Figured that a catchy intro line would help out since I am horrifically new to this, and I’m sure that Boris is watching closely to see if I really will be “blog worthy”.

The winds have arrived in Oakville (and Mississauga, Burlington and surrounding areas) and with it, fences are going down. It is rare these days to NOT get a phone call about someone needing a repair done on a fence or deck rail and Lakeshore Home Maintenance has the knowledge and expertise to take care of all these problems.

A few words to the wise on the issue of wooden fences, namely how they are typically built, what their life span should be, and of course, the fact that nothing is carved in stone when it comes to how long they should last. Most of the work we take care of when it comes to our lovely home borders is on the 20+year old wooden board on board fence. 4×4 pressure treated posts set in concrete. These fences were built in the housing boom of the 80’s, in areas like Glen Abbey, Upper Middle and 8th Line, Southeast Oakville and parts of Westoak Trails. It seems to be that fences have a life span of about 20 – 25 years. Generally, something happens, some event that finally snaps one or more of your posts, and down they come, bringing multitudes of wooden slats with them. Gardens are crushed, barbecues are damaged, and your backyard suddenly becomes everybodys business!

Which brings us to a word about neighbours. We’ve all heard that “good fences make good neighbours” and we find that in many cases, people don’t know how true this is until the fence comes crashing down. It is important to determine whether the fence is on the lot line (often the case) or solely your own (or your neighbours) property. When the fence is on the lot line, people generally split the cost of a fix between the neighbours. Of course, there are cases when one party is not interested in fixing the fence, or feels that it is not their fault that the fence went down in the first place, based on how it fell.

Many factors can contribute to your fence coming down before its time, and one of the biggest culprits is the garden bed that has been built up in front of a fence, sometimes with boards and/or weed barrier up against the fence to keep the soil in your garden. Unfortunately, this puts undue strain on the boards and the posts and will rot everything prematurely. Remember when you are planning your gardens, to keep the level of the soil low where it hits the fence, and you can save yourself some costly repairs down the road. Keep your fence posts clear at all times of debris and soil, as our freeze/thaw cycles can seriously wreak havoc on the wood.

When it is time to repair your fence, be sure that you find someone who understands how to properly install new posts, digging deep enough to ensure that all concrete is well below the frost line, posts are levelled and true, and that they have the experience and knowledge from working on many different styles and sizes of fence. Often, we are called out to fix other people’s work, working on fences that have more angles than a geometry set!

We can take care of every aspect of fixing your fence, whether you just need one new post, or a whole new section repaired or replaced. Whether you want pressure treated wood or cedar, painted or natural. Lakeshore Home Maintenance has the know-how and expertise to do it right, at the right price for you.