How To Winterize Your Chain Link Fence
With the Winter months approaching, it's common to want to make sure everything is shut off, sealed tight, and ready around the house for the bitter cold. One of the most common questions from folks, especially new home buyers, is how do you take care of your aluminum fence? Won't the cold damage it? Well, if you take care of a few things before the winter comes, your fence is sure to last and luckily, this guide is the perfect way to find out what to do.
What is Winterization?
Winterization is defined as the process of prepping for winter, usually taking precautions against the cold, snow, and ice. This does NOT include adding fancy lights and new decor, but rather, Winterization means things like shutting off and covering outdoor water valves so that they do not freeze and rust; insulating windows, doors, and even whole rooms; waterproofing equipment; and the list goes on. The process of Winterization can largely be chalked up to making sure things are shut off and covered, but how do you cover an entire fence? While, in theory, that is technically possible, it's not very practical. No, instead you only need to take care of a few things to Winterize your fence, ensuring its longevity.
Simple Ways to Winterize Your Fence
Adding/Tightening Post Caps
One of the simplest and most crucial ways to Winterize your fence is to add Post Caps where there aren't any and tighten the ones that are already there. Post Caps are the primary method of protection for fences against any water or snow from entering the fence post and freezing it. This pressure from within the post due to the freezing water could cause severe damage to your fence as it weakens the metal, causing it to decay more rapidly, rust, or in some extreme cases even combust.
Tighten Fence Mesh
Winter (in most of the world) usually means heavy amounts of snow, which means heavy amounts of freezing cold weight sitting on the mesh of your fence. Over time, chain link fences naturally loosen for a wide variety of reasons, mostly the elements. This means that your fence is growing weaker as time goes on, and having a heavy amount of snow sitting on it for 2-3 months is only going to accelerate that. It's best to check and tighten all of your chain link mesh with a Fence Stretcher. This ensures that your fence continues to be as secure as possible while also making sure that it doesn't sag. Don't know how to use a fence stretcher? Check out our guide on how to stretch your fence here!
Tighten Any Loose Bolts and Screws
Much like Fence Mesh, it's also important to ensure that the bolts and screws along your fence are sufficiently tightened for the winter months. These are important to check as they are responsible for holding up your Fence Hardware such as brace bands, brackets, gates, closers, and more! It can be a little tedious to check these as they are a little harder to find if you don't know what you are looking for, however much like your Fence Mesh it's important to check these so that you can ensure that your fence is secure.
Complex Ways to Winterize Your Fence
Rust Prevention
If you're looking to prevent rust on your fence, the best way to do it is to paint it with a special kind of Fence Touch up Paint. Typically this is a special galvanized kind of paint meant to insulate your fence from the elements as well as any other damage from both animals and people. It's a common concern that it will make a fence look "off"; however, these paints are already color-matched as closely as possible to the most common colors of fencing, black and silver/aluminum. Important Note: Most new fences already come with a pre-applied layer of galvanization or vinyl coating that already protects the fence from damage. This method is recommended for already damaged or older fences only!
Note that not all aerosol paints will adhere to chain link fencing; it is advised that you use chain link paint primer and paint, as it is designed to bind strongly with chain link material.
Fixing Weak Posts
In the event that one or more of your fence posts are weak or damaged, it's important to repair or even replace it as soon as possible as it could cause irreparable damage to the mesh by causing it to warp or in extreme cases even cause the fence as a whole to fall over. This could be as simple as replacing some simple hardware like a brace band or tension band or as complex as removing and replacing a fence post. It's important to take care of this as soon as possible as a damaged fence post exposed to the elements during the winter is almost guaranteed to fail. If you need help identifying what parts of your fence need replaced or how to install/replace a fence post yourself, check out our helpful guides below!
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When trying to winterize your fence, it's important to check all points of failure for your fence to ensure that it will continue to last for years to come! Whether it's a simple job like tightening your bolts or something as complex as replacing a fence post, Chain Link Fittings are here to help with all your winterization needs. From Bolts and Bands to Paint and Primers, we have all of the tools to get your fence through the winter!
If you have any further questions, please reach out to our sales representatives. They are happy to help in any way they can!
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