ON THE PLOT
From page 28
With the machinery taken care of, it ' s time to look at your infrastructure. The working lives of gates and fencing can be greatly lengthened if their components are well looked after. Which means dealing with any rust and repainting in the case of metal components, and in coating wooden components with some form of preservative. At the same time, the integrity of fences, and their lifespan, can be enhanced if you take the time to tighten loose strands, fix any breaks and refasten strands to posts and droppers. It is also worth noting that the galvanising ~ that coating of tin which is added to metal components and wire after manufacture to protect it against corrosion ~ is very quickly burnt off in a fire. As a result, your fire prevention preparation should include removing any combustible material( eg tall grass and weeds) growing near fences. This can be done using a brushcutter or by hand by“ skoffelling” under the lowest strand of fence with a spade. When attending to metal gates and fence posts it is sensible to have everything you will need to complete the job ready at the same time, in the form of a kit. Thus, wire brushes, scrapers and rust remover( and water to wash the residue off with), metal primer and paint brush, and top coat and paint brush. Rather than doing all the rust scraping and removal around the plot, then all the priming, then all the top-coating, rather do each component( eg gate or post) in one operation. Thus, you will scrape or otherwise de-rust one gate, wash the deruster off and allow it to dry for a few minutes, then apply the primer to the exposed spots. After a further couple of hours to allow the primer to dry, apply the finishing coat. With one gate complete, move on to the next etc. That prevents scraped, bare metal from being exposed to the elements, dew etc, allowing for corrosion to set in before the primer is applied. Also, for best adhesion of the paints, undercoats such as primers are best overcoated before they have a chance to dry out completely. Once your gate and fencework is attended to, examine your irrigation and water-handling infrastructure. For a start, your fire prevention preparations should also have taken into consideration your plastic pipework which,
Continued on page 33
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