Help Staining My Fence

[nolimits76]

I have about 400’ of 6’ wood privacy fence that is only a few years old but beginning to look like ****. As part of the clean up process I will be replacing a few pickets, and also replacing a small damaged section. Otherwise, the plan is to simply power wash and stain the fence.

In reality, I will probably be power washing & staining about 700’ of fence, as I’d like to get BOTH sides of the fence.

Also, living in OK, getting beat on by the sun is a major issue. Most winters are mild on snow, but can have lots of ice.

I haven’t done this before, so I’m curious some details…

1. How powerful of a power washer?
2. Rental suggestions for the power washer?
3. What power washer wand tip(s) work best?
4. Which stain provides the longest/best protection?
5. Roll, brush or spray?
6. If spray, what type of sprayer? Where to rent?
7. Estimated time to complete?

Any other specifics/ideas are appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Kevin54]

A 3500 PSI powerwasher with a small fan tip would be what you need.

Depending on your budget, there are a couple of routes to take. 700' of fence on both sides is 1400' of fence. How close are the pickets? If they are real close together, the way I would spray it, and this may sound ridiculous, but use a weed sprayer. It will probably take 20+ gallons at least to do that much fence. I would use a brand name latex stain. I think it is Olympic that I use on the house, but I'd have to check for sure. It comes from Lowes in a metal 5 gallon bucket, and the outside of the can shows a house, and the rest of the can looks like stained wood.

Anyways, you want to get an empty 5 gallon bucket, pour it about half full of the latex stain, thin it a little with water, mix it well, then pour into a garden sprayer. The sprayer is the type that you push and pull the handle on top to pump up the pressure. Set your fan spray at the tip and start spraying. If you don't have help, make sure that you have a roller to back roll the stain or have someone following you to back roll.

When I built my first garage, this is how I was told was the easiest way to do large areas to stain, and it most definitely is. If you use something like a Wagner, you're just wasting your time. The only other way would be to rent a pressure pot and a portable compressor. Not much difference between that and a weed sprayer, except the pressure pot remains a constant pressure and has a paint gun instead of a wand.

If you doubt my word, and if you already have a weed sprayer.....fill it with water, and see how far a tankful of water goes. I think my first garage took me between 30-45 minutes to stain. The trim was separate though, and all hand painted.

 

[No Sweat Photos]

When pressure washing the fence get a piece of plywood 1/2" 2x8' to lay on the ground against the bottom of the fence to keep the dirt and mud from splashing you !!

Cleaning fences is the dirtiest job I have done in 10yrs of pressure washing !!

You won't need more than 2k of pressure with a wide tip, the more pressure the more damage you will do to the wood !!

Also the fence and deck cleaner chemical from ZEP works great !!

 

[nolimits76]

Thanks Kevin, much appreciated. I plan to recruit the wife during the staining process, so I will show her how to back roll. Hopefully we can get a good system going and knock this out pretty quickly.

FYI, the 700' I mentioned earlier includes both sides. My inside fence line is right at 400', so doubled it would be 800'; however, a neighbor did approximately 100' of my fence that splits our properties a few months back when he stained his fence. So right at 700' is what I have left to complete.

 

[Stuart in MN]

What kind of wood is the fence made of? Assuming it's cedar (which is very soft) you can really tear it up with a pressure washer if you're not careful, so make sure to aim the tip at an angle and don't hold it in one place for any amount of time.

Actually, I think a Wagner sprayer isn't a bad way to go - they aren't precision instruments by any means, but they're a good way to get a lot of stain onto the wood and into all the nooks and crannies quickly. I used one to stain the cedar shingle siding on my garage and it worked pretty well. I'd spray a section, brush it out with a brush, then move on. They come with a hose attachment so you can spray right out of a gallon bucket of stain, so you don't have to stop every five minutes to refill.

I had real good luck with Benjamin Moore stain. I did my garage nearly 20 years ago, and while it could stand another coat now it still looks pretty decent.

 

[nolimits76]

When pressure washing the fence get a piece of plywood 1/2" 2x8' to lay on the ground against the bottom of the fence to keep the dirt and mud from splashing you !!

Cleaning fences is the dirtiest job I have done in 10yrs of pressure washing !!

You won't need more than 2k of pressure with a wide tip, the more pressure the more damage you will do to the wood !!

Also the fence and deck cleaner chemical from ZEP works great !!

Nice tip on the plywood. I had planned on using a piece of cardboard, but the plywood will last longer.

Also, do you think I need the cleaner? It's only 2 years old and is currently untreated. I just figured a good power wash would get rid of the grime and open up the pores.

 

[akcooper9]

My favorite stain is used oil mixed with paint thinner

I mix 2 1/2 gallons of oil to 1 gallon of paint thinner.

 

[jkwilson]

Even the lightest-duty pressure washer will let you carve your name in wood. You'll just have to experiment to see which tip makes it go fastest. Best if you can cover a full picket so you don't leave overlap marks.

If you can, wash the pickets slightly ahead of where you are standing so it doesn't blow back on you.

 

[nolimits76]

What kind of wood is the fence made of?

I need to inspect closer, but believe it's a yellow/white pine.

My favorite stain is used oil mixed with paint thinner

I mix 2 1/2 gallons of oil to 1 gallon of paint thinner.

That actually looks pretty good. What kind of wear, tear and abuse does it stand up to? Either way, it doesn't matter much -- I have very limited amounts of used oil.

On a different note....has anyone used the TWP100 stain? According to this site, they rank both the 100 and 1500 series pretty highly. The difference being the TWP100 is an oil based stain.

http://www.deckstainhelp.com/category/deck-product-reviews/deck-stain-reviews/

 

[JakeKohl]

A 3500 PSI powerwasher with a small fan tip would be what you need.

Depending on your budget, there are a couple of routes to take. 700' of fence on both sides is 1400' of fence. How close are the pickets? If they are real close together, the way I would spray it, and this may sound ridiculous, but use a weed sprayer. It will probably take 20+ gallons at least to do that much fence. I would use a brand name latex stain. I think it is Olympic that I use on the house, but I'd have to check for sure. It comes from Lowes in a metal 5 gallon bucket, and the outside of the can shows a house, and the rest of the can looks like stained wood.

Anyways, you want to get an empty 5 gallon bucket, pour it about half full of the latex stain, thin it a little with water, mix it well, then pour into a garden sprayer. The sprayer is the type that you push and pull the handle on top to pump up the pressure. Set your fan spray at the tip and start spraying. If you don't have help, make sure that you have a roller to back roll the stain or have someone following you to back roll.

When I built my first garage, this is how I was told was the easiest way to do large areas to stain, and it most definitely is. If you use something like a Wagner, you're just wasting your time. The only other way would be to rent a pressure pot and a portable compressor. Not much difference between that and a weed sprayer, except the pressure pot remains a constant pressure and has a paint gun instead of a wand.

If you doubt my word, and if you already have a weed sprayer.....fill it with water, and see how far a tankful of water goes. I think my first garage took me between 30-45 minutes to stain. The trim was separate though, and all hand painted.

I second the weed sprayer. I have a couple of friends that install fencing and they use backpack style weed sprayers that have the pump lever that protrudes forward under your arm. Seems to work well for putting down a lot of stain in remote areas.

I also have a Milwaukee HVLP paint sprayer that takes 5 gallon pails and would make short work of fencing.

 

[akcooper9]

What kind of wear, tear and abuse does it stand up to?

The picture above is my flat bed trailer that is 100% always out in the sun. Gets used regularly. I'd paint a wood fence with this stain in a heart beat.

 

[yeldogt]

I have a couple hundred feet of cedar 6' board and baton fence - it is like a bridge .. every year I paint a section. The older oil based semitransparent stain was the best .. the new stuff .. not so good. I have been trying to modify the newer oil based stain with additional BLO.

You don't want a high solid latex satin - they just don't hold up.

I never hit my fence with anything more than a garden hose. They make fence brightener products that work very well. I spray off my fence with water and then ....depending on the condition -- use the fence product or simple bleach and water in a a tank sprayer. Keep it wet and let it work - spray off. Most of the brightener or oxalic acid.

It is important that the fence be dry for any oil product - depending on weather can take a could of days.

 

[buzz4041]

Kevin 54 uses the exact material and method I do to do my fence on my acre. I redo it every 5 years. I live in a windy area so I would also reccomend getting a painters pull over throw away suit as you be covered in stain by the end of the process. Better than any spray equipment.

 

[crf731]

I'll also recommend the weed/garden sprayer for applying the stain.

I've done it a few times this way and it works good.

You're going to need a lot of stain to do 700' though, the fence boards are going to be pretty dried out and will really soak it up.

 

[crazytrain]

I replaced a fence about 5 years ago its almost 250 feet long. I used pressure treated pine. I stained it with Olympic Maximum Cedar Naturaltone Semi-Transparent Exterior Stain, that I sprayed on with a cheap 2 gallon pump sprayer. I just hit any runs with a brush. I stained both sides of the fence, It cost me $700.00 in stain alone but the fence still looks like the day I put it up. The stain has a water sealer/protectant in it as well. I am getting ready to put up another 250 feet of fence on the other side of my yard to close it in due to some neighbor issues.

Sorry this is the only pic I have right now. I will try to add a few more tomorrow if I remember.

https://flic.kr/p/nYu99p https://www.flickr.com/people//

 

[Just Primer]

Any gas pressure washer i have ever used has a throttle on the motor that turns the shaft on the pressure unit. If you turn the throttle down (rpm's down) to about 75% it will lower the pressure. I have done this when the water pressure was to low to keep up. It will work fine and still get the unit from getting hot.

I recently used 2600 on Cedar though. You have to be careful how close you hold the fan to the wood and make even long passes. I like to strip it a little myself.

 

[glider]

I have 15 hours in staining this fence. About 400' and 7 gal. of stain at $150 per 5 gal. I did power wash with fence cleaner. I use a big roller and slop it on and go back with a brush. Little fence but a big project!

View media item 42053

 

[1grnlwn]

Caution! If you use any power sprayer be mindful of items that you don't want stain on. Atomized stain can travel in the air a long way 10-25'. A lot bigger job when you have to stop in the middle and clean something you didn't intend on staining. That used oil and thinner looks interesting. I make a lot of used oil!

 

[michaelbt2]

I'm still in the middle of staining my fence in the back. It's about 200 feet of 6 foot pickets. I started by pressure washing as part of the fence was our neighbors and had been there a few years. And then, here comes the paintbrush and paint bucket. I've already spent about 10 hours painting half of it. It's a full Summer project for sure. And, I'm in Texas so I know all about the heat, too. Good luck!

 

[buzz4041]

I'm still in the middle of staining my fence in the back. It's about 200 feet of 6 foot pickets. I started by pressure washing as part of the fence was our neighbors and had been there a few years. And then, here comes the paintbrush and paint bucket. I've already spent about 10 hours painting half of it. It's a full Summer project for sure. And, I'm in Texas so I know all about the heat, too. Good luck!

Throw that brush in the garbage and get a bug sprayer and be finished in 4 hours.

 

[Scott r c]

I live in NE Oklahoma, and have stained my 6' privacy fence with a Behr product stain and sealer in one. I think its 120.00 per 5 gallon bucket. I personally think the sprayer is a waste as you have to backroll it. Just get low nap rollers and sling that stuff on. They make big heavy bristle stain brushes to get in all the small spots. I stained the fence new, then did it again 3 years later. After the second coat it appears it will last at least five years before needing it again. And really that's way before it needs it again, but I don't want to pressure wash it before I stain.

 

[94LX]

I pressure washed my fence, then used Thompson's clear water seal on it. The fence is about 15 years old, and this is the first time it's been sealed. Took 12 gallons total. The wood soaked it up like water in a desert. I like the look.

 

[nmcqueen469]

Turned out really nice!

 

[94LX]

Thanks!