What to use on these beams?

[nalakitty]

We have these on the outside of our house, as privacy screen. There are 10 of these, each 3m in length. Just got a quote of £3k to have them freshened up and painted. Im crap at diy but now outsourcing is too expensive an option. What kind of varnish or coat would you suggest?

Thank you

Add a picture

sorry. meant to add a photo. thank you for the reminder!

They look like oak to me. You could sand blast them but if you’re not careful you could
make a mess. If you have the time and the elbow grease to spare then a belt sander with low grit paper will strip them back. Then finish as you choose- I prefer osmo polyx for my wood finishes, but outside you might prefer a harder wearing varnish.

if you belt sand them it will take a long time. A VERY LONG time. You can hire a sand blaster for around £150. If you get the beams down before and have them all lined up ready to go you could be done in a few hours. Just remember to have appropriate PPE to protect yourself from the sandblasting dust, cause it’s very bad for your lungs. I’d be getting disposable overalls and a full face mask with a filter on it. Then when you’re done you can throw the overalls away and just change the filter cartridges.

Fence paint - cheap east to apply

Grow some vine along and up them

This is not my idea of diy 😂 I was hoping sand paper or some sort of hand tool would do. No way i can operate a machine...without cutting my own fingers or someone elses...

@Hiddenmnetter , is there any non-machine alternative?

Sanding those without machinery would take quite literally hundreds of hours. It can be done, but if you earn at least £10/hour you’d be better off paying a professional. You could reasonably with hand tools and sandpaper expect one of those to take you 30-40 hours to sand…at least. That’s if you’re strong and able to maintain a consistent decent pressure.

what is the risk of applying the coating without proper sanding?

will the coating be just effective and its just a matter of look? or the coating will not stick to uneven surface?

Depends what’s on there already. If it’s oiled then you should be able to apply lots of different options over the top of it. Certainly any other oil will apply over the top. It will change the look is all. If it’s varnish then it will prevent most other finishes from adhering and it won’t work. From the picture it looks like oil or stain so should be fine.

phew! im going to try diy then. thank you