When you selected the fencing material for your yard, you may have gone with aluminum because you liked the benefit of it not needing much maintenance to keep it in great shape. That said, you cannot completely ignore an aluminum fence once you have it installed. It still needs some care to prevent damage from occurring to it over the years. Thankfully, it should only take a day each year to do so.

Cleaning

The best thing about having an aluminum fence is that the material will not rust, so you can clean aluminum using soap and water with a bristle brush. A simple cleaning solution of warm water and dish soap will help dissolve the typical stains that an aluminum fence encounters.

Start by scrubbing any visible stains with the bristle brush, then spray down the surface using a garden hose. Always rinse your fence from the top to the bottom to avoid streaking as the dirt drips off.

Avoid using a power washer on metal fencing, especially an aluminum fence. The strong stream of water can cause the metal to pit, which will ruin the look of your fence and damage the finish.

Maintaining

Once you are done cleaning, let the fence dry out under the sun. Then visually inspect the fence for potential damage. You should be looking for rails that are broken, fence posts that are loose, connection hardware that is broken, and gates that are no longer level. These are all maintenance issues that you should be able to fix on your own.

It also helps to put oil on any gate hinges that you have. It will keep them working great and avoid squeaking when opening and closing the gate.

Preventing Damage

It's easy to prevent your aluminum fence from becoming damaged as it gets older. If you want to preserve the gate hinges, always make sure that the gate is closed when you are not using it. An open gate can easily swing around when there are high winds, which puts unnecessary stress on the hinges.

If you need to trim weeds around the fence, do it by hand rather than use powered weed trimmer that can scratch up the very bottom of the fence. When landscaping with rocks, avoid having them touch the fence since they can easily chip away at the fence's coating.

For more tips on maintaining and cleaning an aluminum fence, speak with a fencing contractor in your area, like Clendaniel Fence Co.