Check out these 10 simple tips to maintain your fence from our Bay Area Fence Builders.

Fence maintenance doesn’t have to be time consuming if done regularly. It keeps your fence
structurally sound, makes it last longer and is better use of your money.

These tips for maintaining a fence can help.

1. Keep water from standing around posts.

No matter what type of fence you have, your posts are the backbone of the fence. Help keep them in good condition by minimizing the amount of water that stands around them. Prevent pockets from allowing standing water by mounding small amounts of soil or rock around it to shed water.

2. Tend to regular cleaning.

Wood fences can benefit from staining or painting. Vinyl fences benefit from an annual pressure wash to get dirt, mold and other debris and make them sparkle again. Wire fences need sticks and other material removed from them. Keeping fences clear of debris reduces moisture that shortens a fence’s life. Woven wire fences may need tightened to keep them from sagging.

3. Patrol fences after storms to insure no limbs or trees have damaged the fence.

Tend to repairs promptly. As with most things in life, the longer you wait, the worse things can get.

4. Don’t overlook gates.

Insure the gate opens properly hinges and latch are in good order. The gate can often get more “wear and tear” than the fence – keep it operating properly.

5. Inspect a fence when the season changes and make note of repairs needed.

This is a chance four times per year to insure that your fences are in good shape. Simply do a walk around the property and make note of repairs. If you can do this monthly so much the better!

6. Make repairs properly.

Using old lumber, rusted “just to get by” pieces can mean loose animals and having to do a repair twice – once to “get by” and then doing it right. Loose animals can be expensive!

7. Maintain weeds in fencerows.

Keeping grass down from the fence may be easy if there are animals grazing right up and under it. This can lead to pushing on the lower boards or wires if not electrified, creating more stress for the fence. Some burn off weeds in the fences but this isn’t an option if you have wood fences, and wood fence posts do burn!

8. Some people put “caps” on wood posts, or simply paint them to seal.

This keeps water from seeping into the post. One solution is putting a metal end – such as nailing the end from a can to the post. Others cut the post at an angle allowing water to run off, but increasing damage if an animal should attempt to jump the fence and fail.

9. Even if you don’t have animals fences set boundaries.

A fence keeps trespassers from trampling your plants. These are often painted, and once painted it means regular painting to keep it looking good. As a child there were miles of fences to scrape and repaint every
summer on the farm, but the farm was also well known for the beautiful white fences.

10. Missing boards and other minor repairs take but a minute or so to tend to on the weekend.

Done regularly this puts most fences at almost maintenance free. Left to deteriorate it can mean expensive and time consuming repairs.

Take time to maintain your fences regularly! It really does pay off.

If you’re looking for the PERFECT Bay Area Fence Builders – Make sure you check us out!