Spraying a fence with Creocote

TerrysWorld

I have feathered edge fencing some 2mts high and approx. 20mts long on one side of the garden.

Wanting to spray the fence using Creocote.

Any tips of which sprayer to use, Hand pump or Electric pump from your experience.

Thanks

pansyface

A gentle, easily controlled one. Although creocote isn’t the 100% toxic substance that creosote was it is still pretty evil stuff and will kill anything it lands on, be that plant or animal.  Choose a still day and try to protect the area below and in front of the fence so that any drift from the spray lands on that rather than your garden.

K67

If you have 20m to do you are probably better off with an electric one but as pansy says be careful especially doing near the top of the fence if you have a neighbours garden the other side or they have animals.
Is there a reason why you want to use  creosote rather than a fence paint?

TerrysWorld

K67 said:

If you have 20m to do you are probably better off with an electric one but as pansy says be careful especially doing near the top of the fence if you have a neighbours garden the other side or they have animals.
Is there a reason why you want to use  creosote rather than a fence paint?

Found waterbased paints leaving a film or washes out over time, where found creocote penetrates better and weathers.

As for over spraying over the top of the fence I would use a piece of thin hardboard.

mk14steve

The water based fence paints only keep out water they don't preserve the wood. Fence posts are best treated with preservative - like creocote - particlularly at their base. Fence posts will rot at the point where the post touches the surface of the soil. Above the soil the post will stay sound and below the surface the post will stay sound (because there is insufficient oxygen below the surface). So to ensure the posts last longer, preservative at the base of the posts is the only answer.

However, as for spraying, I have used a pump sprayer for this task but it is not the most efficient. Creocote is quite "thick" - not as thick as paint, more like double cream consistency. It is very difficult to get a fine "spray" from it and it comes out more like a "stream". This means too much creocote comes out and most of it just runs down the wood and is quite wasteful. However, the base of the posts and the gravel boards (where they touch the soil) are now done with creocote. The rest of the fence is best done with the usual fence paint and with a brush.

I just wish I could solve the fine spray problem. I haven't tried thinning it yet to see if that makes for a fine spray but might experiment.

Allotment Boy

I tried a sprayer once,  it was a disaster. Brush is much easier to control and more thorough. 

nick615

Allotment Boy  has the answer.  I'd suggest you owe it to those around you (and yourself come to that) to reduce the risks of spraying as much as possible.  If there's a plastic fencing firm near you, it's quite possible they'll have some old stock plastic post material they'll be prepared to sell you.  I found such an outlet near here, from whom I bought five 8ft lengths @ €5 each.  They have a steel core running up through them (detachable) so I sawed them to the required length.  I'm encouraged to suggest this because, if I can find them in the boondocks of West Cork, they should be easier to source in the South Wales conurbations like Newport?  That just leaves the panels themselves to apply with a brush, but the uprights will be more or less permanent.

Lyn

As this post is from a year ago, I’d like to think that Terry had finished his fence by now. 

TerrysWorld

Hi,

Yes I finished the fence early Oct 2021.
I sprayed the fence with decking oil, but anyone doing this it is strongly advised to wear a mask when spraying. 
The job itself was ok once the spray setting was found as not to run but a good covering.
Still good as we speak.

Lyn

Nice to hear from you Terry,  it’s good to get a follow up.