Pickets and scaffold boards

Tin pot

Hi all,

Placed an order for pickets to replace on my front garden fence - I visited the timber yard and noticed the pickets are a bit rough, as opposed to my current ones than at perfectly smooth.

With 40+ pickets, sanding will be a job and a half.  Could layers of paint do the trick?

Im also placing behind the picket fence scaffold board to stop the soil and debris spilling onto the pavement and rotting the pickets - also to raise the depth of soil available.  Is it worth painting the board for protection and aesthetics?  Or just line with plastic on the soil side?

Cheers

tp

Fairygirl

I wouldn't bother painting the scaffold board, but if you had some dark woodstain/paint, that would disguise it a bit when seen from outside. I've lined all the bottom planks of my fence in the back garden to help with excess moisture, but only because they're right to the ground in many places. 
I wouldn't worry about sanding the picket struts. If you're really concerned, a quick scuff over the fronts, and maybe the tops, with coarse sandpaper would take the worst edges off. The paint will certainly cover any rough bits and pieces. You'd need a few coats of paint anyway 

hogweed

I would bite the bullet and sand all your fencing. 40+ pickets using an electric sander with a coarse grit paper, will not take that long to do - couple of hours tops. You will reap the benefit in the long run. And they will look a lot better. 

Skandi

If it's really rough I would get a file and do it that way. easier and faster than sandpaper, unless of course you have an electric sander.