Wood – Why is the new pine fence turning black? Can I stain right over it without creating a bigger future headache

fencemoldpressure-treatedstainwood

We put in a new pine fence about 2-3 months ago.

(Southern Yellow Pine, from Lowes. They called it “Severe Weather Pressure Treated Pine”)

I have been trying to stain/seal it for the past month and a half but we have had one of the wettest summers on record. And when it’s not raining, it’s 100 degrees and 30000% humidity.

Over the past 2 weeks the panels have rapidly started turning grey/black. I don’t think the sun ever directly hits this side of the fence so I assumed it is mold..?

  1. Based on the picture and info, is my assumption correct?

  2. If so, do I now have to remediate the mold by doing the whole bleach scrub and dry process?

  3. If I don’t do the bleach scrub and just stain right over it, will I be creating a recipe for disaster or just end up with a sub-par looking stain job?

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Best Answer

That is natural aging , the most rot resistant wood redwood turns gray within 5 years , cedar within 3 and that’s in Oregon. If you stain it a color or paint it it will hide the aging but this is normal with most any wool product, pressure treating keeps it from rotting not aging.