Staining fences

[Merlin5]

On recommendation from this forum a couple of years ago, I bought this stuff to paint my shed and will be restaining again this summer.

I really need to protect the fences now. Is Barrettine recommended for fences or is there anything else to use? Perhaps it would be good to have the same colour as the shed.

I've got 10 panels on the right (my fence) and there's a few panels on the left (two my neighbour will be replacing). So a fair bit of stain needed. I was thinking of staining just my side of the panels. Will that be effective enough?

 

[Merlin5]

Thing is, I'm the only owner occupier, my neighbours either side are tenants so I can pretty much do what I like.

But it's too much work for me to paint both sides of my fence even though it would be better to do it. I'm sure it would need at least two coats per side and there's 10 large panels. Hmm, I'll speak to the tenant to my right and ask him if he'd mind staining his side of my fence if I supply the stain, tea and biscuits. He's been pretty helpful and has recently cut down a load of branches and done some some general garden maintenance. And frankly, with this lockdown and nice weather, he.might not mind.

The tenant on the left won't paint his, he really doesn't care nor has the time. He's also got a lot of heavy stuff in the garden blocking some of the fence so it wouldn't even be possible to stain most of his side. Best I could do for now on the left fence is stain my side of the existing panels and when the new ones get installed, I can do those.

I arranged with my builder a few weeks ago to replace the two broken panels on the left and the owner agreed and was ready to pay for it. Then the lockdown happened so it's on hold.

 

[Merlin5]

If you do not mind the colour (It ends up about the same colour as the fence in the "Hot Fuzz" clip)

Waste motor oil is hard to beat.

It is free, It is essentially non-toxic to wildlife and plants, (It smells a bit when first applied, but that only lasts a couple of days) It makes the fence waterproof, rot proof and insect proof. And it lasts for ever.

Really, you wont have to do it again for 10 years, maybe even rather more, (Though there is no harm in doing it more often, it even saves you the bother of taking your old motor oil down to the tip)

Hmm, clearly a lot of advantages then! But it really is too dark for my taste and would make my garden look a bit narrower and closed in so I won't be going for that option. Thanks though, good idea. I prefer something more like the golden shade of my shed or even Doobedoo's fence, but that's the darkest I'd go.

Well I must say, I've just looked at Toolstation and I'm pleasantly surprised at the prices of both Ronseal One Coat Fence Life and Barrettine Shed and Fence Treatment. Both are £4.88 for 5 litre tubs. That's far cheaper than my can of Barrettine Wood Protective Treatment. Anyone know how good the Ronseal One Coat is? It would certainly save having to stain it twice. Or will it?

 

[Merlin5]

That’s what I brought same as what your looking at. No idea how it compares to the barrettine or how long it will last. Ronseal do a better version called fence life plus I believe, again no idea if it’s worth the extra for it.

I just figured for the price and size of my fence it’s not the end of the world if I have to do it again. Maybe invest in a decent sprayer as that will make the application easier.

Sprayer is a good idea. Was it just one coat for your fence then? Did it take 2 x 5 litre tubs to finish the job and did you do the neighbour's side or is it street side?

 

[Merlin5]

I can’t actually remember it was at least 2 coats though and I still have half a container left.

If I was you I’d grab 3 or 4 for safe measures while it’s cheap and store what’s left for a future coat.

No I didn’t do the neighbours side one look at his garden will tell you he ain’t that bothered, but to be fair if he brought it up I’d come to some arrangement.

Ah right so you've only got one side protected. Better than nothing though. I spoke to my neighbour today. He wasn't overly keen on the idea of him doing his side of my fence but he's considering it.

 

[Merlin5]

nm.

 

[Merlin5]

I have a sprayer and it makes it a lot easier but the downside is it uses a lot more product. I ended up spraying some on the panel and then working it in with a brush, seems a happy medium.

I think I'll just use the largest brush I can get. I guess I should mask off where concrete posts come into contact with the panels. I've decided on Ronseal One Coat. According to the Ronseal calculator, for 5 foot high x 60 width of panels I only need 4.65 litres per side, so two tubs should cover both sides.

Do you think I should go for the Medium Oak or Harvest Gold colour? In other words, match the shed or have something darker? There's a bit of green algae beginning to discolour a couple of panels and maybe a darker stain will disguise that better.

 

[Merlin5]

I used the barretine wood treatment.

It's more like an oil and soaks in - should be much longer lasting and goes on nicely.

The one coat paint types in a big paint tub are a waste of time imo. More work to put on. Fades and peels. Needs redoing more frequently.

To get rid of your algae or moss, "paint" it with diluted bleach and leave it a few days. Then you can treat the bare wood

Thanks, on my way to buy a big bottle of bleach. I'm going to do 1 part bleach to 2 parts water. I've made a start, got seven brushes from toolstation including one large cheap one for the bleach and one large fence brush for staining. £5 the lot.

Will bleach, then jetwash the other parts of fence that are generally a bit dirty, leave for a couple of days and start staining. I think if I don't put time into the prep, I'll find the stain might not last as long.

 

[Merlin5]

Definitely. I take pictures of everything
Still deciding on the colour. Medium oak which looks nice but has the potential to make the garden feel narrower, or Harvest Gold which is more like the shed. Decisions, decisions...

 

[Merlin5]

2-1 is fairly strong. But it should be effective!

Don't jetewash it all off straight away though. If possible jetewash a day or two later to give the bleach chance to work.

Indeed, I'm going to let the bleach do it's thing and come back to it the following day before hitting it with the nilfisk. I got the 2-1 ratio from this video.

 

[Merlin5]

^ Yes, I was going to say, Toolstation, that is if they have the Cuprinol spray paint or similar that you want. Their shops are not open to go into as such, but I ordered and paid for my brushes online and they were ready to collect a few minutes later. I popped along to my local store, only one person in front of me, and I was given my brushes.

B&Q is a joke. Everytime I visit their website, it says I'm in a queue that will take one hour before I can even browse.