Question about how a contractor wants to stain a fence

[DRose 1]

I have a cedar fence that was installed 1 year ago.  I wasn't able to get it stained last year.  It is on the borderline of starting to turn a little gray in parts.  I am talking to a fence staining contractor about staining it now.  He is suggesting that he use Sherwin Williams SuperDeck Revive to clean the gray off before applying the stain.  He told me he can do the cleaning during the same trip as the stain.  He says that it's not a problem to have the wood wet from hosing off the Revive when he puts on the stain.  The stain instructions say that the wood needs to be dry.  I realize that "time is money" and he wants to be price competitive.  My questions are these:

1.  Will his method give me a good and lasting result?

2.  The Revive product info says it needs to be neutralized with the Sherwin Williams Deck Wash but he will just be using water to wash it off.  Is that a problem?

3.  The neighbor behind me has stained his side of the fence.  Will the SuperDeck Revive product damage my neighbor's stain job?

Thanks for your help.

[Beth n Rod 1,278]

The product he is using is Oxalic acid and is common for cleaning before application of a stain.
It does not have stripping capabilities and should not be a problem as long as the contractor attends anything that gets on it to avoid any whitish remnants on the surface. Oxalic acid is white when it dries.
The 'Deck Wash' product is bleach which is the part that needs the Revive to neutralize after the wash is complete.
This product may discolor the stain on the neighbors side.

Either way, the contractor will need access to the neighbors side to attend it properly after washing AND staining to ensure there are no issues.

Unless the stain product is designed to be applied on wet wood, not allowing the wood to properly dry is not the way to do it. Find another contractor.

Rod & Beth

[darknight 0]

beth is 100% correct but i would like to add water based products are made with water and clean up with water. meaning unless fully cured /dried water will dilute/dissolve the product so apply to a wet surface would not give you a good uniform finish. Oil based products are made with a petroleum type product and requires a semi harsh chemical to clean (so using water will just make worse) as we all learned in school oils will not mix with water and instead the oil will float on the waters surface! so if wood is already saturated with water the oil based product cannot saturate/penetrate the wood