A wood fence can add charm to a home’s landscape that’s often hard to achieve with more industrial fencing substances, such as iron fencing. However, wood fences quickly succumb to a vast range of problems, such as mildew growth, bug invasions and general rotting. A good coat of paint can help safeguard your wood fence and keep it looking glossy and bright each year. Before painting your wood fence, you must first give it a coat of primer to seal the timber.
Check the type of timber with that your fence is created. Fences made out of red species of timber, such as cedar or Douglas fir timber, need an alkyd- or oil-based primer. The alkyd or oil particles keep the red particles from the wood from bleeding into the final coat of paint, that could result in strange, muddled coloring. For any other sort of timber, an acrylic latex primer or oil primer will suffice.
Confirm that the primer contains a mildewcide and zinc oxide in its list of features or ingredients. Mildewcide kills existing mildew spores that could be in the timber fence, while zinc helps prevent mildew from growing after you’ve painted the fence. This is especially critical if your garden includes a warm and humid microclimate, which is especially prone to mildew problems.
Read the primer’s label and make sure it works well with the type of paint you plan to apply it after it has dried. Some primer products are specifically formulated for certain styles of paint, such as high-gloss paint. If you presently have a paint chosen for your fence, the primer you select must be compatible with it.
Search for volatile organic compounds ratings if you are concerned about the potential health problems associated with formaldehyde, benzene and other VOCs in primer and other paint products. Some paint primers carry ratings that identify them as either using no VOCs or low VOCs.
Choose the priciest primer inside your budget if all other factors and attributes between your choices are equal. When it comes to primer and other paint products, you normally get what you pay for, and also more expensive alternatives are typically higher in quality.