Sprinkler Stains on a Fence

[Mountain View 14]

This is a before, during, and after of a fence I just did. It's about 7 years old and never been touched, except by years of chlorinated water from sprinklers. The customer is very happy with the results. The bleached wood wasn't really furred up, just very very bleached out from years of sprinklers. There are a few spots around wood knots that didn't seem to take to the new stain (Bakers Super Cedar, two coats).

[DAVID V 22]

Pete, Nice job. What did you clean it with?

David

[Mountain View 14]

There was a whole bunch of mold on this one (that side of the fence faced north and got almost no direct sunlight) so I used a bleach solution (about 2% hitting the fence) with a 20 minute dwell time then rinsed with a 2025 tip at about 18 inches. Applied a medium strength Ox solution and was about to rinse that when the sky opened up with heavy rain and lightning so I had to grab my stuff and run! I left mother nature to do the rinse of the Ox. Went back a few days later and put on two coats of Bakers Super Cedar. I'm guessing the knots in the wood have old dry sap in them that blocked the stain from soaking in. I told the customer that I would do the best I could about the sprinkler "bleach out", he was cool with that and understood that even I can't work miracle. Like I said, he and his wife are happy with it which is what counts.

[seymore 90]

Looks good Pete but i think you could have hit "only" the sprinkler stains again to blend them in a little darker. :cool:

nice job for a NEwbIE! :D

[Mountain View 14]

Ahh, the master speaks words of wisdom. Actually, I did hit them pretty heavy. Any more and it would have started to run down the darn thing. Those areas were pretty saturated.

[seymore 90]

Yerah i know what you mean but those areas would actually darken up with a coat of stain after a few weeks or so.The customer could DIY if you left them some touch up.Now if they are happy with the job then let it be. :cool:

[Mountain View 14]

That's a thought, I may explore that with them. Actually, when I went to take the final pictures today I locked my keys and cell phone in the truck (comments not needed, thank you) so I went to a neighbors house to borrow thier phone to call my wife so she could let me in the truck (I took her out to lunch after that). I got talking to the lady and will probably get a fence strip/stain job out of it. There's always a ying to a yang!

[seymore 90]

Cool ....now if you strip the back side the chems are bound to soak thru and also the stain thru the knots.

Say Hi to Mariella for me :D