How to Clean a Vinyl Fence
Most people choose vinyl fences because they are looking for a low-maintenance fence for their backyard or property. Vinyl fence certainly delivers on that!
However, sometimes, vinyl fence does still get a little dirty. So if you’re wondering how to clean a vinyl fence, read on for some of our top tips.
Buy the Best Quality You Can Afford
The first thing you need to know about how to clean a vinyl fence has nothing to do with cleaning. It has to do with the fence itself.
Better quality vinyl fences have a glossy, UV-resistant surface that won’t fade or crack as easily as cheaper fence types often do. If you do choose a cheaper vinyl fence, and it does start to weather like this, the surface will become rougher and more porous, which will mean it will get dirty faster and be harder to clean.
So you really can save yourself time and money by sticking to high-quality vinyl fence products.
Try the Hose
If the dirt on your fence is ordinary garden dirt, dust or something similar, you should simply be able to hose it off your fence.
The longer this kind of dirt has to set in place, the longer it is likely to take to remove it, so make it a habit to hose your fence off once a week or so. This should ensure that you get rid of any dirt and dust before it has a chance to set and minimizes the (already remote) chance of your fence being stained.
Use Mild Dish Detergent
The next option you can try when you’re trying to figure out how to clean a vinyl fence is to use a mild dish detergent like Dawn or similar.
Along with a soft cloth or sponge, a solution of this kind of detergent and some elbow grease should be enough to remove most ordinary dirt from your vinyl fence. Be sure to rinse the soap off with the hose when you’re done too. Dirt can also stick to soap residue and leave you right back where you started!
Removing Graffiti from Your Vinyl Fence
Sometimes, when you’re looking for tips about how to clean a vinyl fence, you need to remove graffiti from the fence. This is a little tougher than removing ordinary dirt and will require special products.
There are special vinyl fence graffiti removers on the market that can help you to get the paint off without damaging the surface.
You can also use solvents that are designed to remove paint from fences. However, these can damage the surface of some vinyl fences. So if you know who manufactured the fence, contact them and ask which solvent products are suitable for that particular fence type.
Shop for Vinyl Fence Cleaner on Amazon
Replace the Affected Components
If the hose, soap and water and solvents don’t work, the simplest solution might be to replace the affected components. Vinyl fence is a component-based system that fits together a lot like building blocks.
This means that you can remove and replace pieces when they are damaged or very dirty.
Make sure you buy your replacement pieces from the same manufacturer because the sizes and design may differ slightly, and a different manufacturer’s product may not fit.
You also probably want to hire a vinyl fence specialist to replace the components for you. This fence can be tricky to assemble if you don’t have the right tools and knowledge, and it’s worth paying a little more for professional results.
Most (But Not All) Dirt Can Be Cleaned Off Vinyl Fences
The good news is that, in most cases, there is a clear and quite simple solution to the question of how to clean a vinyl fence.
Vinyl fence is also still one of the lowest maintenance fence systems out there, so unless there is malicious damage like graffiti, cleanup should be quick and easy.
