How shall I paint (white) a new cedar picket fence? It was installed last fall so it

[tru]

has weathered 4 mos.? I will be helping to paint this fence that belongs to my family. So ultimately I will not be making all of the decisions.

First of all - I know the fence ought to be STAINED, not painted. But they want a white picket fence. So it is going to be painted white. they should not have bought cedar in this case. But that is water under the bridge.

Next, they seem to think that "we" will be sitting on chairs with brushes and priming the entire fence and then painting it. The fence is huge (around a corner house). When the idea of using a sprayer comes up it is met with contempt because it will spray 'All over cars, grass, and other peoples houses."

Is it me...or are they making too big of a deal about this??? Wouldn't any professional painter use a sprayer? Wouldn't painting it by hand take FOREVER???

What should be done and how should I explain it so that I am not one of the people sitting out there with a brush all summer long????

 

[cottonlily84]

My granny has a picket fence and that's a chore every year. Someone had to come and replace pickets or entire panels and repaint the flaking ones. It's a pain. Painting a picket fence by hand is the worst. You have to get four sides of the picket and four sides of the support boards, then you do the posts too. You get paint all over you and your hands cramp like you're 93. Using a sprayer is much much easier but you can expect to buy more paint this way since a lot will be over sprayed.

I totally agree with your second paragraph. I cannot fathom covering up a beautiful cedar anything with paint. Blah, the horror! My only suggestion would be to white wash rather than paint the fence. At least you could save a little grain to show through. I know you've thrown in the white towel too but I still don't get why they bought cedar to paint... But letting wood weather doesn't mean you can't stain or paint it. It actually should adjust to its new outdoor environment before you do either.