Fence Cleaning Estimate?

[4000psi 16]

I have an estimate tomorrow for cleaning a fence so the guy can treat it. How do you measure...charge per foot or what. All help welcome thanks.

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Hi Dane,

Fence work is not usually worth all that much but the good news is that it is fast easy work with right equipment...

Walk/linear measure it, multiply by height to get your sq. ft., multiply by your wood cleaning rate. In there lay the problem with a basic fence clean rate being much lower than a fully inclusive strip/restore of a deck that might include screw or nail setting,defurring, sanding, more area protecting chores, etc....

Basic low entry rate for fence work is between .55-.65 per sq. ft. with .30-.35 of that being staining materials and stainging labor. Leaves you only a tad over .20 per sq. for just a clean in most case. By all means if it small then you got to work off an increased minimum hourly rate of at least $125 an hour since you got to use wood chems to clean and then you also need to include the neutralize/brighten step.

Do you know how to do wood cleaning?. It not same as flat work. No high pressure is used and a neutralizing/brightening step is needed after you clean.

[4000psi 16]

To be honest, i've never done wood work. What he wants done is just to clean the fence so he can treat it. What chems do you recommend for cleaning/brightening?

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Options vary depending on wood condition and personal preference with a dose of respect to things like plant life or other surroundings.

-For stripping duties in removing old sealers and failing stains or in removing lots of grayed out wood folks go with sodium or potassium hydroxide based cleaners. (is lye, draino, oven cleaner/caustic). Purest form it comes as flakes or crystals.

Surfactants and other chems are often added by industry manufactures or contractors to achieve increased performance on various finishes or to make a clingy situation for verticle surfaces. ... Generally they can damage painted surroundings, plant life, or you if misused..

-For lighter cleaning of grayed wood some go with sodium percarbonate. (is wood bleach, colorsafe bleach). Comes as a powder.... Considered much safer all around but has short use life after mixed (half day or so).

-Some use regular bleach (sodium hypochlorite) only in situations of mold or moss. And some swear by and use it more generally for everything but the stripping duties. Works faster than percarbonate but is not for stripping finish and does not make for a degreaser on it's own. Can damage plants and bleach your clothes..

-For the neutralizing/brightening folks use citric or oxalic acid, or a combination of the two. Comes as crystals. The Oxalic is generally stronger and less can be used than the citric but it is said that it dries wood out more than citric making for increased stain usage. I chose to view it as opening the wood better to except what you want to put in it. I also believe it works faster and does a better job of bringing out wood color. It is however not considered very safe at all and is poisonous to humans. Got to use protections when handling it where as citric is way safe and in food and makeups, etc..

-Some bigbox stores will have weak versions of combo cleaners/brighteners all in one.