February 10th, 2022Spring maintenance tips for your fence

With spring approaching, it’s time to make sure that your fence is in tip-top shape. Giving your fence a quick inspection will allow it to stay structurally solid. Depending on the type of fence you have though, the way that you maintain it does differ. Here are some maintenance tips for the different types of fencing.

Maintaining wood fences

You can inspect your fence for any damage. If warping does occur, you could either nail warped pickets or replace the pickets if the warping is quite severe. If you notice any parts of your fence with insect damage or wood rot, you can replace the pickets with the damage.

For any loose nails, you can simply give them a quick hammer. Cracks in the fence will require a bit of maintenance. You can put some glue between the cracks and tape the wood to hold its shape while the glue dries.

After inspecting your fence, you can give it a wash. For a deeper clean, you can choose to use a pressure washer. Let your fence dry for a day or two and if the temperature is 10 degrees Celsius or above, you could stain or paint your fence.

Maintaining vinyl fences

To maintain your vinyl fence, you can inspect your fence to see if any parts are loose. If any of the caps come loose, you could adhere them back to the post with some PVC glue.

To clean the fence, you can give it a rinse with water and a mild bleach solution. If you see any mildew buildup, you can use cleaning solutions specifically for mildew. Optionally, you could use a pressure washer for a more thorough cleaning.

Maintaining chain link fences

To maintain chain link fences, you can inspect the fence to see if any of the links are bent. For bent links, you will need to reweave the links and straighten them again with pliers.

If it looks like the chain link of your fence requires a little bit more attention, you could try to straighten a larger portion of it. All you need to do is untie the chain link and retie it to the rails to see if it helps.

Maintaining steel or wrought iron fences

Steel fences or wrought iron fences do not need very much maintenance. All you need to do is inspect the fence to see if any parts are chipped. For any chips, you can sand at the chipped area, apply a primer that prevents rust and finish off with a coat of external enamel.

If you wanted to give your fence an extra deep clean, you could also clean steel or wrought iron fences with soap and water.