Fences and Gates - Using oil-based paint in rainy conditions

I hired a contractor to stain a 4/5-year old fence that had never been stained/protected before, and we decided to use Sikkens Cetol SRD #078 (natural). I have a few questions regarding the results. But first, here's a sequence of events.

Friday all day - powerwashed two-thirds of fence; sunny day
Saturday morning - powerwashed remaining one-third of fence; rainy day
Sunday - no work; sunny day
Monday - no work; cloudy day
Tuesday - no work; rainy day
Wednesday - no work; windy day
Thursday - stained fence; sunny day
Friday - stained fence; drizzle in morning while staining; hard rain during evening after done staining

Results - darkish gold tone to fence; fuzzy wood in some spots

Should I be concerned about him working on the Friday where it drizzled while he was staining and then it was pouring that evening? The fence is darker than I really wanted, and I'm wondering whether the rain had anything to do with it. Given there's a mix of gold colored areas with darker patches, I probably should have just had a brown stain so it looked more blended.

Also, some areas of the fence slats are fuzzy. Is it a result of the powerwashing? I didn't look at the slats up close after he powerwashed since the color of the wood looked clean from afar.

This is just my opinion;

When it comes to contractors doing their jobs and the fashion or the time limits they use to perform their work, it is based on their limits as an individual contractor and what else they have on order at that specific time.

If I were to power wash a fence readying it to be stained I would do the power-washing then give the fence sufficient time to dry out from all the water on the fence.
The contractor doing 2/3 of the washing one day then the last 1/3 on the second day is understandable.
The contractor not working on any specific Sunday is his own blessing of having a day off.
To not go back and stain the fence or begin staining the fence directly after that weekend is basically the contractors choice. This usually stands true unless you have a deadline or completion date signed on your contract with the contractor.

This contractor coming back on a wet day rather than a dry one sounds like there may be something of a flaw in his routine, but I am not a painter so there may be some allowances for staining in bad weather or in days where bad weather is following the finish of a job pertaining to staining a fence.

His doing a good job is the bottom line. If you do not feel he did an appropriate job you should discuss this with your contractor.

Greg,

Thanks for the response. Completely agree with you on your points. I realized I didn't properly phrase my questions in my original post. My concern is more of the oil-based paint getting wet on the Friday that he stained the fence. Will the rain/water impact the stain, and how? Is that what caused the resulting color to be darker than I originally thought it would come out as? Will it mean that the wood fence won't be as protected and I'll need to get the fence re-stained in 3 years rather than 5 years? Etc. Overall, the contractor did a good job. But just questioning his decision to paint on a day it was going to rain, and what is the consequence of that decision.

Thanks,
DC

It can be difficult to line up good days to do the job in a timely manner. Without being there it's a little difficult to say just how long was needed to let the fence dry from the PWing. It does take PW wood longer to dry than wood that has only been rained on.

The 'fuzzy' areas are probably a result of overagresive PWing. I prefer to use a bleach/water solution for the bulk of the cleaning and the PWer for the rinsing.

What bothers me most is the fact that he stained on a wet day. With the exception of a gully washer, most oil base stains won't be overly harmed by rain after it has been applied. BUT an oil stain should not be applied over a wet or damp surface!

Discuss your concerns with your contractor before you pay him. If nothing else you might get a longer warranty on what he stained on friday.

Mark,

Thanks for the response. I did speak with the painter and we came to the same conclusion. He said that he was confident the rain would not impact the paint, and he would back it up saying that if there was significant difference between the sections he painted on Thursday versus what he painted on Friday, he'd redo the whole thing. He's written up an amendment to the contract that states that. Hopefully he's still in business in a few years time in case I need to collect on that guarantee!

DC

Yes, hopefully he stays in business and honors the contract.

I've been on your end before, the carpet in my house has substandard padding, I wanted better padding but they gave me a written garantee that the padding would last the life of 2 carpets - guess what, the store went belly up 6 months later :wall: Same thing with my heat pump. It came with a 10 yr parts and labor warranty. 2 yrs later the owner of the company called me and said he was retiring but so and so was taking over the business and would honor the warranty. The day came when I needed service and I found out the new owners had closed shop :wall:

Hopefully your painter will be in business for a long time and better yet - I hope you have no issues with your paint job :thumbup: