Fence paint conundrum - help!

[domesticextremist]

OK, so after painting the shed, the predicted September sun has prompted me to try and paint the fence.
The panels are quite old and knackered but with a lick of paint should hold together of a couple of years more,
so I don't want to incur the expense of using Garden shades (nice but pricey, and would still need two coats) or the effort of sanding down what is already there - not least because it could do more damage than good.

Oh and I'm on the edge of the Peak District where we get lots of weather.
They need something doing before the winter rain turns them to mush and the summer sun turns them to dust.

Of course they are in a dismal shade of Dark Oak (I know because there was a half-empty tub of FenceLife left in the shed).
I have tried to cover it with FenceLife Forest Green but to no avail:




Spot the difference...
It looks even worse when the sun comes out.


So does anybody have a sure fire, cheap solution for obliterating dismal Dark Oak?


"It's like an onion. You keep peeling back the layers until all you have left are your tears"

[Postmodern Smoking]

How many coats of FenceLife Forest Green have you tried? If it's something that you already have, another coat might be the cheapest answer?

[domesticextremist]

Just the one so far.
I don't want to end up doing three or four, I have a lot of fence to paint and the weather will only hold for so long.

The last two previous onwers had a penchant for strong, indelible colours inside and out.
The back bedroom was purple, over baby pink vinyl silk.
The front bedroom battleship grey vinyl silk.
I discovered after applying many coats of my paint that the best thing to do is to use grey emulsion to hide the colour, then overpaint with something less hideous.
I'm thinking of trying the same on the fence (charcoal or slate), but if the grey is as transparent as the green I may just end up with another tub of unused paint cluttering up the place.

[Postmodern Smoking]

I'd first try a second coat on your 'test' panel.... allow to dry and then reassess. A second coat can make a huge difference.

From your pic .... it doesn't look that bad for a single coat.

[thebishman]

I painted over that red brown colour with a charcoal garden shades paint. Took 2 coats to be 100% but well worth the money imo

[domesticextremist]

Sept 12, 2020 17:08:52 GMT Postmodern Smoking said:

I'd first try a second coat on your 'test' panel.... allow to dry and then reassess. A second coat can make a huge difference.

From your pic .... it doesn't look that bad for a single coat.

Well, it's worth a shot.
I read around some reviews, most of them angrily complaining that "this is not one coat", having to have used 3 to 5 to get decent coverage over whatever was underneath. (Why didn't I read these first?).

I think I'll invest in some grey and do some experiments, because science and it's fairly cheap.

[Postmodern Smoking]

I've yet to find a 1 coat paint, despite some manufacturer's claims!

[domesticextremist]

Sept 12, 2020 17:55:03 GMT thebishman said:

I painted over that red brown colour with a charcoal garden shades paint. Took 2 coats to be 100% but well worth the money imo

I'm not really into grey as a wall colour - I find it a bit depressing.
But I will happily use it as an undercoat.
Watch this space.

[thebishman]

Sept 12, 2020 18:32:30 GMT domesticextremist said:

Sept 12, 2020 17:55:03 GMT thebishman said:

I painted over that red brown colour with a charcoal garden shades paint. Took 2 coats to be 100% but well worth the money imo

I'm not really into grey as a wall colour - I find it a bit depressing.
But I will happily use it as an undercoat.
Watch this space.

I would just give it 2nd coat tbh. Think it will work

[phtumshk]

the green panel on the right looks fine to me.
well it looks better than the brown ones anyway.

[DaveJ]

Sorry - can't offer any help for the fence painting. Not a job I'd fancy ....

But:

Sept 12, 2020 16:26:17 GMT domesticextremist said:

I discovered after applying many coats of my paint that the best thing to do is to use grey emulsion to hide the colour, then overpaint with something less hideous.

I've had situations inside where regular paint simply didn't cover well even after several coats. Either because the existing colour was too deep/strong or, in one particularly troublesome place, stains kept coming through (rat piss stains in the ceiling). I found that the local big box hardware recommended and supplied a shellac based stain seal/primer/undercoat. It worked exceptionally well. And, being shellac based, it is pretty universal for what it will cover and what will cover it.

I believe it was something like this: www.zinsseruk.com/product/cover-stain/

Good luck with your garden improvement/makeover.

[domesticextremist]

Sept 13, 2020 6:03:45 GMT DaveJ said:

Sorry - can't offer any help for the fence painting. Not a job I'd fancy ....

But:

Sept 12, 2020 16:26:17 GMT domesticextremist said:

I discovered after applying many coats of my paint that the best thing to do is to use grey emulsion to hide the colour, then overpaint with something less hideous.

I've had situations inside where regular paint simply didn't cover well even after several coats. Either because the existing colour was too deep/strong or, in one particularly troublesome place, stains kept coming through (rat piss stains in the ceiling). I found that the local big box hardware recommended and supplied a shellac based stain seal/primer/undercoat. It worked exceptionally well. And, being shellac based, it is pretty universal for what it will cover and what will cover it.

I believe it was something like this: www.zinsseruk.com/product/cover-stain/

Good luck with your garden improvement/makeover.

I've heard of Zinser BIN primer and used some cover-all on some water staining.
However I have 11 panels to paint and BIN primer would be ruinously expensive.

[thebishman]

Just give it a good 2nd coat 😎👍

[DaveJ]

Sept 13, 2020 19:08:40 GMT domesticextremist said:

Sept 13, 2020 6:03:45 GMT DaveJ said:

Sorry - can't offer any help for the fence painting. Not a job I'd fancy ....

But:
I've had situations inside where regular paint simply didn't cover well even after several coats. Either because the existing colour was too deep/strong or, in one particularly troublesome place, stains kept coming through (rat piss stains in the ceiling). I found that the local big box hardware recommended and supplied a shellac based stain seal/primer/undercoat. It worked exceptionally well. And, being shellac based, it is pretty universal for what it will cover and what will cover it.

I believe it was something like this: www.zinsseruk.com/product/cover-stain/

Good luck with your garden improvement/makeover.

I've heard of Zinser BIN primer and used some cover-all on some water staining.
However I have 11 panels to paint and BIN primer would be ruinously expensive.

No, not for outside. Hence my saying "can't help with the fence".

And agree, Zinsser ain't cheap. Likely it isn't suitable for external use either.

But for those problem internal surfaces ... like covering old tobacco smoke stains, kero heater stains, animal stains, very stong past colours - which can all blead thro follow on top coats - a dedicated "stain blocker" primer makes things much easier.

[domesticextremist]

Sept 13, 2020 19:34:18 GMT thebishman said:

Just give it a good 2nd coat 😎👍

Experimental results are in!



Write this down in your notebooks

Left to right: 0, 1 and 2 coats of FenceLife+ Slate
Top to bottom: 0, 1 and 2 coats of FenceLife "Onecoat" (pah!) Forest Green.

Even two coats of green allows the brown to frown through.
Two coats of grey is a bit much, and that shows through too

Looks like one coat of grey and one coat of green will give a perfectly cromluent result.

I'm following the science...