Here are our Top Tips for Fall Fence Maintenance in California:
Summer is coming to a close and fall is upon us! While the blazing hot summer has been rough on everything outside including your fence, the impending winter will be equally as hard. You can do a little preventative maintenance and checking on your fence to help extend its usable life and its general appearance as the frame around your backyard!
1) Trim the Vegetation:
All the plants near and on your fence have grown lots in the bright sunlight of summer! First thing that you need to do to allow for proper fence maintenance is to remove the vegetation off the fence and to cut back the hedges and bushes near the fence. This trimming is needed anyway, but more importantly it allows for a proper cleaning and inspection of the fence.
2) Cleaning:
In most instances a thorough cleaning of your fence with a hose and general spray nozzle is enough to clean your fence. Some people recommend using a pressure washer, but depending on the PSI and how focus a nozzle is installed, this can actually cause some marring and damage to the fence. It may be better to stay with a general hose and spray nozzle setup.
Some people recommend using specific fence cleaners on the market designed for this application. Your local hardware store or paint supplier will have ones that they can specifically recommend depending on the type and age of fence that you have. If you want to avoid these cleaners, you can also use some dish soap, vinegar, or diluted bleach to assist in the cleaning process. In the end, you are looking to remove general dirt buildup, mold, and sap. While these items will not make an older wood fence look new again, there are products on the market to remove the greying of the wood and revive it. A basic wash and rinse plan like this will do wonders for your vinyl, chain link, or iron fence. Just being clean will increase the overall appearance of your fence!
3) Inspect with Your Hands and Yours Eyes:
It is important to inspect your fence with your hands as well as your eyes. Many times, we find that people are unaware that they have very weak and rotted posts or rails that are about to fall over in the next big wind or rain storm. There are a couple reasons you want to catch these problems early. First if you catch it early you can prevent the problem from getting worse. If you find one or two posts that are weak, by fixing those asap you will prevent the next posts from being damaged as well. Think about it this way, if a post or two are weak the next post in the line is carrying a lot of additional undue force and weight. Being pre-emptive like this is like taking your car to the mechanic before you are stuck on the side of the road. By touching the fence with your hands, you will much more thoroughly find the ALL of the weak and rotted points before they fall over. Even a fence expert that looks at fence everyday will give your fence a little push at each post as they walk your perimeter fence.
Check for leaning or damaged posts, rotting wood pieces, cracked, loose or missing vinyl pieces, rust on wrought iron or chain link fencing or crooked and broken gates. We can work with you on the fence repairs!
4) Fix the loose and broken parts of your fence:
By repairing the issues with your fence at least once a year you will be able to extend the life and beauty of your fence. I know a lot of people question why they should need to maintain their fence at least yearly. For those people I remind them that everything needs a little maintenance yearly. I ask them what would happen if they did not do proper maintenance on their vehicle each year. Obviously, the vehicle would not last as long. Well, your fence is the same way! Let Fantastic Fence Construction and Repair Inc help you with those repairs. We specialize in exactly this!
5) Apply fresh coat of stain or paint:
Now that your fence has been repaired, it is a great time to apply a fresh coat of stain or paint. These are both fantastic ways or applying a cosmetic refresh to your fence. It is best to discuss your stain and paint options with your local fence professionals as there is lots to pick from. Many people will check out their stain options at : Sherwin Williams or Dunn Edwards.
Our fence maintenance experts look forward to assisting you!
We are a long standing and highly rated fence company in the Rocklin and Sacramento, Ca areas and we specialize in assisting customers with their yearly fence repairs. We work with wood, chain link, vinyl, and ornamental iron fencing. Reach out to us so we can talk about your fence! You can call us 24 hours a day or send us a message on our online contact form.