Fence, step 1

When we began researching applying a protective stain to our fence the products' directions insisted that the wood must be cleaned first for best results. Both my husband and my mother in law thought that cleaning the fence would be a waste of time, energy and money. I was not about to go through the long and expensive process of staining the fence without getting the best results. I demanded that we do the cleaning step. We bought the cleaner and a sprayer to apply it with because the cleaner specified using a sprayer and that "no scrubbing is required". The sprayer reminds me of a grown up and boring supersoaker. You have a plastic jug with a pump handle. Attached to the jug is a wand that sprays the cleaner. You have to stop to pump fairly frequently. Following the directions we sprayed on the cleaner starting at the bottom of the plank and went up. We then let the cleaner sit for 10 minutes and then had to hose off the wood. The product stated that if we used as directed it would not harm vegetation or pets. The result as you can see above was rather dramatic. I am pretty sure that the main ingredient was bleach. It smelled like bleach and caused pale dots on our clothes like bleach. In the end I was also wet and cold because my job was to use the hose and spray down the wood and surrounding grass. Unfortunately the hose we borrowed from ron's parents had some...issues. Lets just say that there was water spraying out of more than just the nozzle on the end and that duct tape is not as effective with wet. Next weekend we should be able to finish the last segment of fence closest to our neighbor's house. Then we will begin staining the fence. Sometimes being an adult is exhausting and expensive.