How long should I wait before painting new lumber?

Question

I am building a fence. I just bought some treated 4x4s from the lumber yard and they are water logged from being out in the rain for an unknown amount of time.

The weather has been cool and wet for the past few weeks and I doubt we'll have a consistent period of warm sunny weather anytime soon. My plan is to prime and paint the fence posts in my garage before building the fence in a few weeks.

I'm wondering if I put the 4x4s in my garage to dry out, how long should I wait before I prime and paint them?

Answer 1

A month or two. Hard to say I've seen them almost dripping but I've also gotten them nice and dried out because they were probably sitting around on site or at the lumber year for a bit. They key would be good airflow don't just keep them in a pile.

I too would recommend putting the fence up then painting it later

Answer 2

In my experience, treated 4x4s will check and twist like crazy over the span of a year as they slowly dry out. So, you're not likely going to get a pristine finish anyways. I'd build the fence, then paint later. If you have the money, I'd swap out the treated posts for cedar.