New Fence and a Fresh Coat on the House: Which First?

The order, on one page

A fence goes up with holes, concrete, posts, rails and a lot of foot traffic. A repaint comes with ladders, a sprayer and a lot of drop cloths. The two jobs touch only where the fence runs close to the house, and that single measurement decides the sequence.

When the fence crowds the house

This is the case where order changes the result. A new 6-foot privacy fence on a side lot line, set a few feet from the siding, turns a walkable strip into a corridor. A ladder will not stand there safely, and a sprayer cannot get the angle it needs. If the walls behind the fence are due for paint, do them before the posts are set.

That means a proper repaint first: the siding washed and scraped, rotten boards replaced and bare wood primed. A new fence next to a wall that still has soft trim just hides the problem. Our exterior painting work starts with exactly that prep, and it is easier to do with the fence line still open.

When it sits well away

If the fence runs along the back of the lot, or the side yards are wide, the walls are not affected and the order is a matter of mess. The fence crew arrives with an auger, concrete and lumber. Let them finish, then let the dirt settle, then paint. Cover the nearest runs of the new fence with plastic or drop cloths, taped at the top, so spray and drips do not reach it.

When the fence itself can be finished

The traditional advice was to leave new treated lumber alone for six months to a year before staining, and University of Missouri Extension calls that belief mistaken. The USDA Forest Products Laboratory, in its guidance on finishing CCA-treated wood (a study of the older preservative, which the Missouri note applies to ACQ as well), says it is not necessary to let new wood weather for long periods, that exposing unprotected wood even briefly can damage the surface and reduce how well a coating holds, and that treated wood should be coated as soon as possible unless it is still very wet. If it is obviously wet, the laboratory suggests no more than two to three weeks of air drying.

University of Missouri Extension, summarizing that advice, adds that wood treated with waterborne preservatives can be finished right after installation as long as it is dry, while wood treated with oil-borne preservatives should wait until the solvents have evaporated. Two practical points follow:

• Use the water-drop test. If a sprinkle soaks in, the board will take a finish. If it beads, wait and test again.
• Do not let the fence sit bare. The point of the research is that waiting too long also damages the surface, so the window is short on both sides.

Cedar or treated pine

The material changes the question a little. Carolina Fencing Solutions, a Huntersville company serving greater Lake Norman and north Charlotte, describes on its page for wood fence installation two options: western red cedar and treated pine, in privacy, board-on-board, shadowbox and picket styles, with posts set in concrete. Cedar and treated pine take a finish differently, so ask the installer what the boards are and, for pine, when they were treated, because that decides how soon the finish can go on.

Overspray and gates

Gates and the fence ends are the touch points. A gate hung on the house or a porch post can be painted only partly if it goes up first, and the hinge side is the part nobody can reach later. Paint the post and the wall behind it before the gate is hung. For the fence itself, a sprayer is quick but throws mist, so brush or roll near the house and mask the side you are not finishing.

What to tell both crews

Most of the trouble in this kind of job is two crews who never heard of each other. A few minutes on the phone with each one removes it:

• Tell the fence installer where the house will be painted and how close the line runs to the walls, so they can leave the working gap you need or agree to start after the paint.
• Tell the painters where the fence is going and when, so they can paint the crowded walls first and cover the finished fence runs.
• Say who finishes the fence. If the installer leaves it bare, someone has to own the stain or paint and the timing of it, and that is easy to forget until the boards have been rained on.
• Agree the days. Both crews work outdoors, so both lose days to rain. Give each a standby window instead of one fixed date.

The same few lines go in the written estimates. If an estimate does not mention the fence, or the fence quote does not mention the paint, ask for the sentence to be added.

Covenants and approvals

In a covenanted neighborhood, a fence and a color change often each need their own approval, and they are often decided by the same committee at different times. Check both before you book either. Our guide to HOA paint approval covers how the process works for paint; ask your association for its fence rules separately.

If the house was built before 1978, scraping and sanding the old paint falls under the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule when it is done for pay, which adds containment and cleanup that you will want in place before the fence is anywhere near it.