I want to paint a fence, it has grime on it though - what to do?

Question

Hello all,

I am going to be painting a fence in the garden which has never been painted before.

It has the usual grime, dirt etc on it and I was wondering if I have to clean this off b4 I start - I don't want to have to power hose it down as I don't want to wet it - (painting it in a day).

is there any suggestions on how to clean it prior to painting without wetting it!!

Thanks,

Sophia

Answer 1

Take a hard wire brush ( you can get them at Home Depot ) and brush the grime off. This should hopefully be sufficient without having to go through power washing it. That way you don't have to wait for it to dry before painting it.

Answer 2

No, you really need to power wash it or you'll just be painting it again very soon. The paint will not stick to the dirt and grime. Depending on where you are I would imagine the fence should be dry by tomorrow. If you can't get access to a power washer you can hose it down and use a deck brush or another scrub brush to loosen the grime. With the weather being as hot as it has been there is no reason it shouldn't dry fast.

Answer 3

If you don't want to wet the fence then the best way to do this is to just srub the fence and paint it. But if i can suggest i would take the extra time to bleach the fench and scrub it after that to kill all the grime and things on it. because if you don't then you will spend the time painting it then it will not look as good as it should. If you don't get it off then it will come through on the new paint that you took time to do. So it would just be best to take the best thing to take the extra time to do it right that way you don't have to do it over.

Answer 4

There is probably no way to go around the fact that you will have to hose it down some. There is also this greatproduct you can buy at Wal-Mart...its called Spray Power. It is effective on everything from a grimey fence to laundry. I swear by it.

Answer 5

Wash it down by all means. By the time you have finished the first part will be dry so you can paint. I have always used creeosote and just slap it on to the bare wood but I presume you wanr to use an outdoor gloss

Answer 6

use a power washer there around 150 dollars but you can use it for around the house things such as siding cement walls etc.

just make sure you don't set the pressure to high or the fence will blister.

i have used mine on my fences before and takes that stuff right off

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Answer 9

if its a wooden fence brush all the dirt away give a light sand clean it again with brush than paint.

Answer 10

Just paint over it, first brush it with a dustpan brush to get rid of cobwebs and loose bits.