Shed and Fence Preserver

Ronseal Shed and Fence Preserver

Our Shed and Fence Preserver is an all round garden life saver. It protects your wood from rot, decay, wood burrowing insects and wood discolouring fungi like blue stain. Its all in one formula adds colour and waterproofs, so your garden wood will look great for longer.

Before You Start

Make sure the surface you’re protecting is clean, dry and free from any coatings like paint, varnish or stain. You’ll need to replace any decayed wood with healthy timber. Replace at least 45cm past the rotted area to get the best results. This will make it look better, and once it’s treated, you won’t ever have to worry about replacing it again.

Using your preserver

Before you start, give this tin a good shake, this’ll give you a consistent colour. If possible, shake occasionally throughout use. You can either brush it on or dip apply. For the end grains we’d recommend dipping to makes sure that the preserver completely soaks into the wood. You’ll need to put on 3 coats, this will give you the best colour and protection. Leave 24 hours between each coat, and avoid any contact with bitumen, bitumen felt or mastics and plastics. Low temperature and increased humidity will increase drying times.

Clean Up

Scrape as much preserver off your brush as you can then clean with a paint brush cleaner. Don’t empty any left over preserver into drains or watercourses. Your local authority may have special ways to get rid of unused paints.

How to recognise dry rot

Dry rot might appear as white, fluffy, cotton wool like growths or in white or grey sheets. You may also find grey or white branching strands, up to 6mm wide spreading on brickwork or behind plaster. Rusty red, pancake shaped, fruit bodies can also mean that you have a dry rot problem. Wood under attack from dry rot shrinks and splits in large, brick shaped pieces across the grain and is dry and brittle.

How to recognise wet rot

Wet rot is a fungal attack and can cause the surface of the wood to darken. Decayed wood splits along the grain and smaller cubes of wood are formed as a result. The wood may also become soft and spongy. Thin, brown, branching strands of fungi may form on the surface of the timber under attack.

How to recognise insect attack

Insect attack can be recognised by small, round flight holes on the surface of the wood or by tunnels in the wood. New holes will show clean, fresh timber inside them and fine, gritty powder can be seen on the surface or beneath the site of activity.