Fencing protection

[Primrose]

Our neighbour is rebuilding the feather-edged fence at the bottom of our garden which he owns, but is protecting both sides with a horrible dark brown stain which we don't want. I'd planned to coat our side a lighter green to tone in with our existing fences. I'm unsure about the legal position as we're grateful for the new fence and don't want to fall out with him but a) Can he do this? and b) Is there anything I can put on our side to lighten the effect of the colour?

[Primrose]

Update: I've just spoken to him (we were away for the week-end & returned to the fait accompli) & discovered the brown stain is creosote.As he's only so far done the upright anchor posts and aris rails, he will leave the remainder for us to coat as we please. Big relief! But can anybody please tell me if there's anything we can do to lessen the dark effect of the parts he has already covered with creosote.

[John]

I think you'll find that the creosoted area will lighten up over the next few months as it weathers.

John

[Cider Boys]

As John says the creosote will lighten with time, also once it has fully weathered there are many fence coatings that you can apply on top of it.

Barney

[Primrose]

Update. The fence is now almost finished and our neighbour has completely coated his side of the fence in creosote. Unfortunately some of this has seeped through to our side so now we have a lovely new fence (and he has done an absolutely magnificent professional job) but with streaky creosote staining our side. Can anybody suggest how we proceed now as Cuprinol (our preferred supplier of coating) advise that creosote has to weather for 8 - 10 years before it can be coated over.

[Mole]

carry on with the creosote? Worry about something else instead...

[Compo]

Thats nonsense, if you buy an oil based cuprinol stain (much dearer than wickes creosote substitute and arguably both are as safe) you can put it straight on and am sure you wont have a problem

Next year it will have weathered enough to recoat with anything you want.

Compo

[Vegman]

As an Ex Ronseal manager I can say that probably the best solution to get rid of the runs on your side would be to scrub with white spirit which will remove much of it then apply a woodworking knotting solution to seal the creosote into the wood, leave it for a couple of weeks then coat with a fence stain. I agree with what John has said that it will lighten after a few months when the oil in it has evaporated. Creosote is not what it once was as it has been subjected to certain regulations coming out of the EU. Try Ronseal Fencelife which is a coloured water repllent containg wax. Apply it with the paint pad. Its really efficient to use.

[Primrose]

Thanks Vegman for your helpful suggestions. Sounds as if there is going to be some expenditure involved if we're going to end up with the fence looking as we wanted it to. I've been scouring the internet, without success, to try and discover if anybody has actually tried to put fence stain over fairly fresh creosote and what the end result was. I don't want to end up ruining what is somebody else's very expensive fence !

[Brenjon]

As the other contributors have said . Do not be in such a hurry. In time the staining will fade and then it will be easier to put on any colour that you wish. chill out . have a bit of patience.
Regards Brenjon