Painting my fence with old engine oil

[Tomyspeedy]

So as the title says, I have some old engine oil to drain and recycle from my bike. I've heard of old boys painting their fences with it, is this advised?

Thoughts and opinions on doing so?

[Frank Bullitt]

I do this, I use a 50/50 mix it with Creosote. The smell is pretty harsh to begin with but after a week is nearly non existent, just make sure it all goes on the fence and posts and not in the ground

[Tomyspeedy]

Do you have any issues from neighbours?

Would it not wash out eventually and cause a 'environmental hazard'?

[Frank Bullitt]

No problem with the neighbours, they might moan if they knew exactly what I was using but as it mostly smells of Creosote they just assume that is all I use.

 

It's doesn't wash out or off like the more modern eco-friendly stuff I tried before going the old school route. Using the old motor oil/creosote mix actually waterproofs the fence & posts, you can see water droplets form and run off! It provides it with a nice colour too.

 

On the posts at ground level (where the post goes into the soil) I paint on Everbuild Everproof Black Jack DPM, it's a bitumen and again waterproofs the post. It remains sticky for quite a while but once it goes off it's fine to touch.

 

It's treated twice a year, once at the beginning of the season and once at the end so far so good

[Digsy]

My ex's neighbour did this with used oil from the trucks he used to service for a living. One day the fence was taken down and replaced, and we had a bonfire with it one summer night. It burned well. I mean REALLY well. Unfortunately, the ex and I fell asleep in front of it and woke up with red eyes, streaming noses and sore throats. We didn't put to and two together until much later when he told us what he had treated the fence with. I often wonder how many years that bonfire has taken off my life...

[Shane]

I use waste oil and creosote for some large gates and posts at the front of my house, but because of legislation passed some time ago I cant find real creosote anymore. The closest I have found is "Creocote" available at Toolstation. It takes a fair bit of mixing as the stuff on sale now doesn't seem to be oil based like the proper stuff, but it does eventually. I have also used it in one of those really cheap electric spray guns too, works ok and makes it a lot quicker. Fair bit of overspray though so wear a mask and park the Supra round the corner.

[supra900bhp]

I been doing it for years better then crap in shops and lasts longer too

[Wez]

This is a new one to me, shame I didnt know this a couple of weeks back when I did an oil change

[evinX]

This is a new one to me, shame I didnt know this a couple of weeks back when I did an oil change

 

Same, i just dumped 4 buckets of oil last weekend

[David P]

Do you have any issues from neighbours?

Would it not wash out eventually and cause a 'environmental hazard'?

 

That's how wood preservatives work, they create an environmental hazard to the fungi that you wish to protect it from.

 

Some of the green pressure-treated timbers are impregnated with chromated copper arsenate or arsnic.

[Chris Wilson]

That's how wood preservatives work, they create an environmental hazard to the fungi that you wish to protect it from.

 

Some of the green pressure-treated timbers are impregnated with chromated copper arsenate or arsnic.

 

Sadly, not any more they aren't. (`elf `n' safety, of course)

[David P]

Sadly, not any more they aren't. (`elf `n' safety, of course)

 

I did wonder re. the tense of my remark and current practice, nevertheless, as there is still plenty of the old green stuff still surviving out there, I left the tense as is.

 

The new pretty coloured water based products are a waste of time and money, in my Grandad's words. "For what good that is boy, you may as well pi$$ on it"