Introduction
When it’s time to care for your fence or replace it with a new one, you need to consider the right materials, paint, finish, hardware, and other such things. Once you’ve narrowed down your choices, you can search for a “fencing company near me” and hire professionals to build or repair your fence. However, weather can ruin the newly built fence very quickly. Let’s check out how the weather impacts your fence finish.
The Details
- Sunlight – Sunshine is beneficial for most of your outdoor features. From the trees to the veggies gardens and the blooming shrubs. You may also find it very pleasant to bask under the sun on a cold day and read a book or just enjoy being embraced by nature. However, certain features are vulnerable to the harsh Ultraviolet rays of the sun and need extensive protection.
For instance, if you build a wood fence and stain it with something that doesn’t offer adequate UV protection, the wood will start to fade pretty quickly. Wood is highly vulnerable to fading and under direct sunlight, the effects are very severe. Moreover, the damage doesn’t stop at fading. When exposed wood is left under direct sunlight for a long period of time it also starts degrading and your fence becomes unstable after a few years.
That means you’ll have to do more frequent repairs and may need to replace the fence early on. If you live in a region that gets several hours of full sunlight throughout the day, you need to make sure that weather impact is limited by using a strong UV-resistant stain. Otherwise, you can opt for materials like metal or vinyl with a titanium oxide coating to prevent fading.
- Heat and Cold – Extreme heat and cold are both detrimental to fences. When the environment is too hot, fences can expand and experience different degrees of damage. If wood fences aren’t made from flexible boards, they may expand too much, the finish may be chipped off and the wood may get warped.
In severe cases, they may even be pulled off their fasteners. That’s why you need to look for fence boards that can hold up to that expansion with flexibility. On the other hand, while constructing metal fences, there needs to be enough gap between the posts and slats to allow for expansion.
Extreme cold temperatures aren’t good either since they have an opposite effect over fences. It makes fences contract and when that happens, fence boards are under a lot of pressure. This causes structural damage and can reduce the fence’s lifespan. Otherwise, cold weather makes fences brittle and makes the layer of paint on them flake off. Combine that with extra pressure from snow and ice and it’s a disastrous situation where entire sections can break and get severely damaged overnight.
- Moisture – Water is the source of life and the same holds for bacteria and fungi. So, when water sits on a permeable surface, it becomes a thriving environment for mold and mildew. It can also attract bacteria and other microbes that rot and weaken the wood. When those mold spores grow out of the wood or the wood gets rotten, that section starts crumbling and the finish is ruined long before that.
That’s why you should use special pressure-treated boards and use waterproof paint on them if you live in an area that receives heavy rainfall. If you live in such an environment, you need to inspect your wooden fence regularly or after heavy rain.
If there are any signs of rot on any fence board, it needs to be replaced as quickly as possible to prevent the rot from spreading to other boards. Moreover, if there are holes or cracks on the fence board, you need to patch them up as soon as you can with a waterproof putty. Otherwise, you can opt for aluminum or vinyl fences which are entirely waterproof materials.
- Wind – For most fences, moderate winds aren’t a problem. They won’t be able to damage even the ornamental picket fence. However, strong winds brought by storms are a different story. Depending on the wind speeds, it can blow out your fence. If you live in an area that is susceptible to hurricanes and gets a lot of strong wind, you need to child your fence with sturdy materials and make sure the fence is structurally sound.
Moreover, the installation is as important as the materials. You may make a lot of mistakes if you try to DIY it and leave a weak fence on your boundary. That’s why if you’re doubtful about your DIY skills, don’t hesitate to ask for professional help. It’s also important to remember that even if the wind doesn’t damage your fence, it can throw dust, grass, leaves, dirt, and all kinds of debris at your fence. In the best-case scenario, that will chip away most of the paint or finish on the fence. This can be solved by installing a steel fence that can take a lot of hits without being damaged.
- Snow – Even if snow doesn’t do any surface damage to your fence, the water that seeps into the wood after the snow melts can lead to mold and mildew. Moreover, snow and ice can accumulate at the base of the fence and exert a lot of pressure to tip over the fence. If that doesn’t happen, that extra snow weight can make your fence sag on one side or develop cracks on the wood surface. If your area gets heavy snowfall, make sure to plow it away from the fence or choose a very strong material.
Conclusion
As you can see, the weather has a severe impact on both the fence finish and the structure of the fence. That’s why it’s important to keep local conditions in mind and build your fence accordingly. If you need a fence built for your property you can search for a “fencing company near me” and hire professionals to do it for you.