creosoting a fence and not getting any on the concrete

[Fred]

Hi,

When we moved in our fence was rotten so we replaced it. That was easy enough: there were fence panels between concrete pillars. We lifted out the old ones and slotted in some new ones.

We had featheredged boards as we were told they were longer lasting and we preferred the look of them over the horizontal weave type that were there before.

The other year I went to treat them with creosote substitute. I was afraid of getting it all over the neighbour's land (I was painting both sides) and all over the concrete posts and gravel boards, so I lifted them out and sprayed them. Trouble was that they are a nuisance to lift so high to get out.

This year they are looking rather pale, so I thought this meant they needed another coat. Do they need treating every year? What a chore!

I thought I might try to treat them in situ by brush as if I spray it will go everywhere. What is the trick to spraying: spray the middle and them do the edges by brush?

Is it worth lifting the panel a few inches to paint the underneath?

I tried to make a start with a fat "fence" brush but I guess I loaded it with too much and it just dripped everywhere so I swapped it for a "normal" paintbrush. This was the kind of thing I gave up using:

there an advantage to using it? Should I try again?

Sadly I've got dribbles over the gravel boards from my earlier mistake. Is there a magic way to remove the creosote from the gravel boards. No doubt I'll get it over the posts when I try to treat the edges too ;(

I am using Wickes' creosote substitute.

TIA

[m1ss_wh1te]

And you think that's a wood preservative?

[john jardine]

I did mine (same concrete posts and barge boards) 3 weeks ago with the Wickes creosote. There's about 20 6'x6' panels and I've found they're perfectly OK with a good spray every 3 years (Lidl 5L pressure sprayer) and they've been up for 15 years now. In the process, I've learned not to worry too much the overspray, as it's just a 'mist' and only takes a couple of weeks for the sun to bleach out the dye colourant. Spraying only takes 2 hours to do the lot and I wouldn't dream of getting a brush out :)

[Phil L]

slide each board up a few inches as you are doing it, drape a sheet over concrete panel and away you go.

to sheild the posts from creosote, cut a piece of thin timber, hardboard or similar about 2 foot long and 3 or 4 inches wide, hold it against the concrete post and run your brush down

[John]

How long do they last if you don't treat them?

[Phil L]

IME feather edged boards last considerably longer than waney lap, maybe it's because the grain is upright, I don't know.

I wouldn't expect any fence panels to last beyond 5 years without treatment - they may 'look' OK, but closer inspection will often reveal early rot, especially at the bottoms and sides - these are the parts that stay wettest for the longest periods, being 'sealed' in where they touch the concrete, panels rarely go in the centre, those parts dry out quickly and have plenty of ventilation

[stuart noble]

The same length of time IME

[dave]

excellent :-)

[Fred]

I'm wondering whether it still is? The creocote has these warning letters: F, Xn: R36, R37, R38, R40, R51, R53, R65. I looked up what they meant and found one of them means "limited evidence of a carcinogenic effect".I wish I had worn gloves and a mask now! If there is evidence of harm why is it still for sale? Either it is safe or it isn't.

[Fred]

I'm beginning to wonder whether I am wasting my time treating the fence. I guess we've treated it every year but perhaps only for cosmetic reasons: it seemed lighter. Perhaps this was only a cosmetic bleaching by the sun though and perhaps the preservative action was unaffected? Only one neighbour regularly treats his fence and ironically the arris rail and a couple of posts have rotten so it will all have to be ripped out and replaced despite his care and attention.

OTOH the rest of the neighbourhood haven't done anything to their fences in all the time we've been here (4ish years). Some look a bit tatty but again it's cosmetic criticism rather than structural.

I looked in the Wickes booklet and see that there fences claim to be guaranteed rot-free fro ten and in some cases, fifteen years.

[Huge]

Simple minded observations like this are what lead to perfectly safe materials being banned on specious grounds.

[Fred]

Sorry for the late replies.

I bought an earlex powered sprayer some years ago. I think at the time I had a daft idea I could paint inside the house quickly with it. I quickly realised that was only an option if the room was completely empty and you wanted all four walls and the ceiling the same colour! Since then its only use has been for the fences.

I hadn't realised the over spray would fade so quickly; that's reassuring. You're right, some of the dribbles down the gravel board have faded already. They are nowhere near invisible but they are certainly much lighter than when they first happened. I wonder why the fence doesn't fade as fast? Perhaps it soaks into the wood more than it does the concrete and I suppose there is much more of it on the fence.

[Tim Downie]

Oh for heavens sake grow up. Nothing in life is simply safe or unsafe.

Tim

[Fred]

Seems I upset some people, sorry. Ok, I could have phrased it better, clearly there's a difference between drinking it, swimming in it, or using it on your fence, but the point I was trying to make was if when used as directed to treat fences it causes cancer, it seems wrong to be selling it imho.

[Tim Downie]

Keep out of the sun then. Seriously, nearly everthing that we handle or do carries a risk of some sort or another but people (perhaps understandably) get things out of proportion. As a society we obsess about some miniscule risks but are completely blind to others. For years no one worried about seatbelts. Who would travel without one now (apart from kids on the school run of course)?

The fact that someone has tried to quantify the risk associated with handling creosote make it loom large in your mind. Meanwhile, you almost certainly take much bigger avoidable risks elsewhere in your life.

Tim

[tony sayer]

this one a while ago..

Nothing they like more than a "Killer Bees fly South" scare;!.....