Your kids, pets, neighbors, and the weather can be threats to your perfectly beautiful vinyl fence. As durable as vinyl fences are, they are still subject to cracks and holes, which may need repairs and sanding. Can vinyl fencing be sanded?
Vinyl Fencing can be sanded by hand using medium or fine-grit sandpaper. Using a power sander on a vinyl fence should be avoided as it can cause additional damage. It’s only necessary to sand a vinyl fence when repairing damage and not as part of routine maintenance.
Below, we’ll go into a step-by-step process to repair a hole in a vinyl fence and other procedures to take care of your vinyl fence. Sometimes sanding can do more harm than good, so it’s important to know when and how to do it properly.
Sanding Vinyl Fencing
When it comes to sanding a vinyl fence, it is best to get medium or fine-grit sandpaper. While vinyl fencing is durable, it does collect scratches pretty easily, which removes that shine from your vinyl and leaves permanent marks in your fencing.
Medium or fine-grit sandpaper is the best type of use because it does a good job of removing the surface scuffs off the top of the vinyl without permanently damaging your fence.
It is also important to note that you should not use a power sander on your vinyl fencing. They are too powerful and too aggressive to remove the vinyl. In addition, they may leave permanent marks. Also, no matter how steady your hand is, the power sander might create another hole in the fence. Sanding by hand is much safer.
How to Cleaning Vinyl Fencing
If there are a couple of marks on your vinyl fencing, the best way to clean it off is with a washcloth and some soapy water. You can use detergent or dish soap and those will do just fine. For harder marks made by rubber, markers, paint, etc. it is best to use an eraser sponge such as a Magic Eraser. If that doesn’t work, another good product is Goof Off, which is made for getting rid of hard marks on a variety of surfaces. You should not use steel wool or anything with a rough texture on your vinyl fences because it can leave little scrapes or holes in your fence.
However, it is possible to use a pressure washer on your vinyl fence. It is great for getting a lot of dirt and stains off without having to scrub it all by hand. However, it is recommended to use a setting between 500 and 800 PSI on the fence so you don’t create a new hole in it. You should also check with your pressure washer manual specifically to see what it says to do when it comes to vinyl.
Don’t use a pressure washer if your fence has splits, cracks, or holes in it. The powerful water stream can sometimes make these imperfections worse and break down the material even more.
After washing your fence, you may notice some of the shine is gone. The best solution is to find a good wax or house wax. Rubbing this on your fence will help it get its beautiful shine back. You can also try this Vinyl Guard to give it a nice coating and protect it from fading or cracking under future pressure.
Vinyl Fence Hole-Patching Using a Kit
The Vinyl Fence Patching Kit is best for quick and easy repairs. It doesn’t require as much effort, it has everything you need, and it is more of a semi-permanent fix. I highly suggest the Fence Daddy Fence Patching Kit, because it puts a little more effort into making sure the fence is still strong after the repair. Let’s go through the steps of repairing a vinyl fence with this kit.
- Sand down the area around the hole. The creators of this prouduct recommend sanding about 8 inches around the problem area. Afterward, wipe off any excess vinyl you sanded.
- Cut the patch to size. Next, you are going to take the patch and line it up over the hole with about an inch on either side of extra space. Cut the patch to size so you aren’t using too much of it at once.
- Mix the primary compound. Now you are going to mix the compound and stir until well mixed.
- Apply the mixture to the fence. Apply it over the area where you placed the patch. Smooth it out and let it dry.
- Mix the second compound. Mix the second compound and stir until well mixed and smooth it out over the patch.
- Allow time to dry. Let that dry as well.
- Sand and blend. Finally, sand the fence down a bit so the patch blends in.
The video below gives more details about this product. It might be just the thing you need to restore your vinyl fence!
Vinyl Fence Hole-Patching Using a DIY Method
This method of vinyl fence repair is a bit more sturdy because you are actually filling the hole instead of just covering it. This is good because it makes it less likely to break again. It has a similar process to the kit above, but this one does take a little longer. This method is also very common among people in the fence repair business and is highly recommended.
Before we go through the steps make sure to have these items with you: water, dish soap, rag, sandpaper, expandable foam, fine tooth saw, putty knife, plastic filler, and matching paint.
- Clean. Clean the area of the fence where the hole is and make sure it is dry before beginning to work.
- Sand. Sand the area around the hole to get rid of any excess vinyl shards. Also, smooth the edges of the hole down if you can.
- Fill the hole. Fill the hole with the spray foam and give it time to dry overnight. You should put enough foam that it fills the hole and only pops out a little bit.
- Remove excess. Use the saw to cut any excess foam off and sand down the rest.
- Wipe down the area. Wipe down the area again before applying the plastic filler over the hole.
- Smooth. Smooth out the filler and let dry overnight.
- Sand once more. Once it’s dry, sand everything down again until smooth.
- Paint. Finally, apply a layer of paint to match the rest of the fencing.