Sprayable fence treatments

[Steve Walker]

Hi Gang -

I've got 24 rough timber fence panels to treat next weekend, my partner having finally decided (after nearly a year of dithering) that they are to be..... green.

Would much rather use something I can apply with a spraygun (have ordinary sort of diy compressor and gun), but a surprising number of treatments claim not to be sprayable. Cynically, I wonder if this is because they want to sell their own premium-price spraying kits. OTOH, the treatments are presumably emulsions of oil, wax & other muck, so perhaps they will clog up easily.

Anyhow, I would be really grateful for comments from people who've recently applied fence/shed treatments - quality, cost, and especially sprayability. If it kills small children and pets, that would be a decisive advantage..... :o)

Many thanks in advance

[Terry W.]

"Steve Walker" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Have just done 6 panels with B&Q Spray Gun and B&Q Fence Treatment - worked damn well except the damn spray went everywhere!!!! Including next door's new decking !

You must use "sprayable" stuff - the brushable (non-sprayable) stuff will clog up your sprayer. Also, don't leave the sprayer uncleaned for more than an hour or so as the stuff dries in the nozzle. You need to pump through a fair bit of clean water to thoroughly clean the system and especially the nozzle.

The six panels took about an hour to do. They look good.

Terry W.

[John Rumm]

In the past I have successfully sprayed traditional spirit based cuprinol using a pump up garden sprayer. The key to success here is to filter the stuff into the sprayer to catch any grit or rust first. Otherwise you will be forever clearing blocked nozzles.

Recently I bought some cuprinol sprayable stuff. Oddly, using my hozelock pump up sprayer the results were not that good. I tended to get a much too heavy coating of the stuff sitting on the surface in great globs. I expect that passed through a sprayer that atomises more finely (i.e. a traditional spray gun on a compressor) the results would have been better. In the end I found I could get reasonable results with this stuff if I watered it down a bit first. Then it covered ok without over gooing everything.

[DIY]

I have no experience of using an ordinary sort of diy compressor and gun for spraying fence and shed preservative, I just use a hand-pumped sprayer that is made for the job. Drift of the spray occurs so anything nearby that you don't want preservative on needs to be masked off. Drip-down and run-off also occurs so depending on what is at the bottom of the fence you may need to cover that.

[Doki]

Best case scenario for a good bodywork spraygun is 30% ish transfer efficiency, so you'll have around 70% (probably less, as I imagine wood treating needs far poorer atomisation than car paint, and therefore less pressure) of your wood stain going somewhere other than the panel. Bear this in mind...

[Steve Walker]

Thanks for everyone's replies. Appears that overspray is the challenge, and I shall take care accordingly.

[Mark]

I use an internal mix spray gun for fences and sheds, It will spray most viscosity's of preservative with minimal spray drift.

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[Steve Walker]

For the benefit of the studio audience....

Went with Ronseal Fence Life Sprayable - 'bout a tenner per 5l flagon from B&Q. Lumpy, strange texture and didn't spray especially well from my kit. Tried dilution, but didn't help a lot. Application was 'adequate' in that it gave good coverage and penetration of joints etc, but kept needing the brush to smooth out uneven volume/density. I suspect it's been designed to spray from their proprietary cordless sprayer, which I assume is a low-pressure device.

Second coat was done by traditional spouse-powered brush & pail, and was thus much easier (for me). Eventual finish is good, a nice deep colour and well-soaked into the wood.