Our new home has a fence around our back yard, but it's quite weathered and growing a great deal of green on it. I'd like to brighten it up but stripping/cleaning it and applying a clear stain.

Does anyone have experience doing such a thing? I've tried a few things already but it's turning into a massive job using the methods I've tried:

Power washing: takes an eternity, and potentially damages the wood through splintering.

Chemical wash #1: 1 gallon of water, 8 cups of bleach, and 1 cup of TSP. This kind of worked, but it mostly whitened the wood instead of cleaning it. It got an okay amount of mold off, though.

Chemical wash #2: 1 gallon of water, no bleach, and 1 cup of TSP. This didn't do much.


I'm going to look into some other washes, but I'm not sure what to use. What I'd love to know is what chemicals they're using in this video! I've seen a few videos from this company but I can't tell what they're using...

I was told that you just spray water/bleach on a couple times and over a week or two, let it sit and it kills the green algae. You then wash/sand it to a nicer finish. I’ve always just pressure washed decks using a 2700 psi pressure washer. It was pretty fast.

And for sealing it I would not recommend Thompson’s clear water sealer. There are two kinds, one that allows the wood to turn gray and one that doesn’t. I got the one that was supposed to keep the wood looking new but my oak still turned gray.

Maybe this is the stuff?