If you paint a fence, you need to make sure to prepare the wood. Take coarse-grained sandpaper and sand the old paint. You have to take it off the wood completely. Once you are done with it, you should use a primer and put it onto the wood. Let it dry for a few hours. After the primer has dried, you take your color and apply it thinly. Let it dry for another 6 hours. The next step is to apply the color again and let it dry again. Afterward, you can decide whether you need protective paint/lacquer, to guard against weather conditions. That depends on your location.

If you are in a hurry, you can skip any of the steps and just paint the fence. Of course, that paint will only last you for a few months or perhaps years—if you are lucky and live in an area with “benevolent” weather. But most of the time, you will have to redo you fence soonish and incur at least the same costs for the paint and the time it takes you.

If it’s worth doing your project, it’s worth doing it right.

In case you paint fences, please don’t ask me 😅. But if your software project could need some help, let me know.

Yours, Holger

PS: Today marks the two-month anniversary of me writing daily. 🎉 Thanks for inviting me into your inbox. It’s a pleasure.