Cleaning Your Vinyl Fence: 6 Effective Tips To Save Time

The beauty of vinyl fencing is its durability — particularly when compared to traditional wood fencing. Vinyl is low maintenance, doesn’t rot, splinter or weather, and never needs to be painted or treated. It is a beautiful material that will stand the test of time, especially if you’re cleaning your vinyl fence regularly.

While vinyl fencing does have a low maintenance level, it does still need occasional cleaning. Mud, rain splashes, and even occasional mold and mildew do occur, so cleaning your vinyl fence is extremely important. 

Once you know how to maintain your vinyl fence, you’ll be able to keep it pristine with a minimum amount of effort. 

1. Hose It Down With A Garden Hose

Cleaning your vinyl fence usually only takes a splash of water to wash a vinyl fence. The vast majority of dirt, mud, and rain discoloration can be dealt with by a quick spray with the garden hose.

When thinking about how to clean a vinyl fence, the hose should be your first step, regardless of the extent of the dirt. Hosing down your fence will remove loose grime and a top layer of dirt even from tougher stains. This is always the best way to start washing your vinyl fence.

2. Wipe It Off With A Damp Cloth

Once you’ve hosed off your fence (and if the hose alone didn’t quite cut it), wipe it down with a cleaning cloth. For really simple stains, this should take care of the problem. 

For slightly more stubborn dirt, we’ll let you in on a secret: a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. This pro-tip is amazingly effective on light stains and general dirt, dust, and pollution, and can save you so much time.

3. Use Grit & Household Cleaners

If your vinyl stains are resisting water and the Magic Eraser (or a similar product), you can take your efforts one step further with the basic products you have around the house. 

Soap and water go a long way, as do bathroom and kitchen surface cleaners. Scrubbing stains with a washcloth and soapy water lets you get into the nooks and crannies, and a non-abrasive sponge or scrubber will help with any stains that look like they won’t go away. You can also have a go with basic vinegar, which is fantastic if you’ve got large areas of fence to clean (and want to do so on a budget).

4. Scrub With Bleach

Occasionally you’ll come across dirt or discoloration that won’t budge, even after a good scrub. At this point, you should be reaching for the bleach. Remember: vinyl is incredibly durable, so you’re not running any risk of damage by using strong bleach.

We can’t say the same for your skin, though. Make sure you wear heavy-duty rubber gloves to keep your hands safe and dilute your bleach with water (roughly one part bleach to five parts water should be powerful enough for almost every stain). Then, scrub away with an old washcloth or scrubber, in the same way as you would with soap and water. 

5. Use Specialized Products

If you come up against marks that resist every step so far, then specialized vinyl cleaning products can help. Things like rust stains or mold can be hard to remove, and bespoke cleaning products or heavy-duty cleaners might be necessary in these circumstances. 

6. Be Proactive With Your Fence Care

How you maintain your vinyl fence has a big impact on cleanliness. If you regularly wash your vinyl fence, even just with a hose or with soapy water, you’ll probably never have to worry about using anything more than a hose and some soap. 

For more tips on cleaning, maintaining, and choosing your vinyl fencing, head over to our blog — at Blackline hhp, we’re the experts in fencing and railing, whatever issues you’re facing, we can help you out.