Cleaning a wood Fence?

[orion25]

I have about 300 feet of 6ft privacy fence around my back yard. It was installed in late 2005. I had been meaning to seal it but never got around to it.......... Well I used a pressure washer to clean the 2 sides (about 30 ft total) that are visible from the street.That took 2+ hours

Is there any chemical I can apply to the fence to help remove the grime that will not require 4 passes with the pressure washer on each 6 inch board? The way I see it I will be spending about 40 or so hours to pressure wash both sides of the fence using my current method (300 ft. X 2 sides at 15 ft per hour). The water costs and PW gas alone would cost me $150 easily if I did this. Not to mention the wood sealant.

I need a cleaner that will clean the wood enough for a wood protectant to be applied. I do not care if the chemical is a PW applied, pressure sprayer (garden sprayer) or water hose end sprayer type application. I just need to clean this fence so I can get a good water seal on it.

 

[jonewby]

Re: Cleaning a wood Fence?

I used an Olympic Deck and Fence cleaner with a garden tank type sprayer. Let it "work" for a few minutes and hose off. Very good results.

 

[captain zac]

Re: Cleaning a wood Fence?

Lowes
outdoor bleach I put it into a windex window cleaner bottle, Its the kind of windex that is used for windows that you can not reach. it has a valve that allows you to siphon out product.
spray it on and wait rinse off with water. then seal after dried out

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Cleaning a wood Fence?

Lowes
outdoor bleach I put it into a windex window cleaner bottle, Its the kind of windex that is used for windows that you can not reach. it has a valve that allows you to siphon out product.
spray it on and wait rinse off with water. then seal after dried out

+1 on the bleach .... it will kill mold and moss.

I used pool chlorine tablets in a pressure washer and wow did that work.... it will kill grass at that strength.

 

[dave11]

Re: Cleaning a wood Fence?

Go to a pool supply store and buy a gallon or two of their clorine which is actually bleach. It is about 3 to 4 times stronger than the bleach you get at the grocery store, so be careful with it. It works great.

 

[scrobo]

Re: Cleaning a wood Fence?

+1 on the bleach .... it will kill mold and moss.

I used pool chlorine tablets in a pressure washer and wow did that work.... it will kill grass at that strength.

I'll throw my hat in with the chlorine. My PW soap dispenser fits the "chlorine hockey pucks" perfectly. I did my picnic table (came with the house) and it used to be black as coal. Nice light tan colour now. It makes a damn nice job of the white siding too

 

[orion25]

Re: Cleaning a wood Fence?

I just got through with a 50 ft section of the fence using Olympic Deck & Fence cleaner. This stuff is amazing! I used a garden sprayer to apply it. I sprayed the top and bottom first and then the middle sections. By the time I got to the middle the top and bottom looked like new wood! I will be finishing bothsides of the fence in the next week or so. With the PW only it would have been a month or so