on offer and cheap, and anything I plant in front of it will pop out. It's sufficiently big that the colour doesn't make it look small.

ashe

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

It was a question you asked:

It's a pertinent one because nowhere did you say who owned the fence and particularly because you also asked this:


I speak from experience. When I paid for a new fence, my neighbour painted his side of it and it dribbled through panel laps and knots. I get on well with him so I was happy to let it lie but not everyone is relaxed about these things.

My questions were all process/product related. Do I need to check if I own the house too or if I am renting? I asked about the paint going through because its fairly obvious that when pointing a fence some will go to the other side, especially if painting the top. For the avoidance of doubt, we own the fence, hence asking how to paint our fence.

ashe

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

It was a question you asked:

It's a pertinent one because nowhere did you say who owned the fence and particularly because you also asked this:


I speak from experience. When I paid for a new fence, my neighbour painted his side of it and it dribbled through panel laps and knots. I get on well with him so I was happy to let it lie but not everyone is relaxed about these things.

-taff wrote: »

You can brush or power wash the algae, it's up to you. I'd powerwash personally because I find it a fun thing to do and I enjoy watching the dirt get blown away, very satisfying....But if there is a build up, it will continue to build up there if you paint it if it's due to the area being shaded.
We used ducksback stuff on our fence [ well, the neighbours fence], he asked us to put some stuff on because obviously he didn't want it rotting away, and we used brushes to put it on, not a sprayer so none of it went through to his side. We've only put one coat on so far, but it's doing it's job, water runs off it [second coat planned this year when sunny] We didn't use any wood preserver because the wood was tanalised.

Thanks, will probably power wash it purely because its a fairly long fence and cleaning it all by hand will be a pain, when considering painting it too! Neighbour has it a similar-is shade on their side although they really aren't bothered about maintenance, although we'll be using paint brushes rather than sprays so hoping to avoid too much mess, was more painting the posts and top of the panels that I was thinking would be at risk of paint going onto their side.

ashe

Slinky wrote: »

Wear a face mask and brush the algae off, no need to powerwash in our experience.


You say paint, do you really mean paint or are you using some sort of woodstain like Cuprinol. If so, no wood preserver required.

Yeah its Cuprinol (or something like it, bought it months ago and stored it in garage for better weather). Reason for stating power wash is its a fairly long fence along 3 sides of the garden so manual cleaning of both sides of the two and one side of the one we share with neighbour would be time consuming

Aylesbury_Duck

ashe wrote: »

My questions were all process/product related. Do I need to check if I own the house too or if I am renting? I asked about the paint going through because its fairly obvious that when pointing a fence some will go to the other side, especially if painting the top. For the avoidance of doubt, we own the fence, hence asking how to paint our fence.

You do take a fence easily. I'll duck out.