Decided that it was time to finally get some protection on the much neglected fence at my house. I basically took a fence that probably should have been torn down and added a few years to it’s life. Maybe Willybeen has some more insight into it’s age but it’s at least 7 years without a coating on it. Needless to say it was extremely dry and gray (like your mom).
Some of the before pics.
First step is to gather your supplies. A bucket, scrub brush, deck cleaner, bleach and a pump sprayer. I also used the power washer from my work, 2600psi capable. You’ll want to skip the whole bleach thing. When I mixed it with the deck cleaner it all foamed out of the bucket like a science class volcano. No pics of that.
My cleaner asked for 1 gallon to be mixed with 3 gallons of water. So I did. Wet a few sections of fence with the power washer first. Use the pump sprayer to apply a generous amount of the mixture. I did 3 sections at a time. Then wait like 10 minutes or so. If it starts to dry keep it wet with the power washer. After the 10 min is up, use the scrub brush to loosen everything up. Then proceed to power wash. Don’t hold the nozzle 3 inches from the wood or you will tear it up and make it look super furry. I used the green tip and was about 6 inches back, this distance worked well.
Some during pics:
And some next day afters
As you can see it took like 80% of the gray out. Not too shabby for an afternoons work. You’re going to want to let the fence dry two solid dry days before the stain.
Next step is to choose your stain of choice. I picked Ben Moores alkyd exterior translucent stain in teak.
Yes it’s oil based, no it doesn’t clean up with soap and water, no it’s not illegal in NYS. I picked this because the wood cleaned up so well. Had the wood not cleaned up as well I would have went with a little more opacity, such as a semi-transparent or semi-solid. I still would have used an oil based as water based just doesn’t cut it for me. I want something to soak into the wood, not just hang on top.
Applying the stain I experimented with a few methods to find the happy medium between speed and not wasting a ton of product. Applying just by brush took too long, using a roller and back brush wasted way too much. I applied the stain with my pump sprayer and then back brushed. I sprayed a board top to bottom then brushed it in. I did the entire inside of the fence first and outside last. I got 150 sq ft per gallon of stain, which is about average.
I didn’t take any during shots of the staining because frankly it sucked and pictures were the last thing on my mind. It was like 90 degrees and I was sweating my balls off. So you get to see just the finished shots.
Enjoy and ask any questions you have. No I will not be hired to stain your fence or deck, I want no part of staining ever again.