Fence Painting

I am dirty, tired, and covered in paint chips. I assaulted the fence today, and I’m not sure who won. It certainly has more forces in reserve than I feel that I do right now. however, one 50′ section (solid, 5′ high, cedar) has been scraped, wire brushed, hosed down, treated for mildew, and hosed down again. It is now drying in preparation for an application of “exterior” primer tomorrow morning. As has been noted previously, prepping for painting is vastly more of a pain in the ass than the painting itself.

Fences should never, ever be painted. If this fence had been left plain wood, or had been just stained, it would be in much better shape right now, and the process today would have included hosing and maybe mildew treatment. There would have been no 5 hours of “scrape scrape scrape.” I hereby add “painting your fence” to “putting up non-vinyl wallpaper” on the list of “things that mean you may never, ever, by law, sell your home.

At least the previous owner did his usual cheap, crap-ass job on the paint (single coat, no primer), and it came off pretty easily.

I have another 50′ on the other side, and then the “please God no” 8′ high section in the back. Fortunately, I don’t have to do the opposite side of those, because I’m not on good enough terms with those neighbors to even care.