What to do with this damn fence.

So we have a white picket fence that goes around 3/4 of my property. It's starting to look like crap because all the paint is peeling off.

I'm not looking forward to the tediousness that is going to be involved scraping (or pressure washing if I am able to) then painting it. Unfortunately it's part of my RTO contract that I have to maintain it.

Does anyone have some insight on how this can be done without taking a decade to prep and paint?

One idea I had is my side of the family has this idea that a good time to get the family together is when manual labor is needed, so I thought I could have a "Tom Sawyer Party" and everyone gets a brush and a bucket of paint and goes to town. I would spend the previous weekend getting all the loose paint off, so it will be ready to paint when everyone gets there. Then provide food and beverages after the works been done.

Any ideas?

Sadly, the answer is to start at the beginning, and work until you get to the end. Scrape one section at a time, paint, move to the next. Your painting party is getting people to do the easiest part, I'm afraid.

Pressure washer and Wagner sprayer.

Build an extra long saw horse and you can attach a drop cloth to it behind the fence with enough extra cloth to come up to the fence on the ground. Then power paint away without worrying about overspray. Put one on each side and with a friend you can each move the saw horse on your side for the other guy and it'll take no time at all.

For getting the old paint off it's hard to beat a really big angle grinder with a wire brush cup on it. Down one side between the pickets, up the next picket, face of the second picket, back in the gap. Follow up with a pressure washer and sand if you care.

foxtrapper wrote: Pressure washer and Wagner sprayer.

And back it with a fridge box sized piece of cardboard.

Tear it out and put up a maintenance free plastic one.

Steps

• Get beer.
• Prep
• Get more beer.
• Call the crew in and finish up the job

That is imho the best plan of action.

N Sperlo wrote: Steps - Get beer. - Prep - Get more beer. - Call the crew in and finish up the job That is imho the best plan of action.

That's probably what's going to happen.

Gearheadotaku wrote: Tear it out and put up a maintenance free plastic one.

Thats probably not the most cost effective way, but the best long term option if not planning to move anytime in the foreseeable future.

But that's why I went with cedar when I put mine in, and let it weather naturally. I didn't t want to have to scrape and paint.

Plastidip?

Olympic rescue it, it'll hide cracks slits and E36 M3ty paint fairly well. Works on most timber, painted surfaces and concrete.

Step one:

Develop complex plan to remove chips involving car wash bristles, an Olds Toronado power train and a pile of tubing.

Step B:

Develop a complex multi-head paint sprayer from a pressure washer, old water heater and more tubing. Possibly an articulating swing arm too.

Step III:

Get E36 M3faced drunk and burn the berkeleyer down.

Step D (optional):

Move.

^ so I'm going to find something. Just so I can use that plan.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Step one: Develop complex plan to remove chips involving car wash bristles, an Olds Toronado power train and a pile of tubing. Step B: Develop a complex multi-head paint sprayer from a pressure washer, old water heater and more tubing. Possibly an articulating swing arm too. Step III: Get E36 M3faced drunk and burn the berkeleyer down. Step D (optional): Move.

Step 5, profit.

Shotgun?

1) convince a surveyor to draw up plot plan where property line is just inside fence so it's the neighbors problem.

2) drink beer and relax while neighbors paint fence.

daeman wrote: Olympic rescue it, it'll hide cracks slits and E36 M3ty paint fairly well. Works on most timber, painted surfaces and concrete.

Was thinking the same thing. Gets kind of pricey though.

• Comfy chair

• Beer

• More beer

• Paintball gun

• Lots of paintballs

Power washer to remove the old paint. Check on a rental and opt for the "wobbly tip" paint stripper attachment.

If you can prevent overspray from being a problem, get an airless sprayer (not the Wagner piece of crap but a real unit, again: rental if you don't own). If overspray will be an issue go with the pizza/beer/painting party and get many hands to help out.

Edit: while sanding isn't necessary after power washing off the old paint, letting the wood dry is. 2500 psi inject water into the wood fibers so let it dry for a week before applying paint.

If you can't use a sprayer, use a small diameter paint roller. (About 1 inch diameter) This works pretty well on a picket fence. It is easy to do the edges of the pickets as well as the faces. There is only a tiny spot that you need to brush. Nonetheless, painting a picket fence is tedious work. Painting is the fun part, the prep isn't.

For our fence, we spray the fence with water to remove the bulk of the paint. We use a little bleach in the water to kill any mold that may have formed under the paint. This is followed up by a rinsing off the bleach. After that, wait for the fence to dry. Then paint the fence. If you don't wait long enough, you get paint failure, which means you get to do everything all over again. You only let that happen once!

I'd recommend against sanding unless it is really horrible. Pressure washing should blast everything off. If it is still adhering, paint it!

Good luck. A well painted fence is pleasant to look at. It really makes a place look a lot nicer.

step one - drink a beer. step two - "accidentally" run it over with truck. step three - drink another beer. step four - light the E36 M3 on fire. step five - crush two beers together stone cold style and down them.

no paint needed.

Hire Tom. Get kicked out. Problem solved.