New fence panels: to treat or not to treat?

Apr 19, 2013 13 Replies

Must be spring - I've just been to Wickes for some replacment fence panels to sort the garden out...



Question: these things allegedly come pressure-treated and with a



10-year guarantee. Is it necessary/worthwhile to spray/treat them with anything else now, or is it OK just to fit them as-is? I'm sure it won't do any harm but is it worth the effort?

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Thanks


most of what you paint on is cosmetic only, so depends if you want to keep the colour or not

I'm interested to know what people think, I did the same and painted in creosote (the modern fake stuff before the H&S trolls step in) from the same supplier.

I seem to be finding the fence panels have not problems at all and nothing to worry about. The Fence posts is a different story. The main problem is the posts twisting from the concrete up.

I always creosote any wood I have to cut.

In days of yore they were dipped in an arsenic/copper fungicide after manufacture. So it's good to treat the nail holes anyway. Nowadays they use chrome based wood preservers, nowhere near as good.

They won't be pressure treated, too big to fit in an autoclave.

You usually find the things eventually fall apart when the nails/ staples fixing them together rust in any case. They are usually really s*it/poor quality galvanising. Often the wood is OK.

They go that horrid dirty silver/grey colour if you don't.

You mean that natural, weather beaten, driftwood look? I prefer it to all the Legoland colours

Actually I was looking for "dirty silver/grey"-coloured preserver in Wickes last night, in order to make the new panels match the old ones. No joy I'm afraid - I'm sure there's be a market for it!

Not sure whether to paint my new ones with something dark now, or just wait 2-3 years until they weather. I know the obvious answer would be to paint the whole lot the same (but it's quite a large garden, fenced on 3 sides, and most of the fence is overgrown with foliage)

I always paint them. The stuff is cheap. Did you fix your fridge?

Heh. Yes thanks - a highly expensive new thermostat did the job.

VX0 I think. 6 - 12?

CPC do fridge thermostats(kits) that fit most models for under a tenner

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Nah - £38! think I paid the price for buying a chreap and relatively obscure model of fridge in the first place; almost decided just to scrap it when I found the stat price. And believe me I did plenty of research trying to find it cheaper!

Bloody hell that's dear!! In 1995 I used to repair refrigeration. A common stat was 3.75 trade.

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