How to Prep a Fence for Painting?

Answer 1

There are a number of things to do before painting a fence, things that should not be ignored if the paint job is to be of a high quality. Repainting a poor job is not something that one wants to do every summer, but if any of the steps are ignored, that sort of repetition will be unavoidable--unless, of course, one is Tom Sawyer. But if the steps are followed, the resulting paint job will look beautiful and last for a long time.

The first step, and something often forgotten, is to mow the lawn. After that, a weed trimmer should be used to cut back any of the tall grass that was too close to the fence for the blades of the mower. This will ensure that grass doesn’t get stuck to the fence, and will also mean that the grass won’t have to be fought back for the entire painting process.

After the mowing, the fence will need to be cleaned. There will doubtlessly be dirt and other material along the bottom of the fence; this is especially true after the mowing, as the weed trimmer will have thrown debris against the fence and perhaps even stained it in places. Weed trimmers are not known for their cleanliness, and getting the fence clean afterwards is necessary so that the paint will stick and go down evenly.

The next step is to sand the fence. The weather and the age of the old paint will have combined so that there will be long runs of paint falling off. These need to be torn away completely; if the new paint is put over them, it will just flake off later, sometimes in a matter of days, ruining the whole job. The scratches and dents in the fence boards will also have to be smoothed out. This helps it look better, of course, but it also helps to make the brush strokes easier, as the brush will have less tendency to run over a long scar in the wood and drip paint down the front of the fence.

Finally, the fence will have to be brushed off. This can be done with a rag or an air hose. The sawdust from the sanding must be removed so that the paint will stick to the wood.