Wooden fence painting: do neighbour's side?

FledNanders · 15-04-2020 10:56AM #1

I had a wooden fence installed between me and my neighbour's gardens last year, on my side of the divide. So basically I own it.

The wood hasn't been stained yet so now might be a good time to do it as the weather's getting decent and I have a bit of spare time and I want to prevent rot.

Question is what's the protocol about the side of the fence on my neighbour's side? Call in and stain it myself (if they allow)? Leave it? Ask them to do their side?

If I just do my side and the other side is left undone, is that pointless as the wood could rot from one side anyway?

Black_Knight · 15-04-2020 10:59AM

FledNanders wrote: »

I had a wooden fence installed between me and my neighbour's gardens last year, on my side of the divide. So basically I own it.

The wood hasn't been stained yet so now might be a good time to do it as the weather's getting decent and I have a bit of spare time and I want to prevent rot.

Question is what's the protocol about the side of the fence on my neighbour's side? Call in and stain it myself (if they allow)? Leave it? Ask them to do their side?

If I just do my side and the other side is left undone, is that pointless as the wood could rot from one side anyway?

IMO, call in and ask can you stain their side.

Loophole would be take down the fence, paint/stain it, then reinstate it again.

Alun · 15-04-2020 11:28AM

Just ask them. Also, depending on the type of fence, it's possible to get a small amount of stain/paint dripping on to the other side which can look a little unsightly.

listermint · 15-04-2020 12:17PM

Genuinely id leave it unless you want to stain their side forever more.

Why are you staining it surely it would have come treated already ?

FledNanders · 15-04-2020 12:20PM

listermint wrote: »

Genuinely id leave it unless you want to stain their side forever more.

Why are you staining it surely it would have come treated already ?

I'm not sure if it's been treated actually. How can I tell? It looks like just normal planks of wood that haven't been painted with anything

listermint · 15-04-2020 12:51PM

Any pictures ?

GreeBo · 15-04-2020 12:54PM

You will get a lot of bleed through, especially around knots etc. If it's a stain. Varnish or paint is less likely, but I'd always use oil/stain on wood. Much easier to maintain.

Calahonda52 · 15-04-2020 02:05PM

FledNanders wrote: »

I had a wooden fence installed between me and my neighbour's gardens last year, on my side of the divide. So basically I own it.

...

It's not as simple as that..
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2009/act/27/enacted/en/print#part8-chap3
.

In passing, when you had the work done last year, did you engage with your neighbour our just do it without consultation?
Did you leave the existing fence there etc etc?

JDxtra · 15-04-2020 02:10PM

Ideally, you would get both sides done as it can drip/leak through. If you don't mind doing it and have enough stain, just ask them if it's OK for you to stain their side. They might want to do it themselves in a different colour though and in this situation you'll just have to leave them to do it in their own time.

awec · 15-04-2020 02:15PM

FledNanders wrote: »

I'm not sure if it's been treated actually. How can I tell? It looks like just normal planks of wood that haven't been painted with anything

Treated wood looks very close to plain timber.

I would imagine it has been treated as untreated fencing wouldn't last too long. If you bought it from somewhere reputable it's highly likely it's treated.

FledNanders · 15-04-2020 05:03PM

listermint wrote: »

Any pictures ?

https://imgur.com/a/yhLBZMR

GreeBo · 15-04-2020 05:26PM

^ Yeah that will have been treated.

Be warned, with shiplap fencing, whatever your neighbours put onto the fence is going to run down on your side....I think i'd be offering to do theirs before they get any ideas.

FledNanders · 15-04-2020 06:18PM

Cheers.

Wouldn't be worried about it being painted on the other side in the slightest.
They're very much not the gardening/maintenance/DIY types.

corks finest · 15-04-2020 06:21PM

FledNanders wrote: »

https://imgur.com/a/yhLBZMR

Leave it,it's pressure treated by the looks of it,looks fine

okidoki987 · 15-04-2020 08:19PM

FledNanders wrote: »

I had a wooden fence installed between me and my neighbour's gardens last year, on my side of the divide. So basically I own it.

As it's on your side, they don't need to have anything to do with it.
The only thing is, if you can't get to the other side in your property, you would have to ask them.
I'd imagine they would want something nice to look out at.

Calahonda52 · 15-04-2020 08:47PM

okidoki987 wrote: »

As it's on your side, they don't need to have anything to do with it.
The only thing is, if you can't get to the other side in your property, you would have to ask them.
I'd imagine they would want something nice to look out at.

As I said already, it's not that simple.
.
The OP has neglected to say did he remove the existing fence.
If he did, then he cannot own both sides of the fence for obvious reasons

Lumen · 16-04-2020 07:03AM

Another vote for "don't stain it".

It's pointless and just creates work.

adrian92 · 16-04-2020 07:16AM

FledNanders wrote: »

I had a wooden fence installed between me and my neighbour's gardens last year, on my side of the divide. So basically I own it.

The wood hasn't been stained yet so now might be a good time to do it as the weather's getting decent and I have a bit of spare time and I want to prevent rot.

Question is what's the protocol about the side of the fence on my neighbour's side? Call in and stain it myself (if they allow)? Leave it? Ask them to do their side?

If I just do my side and the other side is left undone, is that pointless as the wood could rot from one side anyway?

I have a similar situation. Maybe take each pice down, treat it and put it back up. Tedious, I know, but if you dont have a great relatsionship with next door it might bevtye most stress free way

GreeBo · 16-04-2020 08:05AM

Lumen wrote: »

Another vote for "don't stain it".

It's pointless and just creates work.

I disagree.
Staining it makes it look nicer
You don't have to continue to stain it if you get sick of it, the colour will just fade.

Note I'm specifically talking about stain/oil.

Varnish or paint is the work of the devil in these scenarios...

Lumen · 16-04-2020 08:45AM

GreeBo wrote: »

You don't have to continue to stain it if you get sick of it, the colour will just fade.

Note I'm specifically talking about stain/oil.

That wasn't my experience. The stain on mine looked awful after a few years.

It was particularly an issue on a pressure-treated shed, but the fence didn't look great either.

IMO the best thing to do with a fence (or wall) is plant things in front of it rather than making a feature out of it. Then it just melts into the background, turning a nice light grey after a few years.

People pay money for grey these days.

edit: maybe the product was a factor. I used whatever general fence stain Woodies were selling at the time (around 2005).

awec · 16-04-2020 09:19AM

Another vote here for leaving it as it is.

GreeBo · 16-04-2020 10:34AM

Lumen wrote: »

That wasn't my experience. The stain on mine looked awful after a few years.

It was particularly an issue on a pressure-treated shed, but the fence didn't look great either.

IMO the best thing to do with a fence (or wall) is plant things in front of it rather than making a feature out of it. Then it just melts into the background, turning a nice light grey after a few years.

People pay money for grey these days.

edit: maybe the product was a factor. I used whatever general fence stain Woodies were selling at the time (around 2005).

Ah, that was probably more like a varnish "fence coat" thing.

I only ever use a Stained Cuprinol, the colour will fade over time, based on the sun exposure, but it still looks good.

listermint · 16-04-2020 10:37AM

Youd only be painting this to change the colour, thats all.

I wouldnt bother.

okidoki987 · 16-04-2020 12:49PM

I had a wooden fence installed between me and my neighbour's gardens last year, on my side of the divide. So basically I own it.

Calahonda52 wrote: »

As I said already, it's not that simple.
.
The OP has neglected to say did he remove the existing fence.
If he did, then he cannot own both sides of the fence for obvious reasons

If it was replacing an existing one between them, he would have said something to them before taking it down.
Guess he decided to put up the fence after either his neighbour decided not to pay half the cost or neighbour didn't want it on his land or didn't want to move/change what was there.

Juwwi · 16-04-2020 02:10PM

I'd leave it ,but if you do it I'd take out the panels or make sure you put masking
tape on the concrete posts ,they look terrible if a stain gets on them .

Irish_peppa · 17-04-2020 07:24AM

Would a good quality exterior water based wood paint increase the life of the fence by a good few years?

listermint · 17-04-2020 08:07AM

Irish_peppa wrote: »

Would a good quality exterior water based wood paint increase the life of the fence by a good few years?

It's been treated already. If you want to paint it leave it a few years and then do it. That would extend life.

GreeBo · 17-04-2020 08:50AM

Irish_peppa wrote: »

Would a good quality exterior water based wood paint increase the life of the fence by a good few years?

Once you paint external wood you are deciding to paint it forever.

With a stain you can just decide to stop and, other than fading, it wont peel or look awful.
Paint & varnish (anything that sits on the surface) will peel and crack and look terrible.

Its also a *much* bigger job to redo every time as you have to remove/sand any existing, peeling bits.
With an oil based stain you just apply over the previous coat with pretty much no prep.

Old paint

vs

old stain

Thoie · 17-04-2020 04:57PM

GreeBo wrote: »

With an oil based stain you just apply over the previous coat with pretty much no prep.

Sorry to hijack, but if doing a fence for the first time, would this be the right kind of stain that you could just let fade away (as per your second picture)?

https://sadolin.ie/finish/classic-wood-protection/

If I got one of the "colours" of that, apply two coats, is that all there's to it, or would it need something extra on top?

corks finest · 17-04-2020 05:07PM

Irish_peppa wrote: »

Would a good quality exterior water based wood paint increase the life of the fence by a good few years?

Yes lots of pastel shade paints,did a fence - shed a few years back,cuprinol

corks finest · 17-04-2020 05:10PM

Thoie wrote: »

Sorry to hijack, but if doing a fence for the first time, would this be the right kind of stain that you could just let fade away (as per your second picture)?

https://sadolin.ie/finish/classic-wood-protection/

If I got one of the "colours" of that, apply two coats, is that all there's to it, or would it need something extra on top?

No that's it,but be careful, cover the ground,and plants etc

Wooden fence painting: do neighbour's side?

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