Winter Preparedness Check-List for Wooden Fences
When you have a wooden fence on your property, you need to see to it that it can endure the chilly winter months. While your fence might easily have withstood the summer heat, maintaining wooden fences to withstand the cold involves a lot more.
Prepare Your Wooden Fence For Winter
Preparing your fence for winter involves thoroughly inspecting its condition. You also need to carefully examine every aspect of the installation. Here is a winter preparedness check-list for wooden fences:
- Examine your residential boundary fence for signs of rot. Issues like these have to be addressed before the cold sets in.
- You also need to examine the features’ structural integrity to ensure that it stable.
- Makes sure that your wooden fence doesn’t have any loose boards and isn’t damaged in any way. You can carry out minor fence maintenance if you notice potential issues.
- Inspect the hinges, gates, latches, as well as other essential hardware on your fence. If you notice rust, consider replacing them right away.
- If your notice major rotting on the fence, you might have to replace the entire structure.
Accumulation of moisture around your fence can result in considerable rotting of the boards. Besides, the water will also seep into the wood and bear down on it. This can cause the feature to eventually collapse during the winter. However, a sturdy fence installed correctly will not crumble under the added pressure and will stand tall during the harsh winter months.
Protecting Your Wooden Fence Against Winter Damage
While maintaining wooden fences is a challenging task, it’s much better to have a sturdy fence rather than a damaged one. Here are a few steps you can take to protect your wooden fence against winter damage:
- Splash some water and inspect the feature to see if it beads. If it doesn’t, apply a high-quality waterproof sealant on its surface.
- Using inferior quality products on such features can compromise the integrity of the wood, allowing moisture to seep in.
- Get rid of the leaves that start to pile up around the fence. Once winter sets in, the leaves will collect moisture, causing rot to build-up in your fence.
- Another critical aspect to take note of is to shovel as much soil away from the fence as you possibly can.
Following this checklist for wooden fences will ensure that you don’t have to deal with unexpected issues once the winter is upon you. But if you cannot tackle these tasks yourself, contact professional for the job. They will provide you with a free estimate and complete the job to the highest standards.