Cleaning green mould from a fence.

Hi there. Just wondering what you thought was the best method for cleaning a wooden fence prior to re-treating? The fence is 100% sound but has quite a heavy covering of green in places. I have a pressure washer available if necessary and there are plants to consider if detergents are used. Thanks.

 

Hi Raymond, as a retired Builder and used a jet wash many times this is what I would recommend with no addatives, just plain water. Dependent on the power of your washer and how close you put it to the fence, it can take off previous treatments so if you just did patches they may show up a different shade when you recoat. Also do a test area with the different sprays as some will fur up the timber, the one I suggest for this job is the flat spray, but as I said check first. Hope this helps.

 

I've always been fond of my Karcher "industrial strength" jet wash, It'd take the paint off my car and the grouting out of my York stone patio, if I wasn't careful.
You need the "rotating lance" the one with the ball bearing or whatever in it that makes a spray rather than a jet to do fences otherwise you end up with lines on it.
I have to get suited up to use it and after doing the drive the fence to one side of my drive and the patio, I have to go round afterwards with the garden hose to wash down the grit that gets "bounced" up onto the concrete base panels of the fence and the side wall of the house, the windows etc.,

There's an easier way to get rid of the green mold on fences and paths.
A mild solution of cheap bleach in a garden pressure spray.
A neighbour, a retired Liverpool docks crane driver, now sadly passed away, did his paths and fence this way every few weeks and everything remained spotless.

I just find using the jetwash rather therapeutic, but it is messy.

 

I guess it depends on how long your fence is and, to a lesser extent, who owns the fence. I'd think twice about using a pressure washer on my side of my neighbour's fence (he's quite 'picky' about his fence!). Having cut back his ivy on my side of his fence, I ascertained from my neighbour he was happy for me to apply preservative, in the event I just scrubbed away the offending green algae with a wire brush.

 

Thanks for the advise. Job done. I advised my neighbour that I was going to pressure wash the fence and that some water would inevitably come his way and he was ok with that. Looks ten times better already and will be great when the fresh preserve goes on.

 

I had the same problem but I fixed it. If you still need an advice my wooden fence looks much better and much lighter in color after it was cleaned using simply spray & walk away. I bought this product as a concentrate and then dilute with water, it was much cheaper that way. I sprayed the mixture over my 8 ft wooden fence using a garden sprayer. You could do a small test area first. I hope this will work for you too.