Fences Restored, Not Just Sprayed

Fence lines are the shadiest, dampest strip of most Capital Region yards. Boards sit inches from wet grass, get watered by every sprinkler pass, and rarely see direct sun on the north side — perfect conditions for algae and mildew. That's why the neighbor-facing side of a stockade fence in Delmar or Niskayuna is often twice as green as the side you look at every day.

Wood picks up a second problem: our freeze-thaw winters drive moisture into the grain, and each thaw lifts the surface fibers a little more. What starts as a silvery cast turns into a rough, splinter-prone face within a few seasons. Vinyl and aluminum don't rot, but they hold a film of algae, road salt spray, and lawn-mower clippings that dulls the whole panel.

Chain-link collects its own mix — rust bloom at the top rail, pollen in the mesh, and vine residue where ivy or bittersweet climbed through. All of it comes off with the right detergent; none of it comes off with pressure alone.

Wood, including pressure-treated pine and cedar, gets a wood-safe cleaner with dwell time and a low-pressure rinse — never a high-pressure blast that would fuzz the grain. When you're planning to stain, we add a brightener pass to neutralize pH and even out the tone so the finish absorbs consistently.

Vinyl and PVC get a soft-wash detergent that kills the algae film at the root instead of just rinsing it off the surface. That's why a properly soft-washed vinyl fence stays white for years while a hose-and-scrub job greens up again by mid-summer.

Aluminum and wrought iron are cleaned by hand where needed so we don't drive water into hollow posts, and we flag any spots where the powder coat has failed. Chain-link gets a full cleaner spray through the mesh followed by an even rinse from both sides.

Fences are almost never the only thing that needs attention in a backyard. Most of our fence customers add the deck, the patio, or a house wash on the same visit — you save on trip time and the whole yard matches instead of one clean fence framing a dirty house.

If your fence runs alongside a driveway, walkway, or paver patio, that's another natural pairing. Cleaning the hardscape and the fence together avoids the problem of overspray dirtying whatever we did first.

We serve fence cleaning across Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Saratoga Springs, Clifton Park, Colonie, Latham, Guilderland, Delmar, Niskayuna, Ballston Spa, and Rensselaer, and we'll clean both sides wherever the neighbor's side is accessible.