Advise me on touching up a painted fence and gate, please.

[Belleview]

Some of the paint is flaking. It's Cuprinol. Do I need to sand? Do I need to prime?

The gate could do with repainting, though it isn't flaking. It's been painted for many long years, tis good paint that Cuprinol.

I'm tempted to just add another layer, but want to do a good job that will last several more years yet.

[PigletJohn]

Is it really paint, or is it a waxy water-repellent fence stain?

What colour?

[Belleview]

Yes it's paint. Cream colour.

[Belleview]

I've got some exterior primer, but it's not easy to work with, it takes forever to dry and Is quite liquid... Currently the Cuprinol is in good nick, but some areas like on the top of fence posts and top of gate are worn and slightly flaky. I'm not sure what to do. If I go for just touching up, it will be simple, and probably become an annual event. It's a twenty year old fence, I painted it twenty years ago and have redone it only once or twice in that time.
How long do fences last?! This one has plenty of life in it, and I want to take care ofit.

[PigletJohn]

If it is flaky, any loose material needs to be taken off to reach a sound surface, the, primed, undercoated and topcoated. If the gate is fairly rough, you can use a hand (not a power) wire brush, because sandpaper only works on quite flat surfaces. Firmly adhering paint does not need to be taken off or primed. You could clean it with a nylon scrubbing brush and rise with a hosepipe, allow to dry very thoroughly before repainting.

I would certainly prefer a microporous/breathing coating on outdoor timber exposed to the weather. It is very unusual to use paint on a fence because you can't keep it dry.

If you have access to a power washer/jetsprayer you could try the nozzle on a bit of the fence to see if it takes the old paint off, should you ever need to. This is a way of stripping off waxy fencestain.

[PigletJohn]

p.s.
fences mostly fail when the posts rot and break off just above ground level, where there is both water and air in the right proportions for rot to thrive.

Thin fence boards and slats tend not to rot because they are either too wet (during rain) or too dry (in sun)

Rain will penetrate through any upward-facing knots and end-grain in thicker timber, and they will rot. You can get caps for the tops of fenceposts (and flagpoles) to keep the rain out.

[PigletJohn]

oil-based aluminium wood primer is very durable.

[QOD]

What you do is fill a massive industrial type paint sprayer and spray your entire fence

Sadly dear neighbour also sprayed the side of our house, 2 windows and our decking.

Bless him. Cost him a fair bit to put right and then he also painted our side of said fence as it had gushed through

Good luck

[Belleview]

It's a picket fence, so spraying is out! I've scrubbed it clean and apparently we are in for some hot dry weather, so I'll sand flaky bits and use the oil based primer that I don't like working with, but it's good for wood apparently. Then I'll Cuprinol it.

Thankyou for the input. I noticed the posts just above ground level took a lot of cleaning. Thankyou for alerting me to that as a vulnerable area. I think I might sand and prime and repaint that area just as a precaution. Actually tomorrow I'll give it a bit of a prod, to make sure it's not softening. I've got some wet rot wood hardener in the shed. Make hay while the sun shines, eh.

Next job up after fence is front door!

[Belleview]

Actually John I'm Calling it paint because it's opaque. But it might not be. I long ago decanted it into smaller containers for ease of use. Big old tins of 'paint' get rusty in the shed.