Fence Painting North York

Need Fence Painting in North York?

Fence painting in North York is a wood problem before it is a colour problem. One face of a back fence bakes in afternoon sun, the other sits in shade and stays damp, and every winter opens the grain a little wider. Cedar and pressure-treated pine both end up the same silver grey, and peeling boards read as neglect even when the house paint is fine.

Most of the fence we finish sits behind postwar houses. The 1950s and 60s bungalows and side-splits here have deep lots, so one back yard can run over a hundred feet plus two gates. In Don Mills, built out between 1952 and 1965 on wide lots, mature trees shade most of that fence line. The shaded face dries slowly and grows a green algae film the sunny side never gets.

Two Toronto rules catch people out. Height first. Under the City of Toronto fence by-law, Chapter 447, a residential fence tops out at 2.0 metres in most spots and 1.2 metres in a front yard within 2.4 metres of the street lot line. Ownership second. The City says it has no role in disputes over where a boundary fence sits or who pays for it, and the provincial Line Fences Act does not apply here apart from one section. A shared fence is a neighbour conversation, and we have it before anyone buys product.

What Fence Painting Actually Takes

The colour goes on in a day. Everything that decides how long it lasts happens before that.

We wash first, and gently. Cedar and pine are soft, so we stay around 500 to 800 psi with a 25 or 40 degree fan tip. A narrow tip shreds the top layer and leaves it furred, and furred wood takes stain in blotches. Where boards have greyed, or cedar has bled dark tannin streaks, a brightener pulls that out of the fibre instead of sealing it under the new finish.

Then we wait. A washed fence wants about 48 hours of dry weather, longer in a shaded yard. We test rather than guess. A few drops of water on the top rail answers it, because beading means the wood is still full and stain will not penetrate. New pressure-treated boards arrive wet with treatment and can need weeks or months, which is why a fence stained too early goes patchy.

Old finish that is chalking or peeling has to come off. Scraping and sanding is the day people want to skip, and it decides whether you do this again in two years. Smooth planed cedar gets a scuff with 50 to 60 grit. Bare wood going under a solid stain or paint gets an oil-based, stain-blocking primer, so tannin cannot bleed back through.

Posts fail in a predictable order. Rot starts at the ground line, where the wood cycles wet and dry after every rain, and at the cut end grain, which wicks water up like a straw. So we pull soil back off the bases, carry the finish down to the ground line, and replace boards that have gone soft. Painting a rotten board just gives you a tidy rotten board.

Yards are harder to protect than rooms. Beds, stone, and the neighbour's car on the far side get covered, and anything sprayed gets back-brushed. Weather sets the calendar too. Most exterior stains want roughly 5 to 30 degrees and no rain for 24 to 48 hours after, and we follow the shade so the wet edge does not dry into lap marks. Same on the fence lines we do through East York. For the rest of what a North York painting crew covers outdoors, start at the home page.

Fence Painting Services in North York

• Privacy and board fences

  The standard six foot back yard run, in cedar or pressure-treated pine. Wash, brightener where the wood has greyed, scrape and sand anything previously coated, then stain or paint. Long runs get sprayed and back-brushed, and we cut in by hand at posts and rails.

• Picket and decorative fences

  Front yard pickets, spindles, scallop tops, and caps. There is far more surface here than it looks, since every picket has two faces, two edges, and a cut top that drinks water. We brush the tops and edges rather than trusting spray, since that is where paint lifts first.

• Gates and hardware

  Gates get used every day, so they wear differently from the rest of the run. We pull or mask the latch, free seized hinges, coat the top and bottom edges nobody ever does, and hang the gate square once the finish sets. If the fence is also your pool enclosure, the latching hardware goes back working as it was.

• Power washing and fence cleaning

  Washing is a service on its own, and it is what makes everything after it work. Low pressure, wide fan tip, top down, then a rinse. Mildew, algae off the shaded face, pollen, and road grit all come off. Sealing that under fresh stain is how good product fails in a season.

• Solid colour stain and fence paint

  Opaque finishes when you want one clean colour, maximum UV cover, and the patchy grey gone for good. They hold their look far longer than a semi-transparent, but they build a film, so the next refresh is a scrape and sand. We prime bare wood first so nothing bleeds through.

• Lattice, trellis, and privacy screens

  Lattice is slow, and anyone quoting it like flat fence has not done much of it. Every opening has four edges, and sprayed lattice with no back-brushing ends up coated on the front and bare inside. We match lattice and screen tops to the main fence line.

• Rot repair and board replacement

  We do wood rot repair and light carpentry, so soft boards, split pickets, and rails pulled off a post get handled before any finish goes near them. A post gone through at the ground line is a bigger job, and we say so on site. New boards get coated on all faces first.

• Metal, iron, and chain-link fences

  Not every fence here is wood. Wrought iron, steel posts, and chain-link all take paint, and metal painting is on our service list. Rust gets wire brushed and spot primed, galvanized chain-link needs a primer made to grip it, and we spray in still conditions with the ground masked.

Nine Things Worth Knowing Before You Paint a Fence

1. Wash first, and keep the pressure down. Cedar and pine want roughly 500 to 800 psi through a 25 or 40 degree fan tip. A narrow tip furs the wood, and furred wood stains in blotches.
2. Give it 48 hours, then test with water. Beading on the top rail means the wood is still full. Soaking in within a minute means you are clear to start.
3. A brand new pressure-treated fence is not ready. It arrives wet with treatment and can need weeks or months. Staining it the week it goes up is why new fences look patchy.
4. Do both sides if you can reach them. A fence coated on one face weathers at two rates and starts cupping. On a shared line, sort access out first.
5. Keep soil, mulch, and sprinklers off the posts. Rot starts at the ground line, where the wood soaks and dries over and over, and the end grain wicks water up.
6. Two coats on bare wood, and back-brush whatever gets sprayed. One coat looks thin by fall, and spray alone leaves product on the surface, not in the grain.
7. Opacity is a maintenance decision, not just a look. Semi-transparent stain gives the shortest run and the easiest refresh. Solid stain and paint last longer and cost you a scrape next time.
8. Follow the shade around the yard. Stain that flashes off in hot sun leaves lap marks. Most want roughly 5 to 30 degrees and a dry 24 to 48 hours after.
9. Refinishing keeps a grandfathered fence. One lawfully built before June 20, 2018 is deemed to comply until it is replaced, so a repaint holds that status where a tear-out resets it.