Ever wonder how to prolong the life of your wood fence? Water and lack of maintenance are the most damaging factors. Installing a wood fence not only serves practical purposes, it also increases the value of your home. A well-thought-out landscape plan is the best solution if you are just beginning the process of building. If you’ve inherited an already established fence, there are still things you can correct to prolong its life. And then, of course, there’s maintenance!
Effective Fence Planning:
If you are lucky enough to start with a “clean slate” and can design your fence installation yourself, it is best to start with a Master Plan.
- Develop a Master Plan
- Start with outlining the locations for plantings, lawn, drainage, and fence.
- Plan Irrigation with Fence in Mind
- Integrate sprinkler and drip systems in your plan, ensuring they don’t spray on the fence.
- Avoid Moisture Contact with the Fence
- Set up the irrigation system to prevent moisture contact with the wood fence.
- Fence Post Installation
- Install fence posts in concrete, shaping the concrete into a slight pyramid around the base for water drainage.
- Ensure no water puddles around the base to prevent rot.
- Regular Checks and Maintenance
- Monitor for water pooling and maintain the area to protect the fence from weather-related damage.
Proper planning is the key to prolong the life of your wood fence.
Navigating Irrigation Challenges in Pre-Landscaped Yards with Fences
When inheriting a fully landscaped yard and fence, mitigation can be difficult. Correcting some of the irrigation and wood fence construction issues can be expensive. However, there are some things you can do.
The first step is to inspect all areas of the fence. A telltale sign of a sprinkler problem is the notorious arch-shaped staining pattern on the panels of the fence. This staining pattern is caused by the spray of the sprinkler constantly hitting the fence over time and damaging the wood. An instant fix is to adjust the sprinkler head so it no longer sprays the fence. A more expensive option may be to have the sprinkler head re-located.
Inspecting and Repairing Fence Posts for Longevity
Next, push on the posts to determine the current condition and stability. If a fence post is rotting, it may be difficult to see. If there’s damage, it will most likely be right at the collar. The collar is where the fence post meets the ground. Improper draining will cause pooling around the post, eventual rotting, and then breakage. If you have damaged fence posts, the next strong wind may bring it down. Better to replace the damaged posts when discovered. If not repaired, you risk a wind storm that will snap this post. When it breaks, typically the adjacent posts and fence panels go too. Time and effort spent addressing these issues will aid in prolonging the life of your wood fence.
Choosing the Best Weather-Protectant Coating
Once the structure of the fence is determined stable, a good weather-protectant coating is needed to protect the fence. We recommend Behr Premium Solid Color Stain which comes in many natural wood colors. According to a recent article from Consumer Reports, solid color stains greatly outlast semi-transparent or transparent stains. Specifically, Behr Premium Solid Color Stain is ranked the highest. It is the ONLY stain Consumer Reports has tested that still looked “excellent” after 2 years. According to Consumer reports no semi or transparent stain looks “excellent” after 1 year.
Solid color stain is similar to traditional stain, in that, it bites into the wood. However, it also resembles paint, in that, it sits on top of the wood like paint. This combination of benefits causes the solid color stain to outlast the others by 3 to 1. It is recommended that you re-stain a fence coated in solid color stain every 3-5 years depending on the harshness of weather in your area. A professional painting company can be a tremendous help when selecting the correct protectant for your area and completing the job for you.
With regular maintenance and care, you will be able to prolong the life of your wood fence helping it to last a lifetime!
