Cleaning and restoration, grey gone, colour back.

Homeowners are often surprised how much of a tired fence is just dirt and sun-burn sitting on the surface. The wood underneath is usually fine. A real clean and brighten pulls the grey, the mildew, and the algae off and resets the wood to near-bare colour, which is both the better-looking starting point and the only surface a stain will actually bond to.

What restoration includes

• Low-pressure washing, not blasting. Soft-washing or low-pressure cleaning lifts grime and surface grey without furring up the wood grain or carving lines into soft cedar. A turned-up pressure washer raises fibres that create a rough surface and actually hold more dirt and moisture afterward, so the pressure used matters as much as the cleaning agent.
• Oxalic acid or wood brightener. For cedar specifically, an oxalic acid wash is the correct treatment for tannin bleed (the brown streaks that appear after wet seasons) and grey UV oxidation, lifting both without damaging the grain. A general brightening rinse neutralizes the cleaner and lifts the wood back toward its natural tone.
• Algae and mildew treatment. The green and black growth on shaded and damp runs killed and cleared, so it does not bleed back through a fresh stain weeks later. This step matters more in Niagara Falls, where fences near the river or the gorge stay damp longer than the regional average.
• A proper dry. The wood left to reach the right moisture level before any stain, because stain on damp wood is the other common reason a job fails early. For penetrating oil stains this typically means below 15% moisture content, and a fence in a shaded, misty yard can take longer to hit that mark than one in a sunny, drier lot.

Why older Niagara Falls fences need this most

Chippawa and the streets around the older core have some of the longest-standing cedar fences in the city, many original to the property and never professionally stained. That is the fence type where restoration does the most visible work: decades of surface grime and grey come off in one pass, and the underlying cedar is usually sound because the wood species handles moisture better than most. A newer subdivision fence further from the river typically needs a lighter version of the same process.

Why not just stain over it?

Because stain bonds to wood, not to the grey, grime, and mildew on top of it. Staining over an unprepped fence produces a coat that looks fine for a few months and then lifts, taking its finish with it. The clean is not an upsell, it is the foundation the stain stands on. On a fence not being stained yet, a clean and brighten alone still produces a dramatically better-looking result for the season.

What it costs

Cleaning and restoration runs $3 to $6 a linear foot depending on how grey and mildewed the fence is and how much algae treatment it needs. Booked with staining it is part of one number; on its own it is a worthwhile refresh. Full ranges on the cost page.