Advice for a wooden fence

I’m pressure washing a wooden privacy fence this week, about 60 feet in length and 9 feet in height. She wants to reprint it. What are the best ways to chip away paint or wood sealer? I’ve got 4,000psi hot water unit at 4gpm. First time on a fence job. Any insight is appreciated.

Re paint it *

If it is painted all you want to do is remove any loose material i.e. chips flaking etc. You are not taking it back to raw wood. I downstream SH to kill any mold in the wood and then PW at about 1000 psi, Make full passes on every board DO NOT stop to get a little something extra off that seems loose. You will cut the board and it will show up later. If you have spots that need a little more pressure still make a full pass but start further away at the end of the board and get closer to the spot that needs more, once past it start backing away again. That will allow you to apply more pressure without cutting the wood.


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Appreciate the help. I’m gonna lay down some plastic tarps and hold my wand at a slight angle about a foot away. Would you stick to cold water on this? I thought about turning my burner on.

I am on the run today so give me a call but I have never used hot water on wood. The fence will tell you how far away to hold the wand, that’s all a function of your machine, which tip etc.

How did your project turn out?

Mark Abelson

Sure Shot Stain and Seal

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Mark,

She ended up deciding to go with a paint contractor for that particular job. As stated I have 4gpm 4,000 psi hot water unit. Mainly I stick with commercial accounts and some residential. I have washed wooden decks, with my equipment I can cut into a 4x4 piece of wood and splinter it like an ax would do. Any recommendations on this??. I see your an expert in cleaning up wood and painting and sealing it.

I have a 4/4k machine and a 5.5/3500 and an 8/3500 too. It’s all about the spray tips and making full passes so you don’t cut lines in the wood. I don’t have hot water and have never needed it for wood. I use two different methods for cleaning depending on what the current coating is. If it’s water based (which I consider a paint) and is what you saw in the pic I sent then I am almost always going to go back on it with another water based product so then my prep is just like a painter’s on a house. Get all the loose and or flaking material off with the least amount of pressure I can. Let it dry and spray it. I usually use Sherman Williams Super Deck solid for those jobs. If it is oil based I usually downstream straight SH. First wet down vegetation, grass etc. then DS the SH for about 50’ of fence then going end to end with the grain I’ll use about 900 psi for the rinse. If there are metal poles make sure you rinse them well too or they will get white corrosion on them from the SH. Move to the next section. Don’t use much SH or pressure in the rinse on areas with a lot of sprinkler washout it is a mess because the wood is already compromised. Let it dry and reapply oil based stain. 97% of my work is fences, very few decks where I work. Mostly concrete pads and pergola’s.