Seal Your Fence Once — Protected for 25 Years
Rated 4.9 stars across 450+ Google reviews. Serving North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Backed by our 25-year transferable warranty.
Why fences fail faster than anything else in your yard
A fence is the hardest-working wood on your property and the least maintained. Nobody sits on it, so nobody notices it going until the day it looks bad from the street or a picket comes loose in a storm.
Three things kill a fence. Ground contact wicks moisture up into the posts from below, which is why fences almost always rot at the base first. UV breaks down the surface fibers of every board facing the sun, graying it and opening the grain so it absorbs even more water. And the freeze-thaw and swell-shrink cycle works that absorbed water like a wedge, splitting boards, popping nails and loosening rails a fraction at a time until the whole run leans.
Left untreated in the Southeast, a new pine or cedar privacy fence typically goes gray in a season or two, starts checking and splintering after that, and is visibly failing well before it should be.
Two-sided exposure: the problem unique to fences
Your deck has a top. Your fence has two faces, and they live completely different lives.
The sunny side takes direct UV for hours a day and dries hard and fast. The shaded side — usually the neighbor’s side, or the side against shrubs — stays damp for hours after every rain, holds dew into the morning, and grows algae and mildew. One face is being cooked while the other is being soaked, and the board in between is being pulled in two directions every single day. That differential is why fence boards cup, twist and split more dramatically than deck boards of the same wood.
It also means a one-sided treatment is half a job. Plenty of fence work gets sprayed only from the owner’s side because the other face is over a property line or behind landscaping. The untreated face keeps absorbing water, and the board fails from the back. We treat both faces, plus the rails, posts, caps and end grain, because protecting one side of a two-sided problem does not work.
Penetrating sealer vs. fence stain
Fence stain is a coating. It sits on the pickets as a film, and on a fence that film has an enormous amount of edge — every picket gap, every rail joint, every post cap — where water can get underneath it. Once it lifts, it peels in strips and the fence looks worse than if it had never been stained. Then it has to be stripped before it can be redone.
DuraSeal is a penetrating sealer. It soaks into the wood fiber and blocks moisture intrusion from the inside. There is no film, so there is nothing to peel, flake or chalk, and nothing to strip years later. We are not changing your fence to a color; we are protecting the wood you already have.
Side by side
- Stain: film on the surface. DuraSeal: protection inside the wood.
- Stain: peels and flakes as it fails. DuraSeal: no film, nothing to peel.
- Stain: strip and recoat every two to three years. DuraSeal: one application, 25-year transferable warranty.
- Stain: adds color that fades unevenly. DuraSeal: keeps the natural material.
- Stain: often one side only. DuraSeal: both faces, rails, posts and end grain.
Our fence sealing process
- Free on-site quote. A local estimator measures your linear footage, checks the wood species and condition, notes any boards or posts that should be repaired or replaced first, and gives you a written price. Nothing about the quote is contingent on you deciding that day.
- Prep and cleaning. We clean the fence to remove gray oxidized fiber, algae, mildew and dirt. Sealer cannot penetrate through grime. This step is most of the labor and it is where cheap fence work cuts corners.
- Protect the surroundings. We cover and shield plantings, beds, hardscape and anything adjacent on both sides of the fence line.
- Dry time. The wood has to reach the right moisture level before sealing. We schedule around weather rather than sealing wet wood to hit a calendar date.
- Application. Penetrating sealer applied to both faces, rails, posts, caps, gates and exposed end grain — the places that fail first.
- Walkthrough. We walk the whole run with you, clean up the site, and your 25-year transferable warranty starts.
What we treat
- Cedar, pine, spruce and pressure-treated privacy fences
- Picket, board-on-board, shadowbox and horizontal slat fences
- Split rail, ranch rail and paddock fencing
- Gates, posts, rails, caps and fence-mounted trim
- Fences around pools, gardens and pet runs
Backed for 25 years, and it transfers
Your fence sealing is covered by the same 25-year transferable warranty as every other DuraSeal surface. If the sealer stops performing, you call and we come back out. When you sell the house, the remaining coverage goes to the buyer at no cost. Read exactly what is and is not covered — pre-existing rot, normal cleaning and damage from others are excluded, and we say so plainly.
Fence sealing FAQ
Do you seal both sides of the fence?
Yes. Both faces, plus rails, posts, caps and end grain. A fence sealed on one side only will still fail from the untreated side.
What if the fence is on a property line and my neighbor is on the other side?
Very common, and usually not a problem — we just need reasonable access to the far side. Give your neighbor a heads-up before the crew arrives and let us know at the quote so we can plan the day.
My fence is already gray. Is it too late?
Almost certainly not. Gray is oxidized surface fiber, and our cleaning step removes most of it. What actually rules a section out is structural failure — rotted post bases, boards you can push a screwdriver through, or a run that is already leaning. Those should be repaired or replaced first, and pre-existing damage is not covered by the warranty.
Do I have to replace bad boards before you seal?
Yes, if they are structurally gone. Sealer protects sound wood; it does not rebuild rotted wood. Your estimator will flag exactly which boards or posts need attention so there are no surprises.
Will it change the color of my fence?
No. This is a penetrating sealer, not a stain. It protects the wood without adding a pigmented layer, so your fence keeps its natural look.
Is it safe around pets, kids and my garden?
Yes, once cured. We will tell you the specific window to keep pets and children off the fence line, and we protect adjacent beds and plantings during application.
How long does a fence job take?
Most residential fences are a one-day job, depending on linear footage, access to both sides and how much cleaning the wood needs. Long runs or heavily weathered fences can take two.
What about the gate?
Gates are included. They are also the part that gets used the most, so we pay extra attention to the latch-side end grain and the bottom rail.
How much does fence sealing cost?
Fences are priced by linear footage, height and condition, so we quote them on site rather than guessing from a photo. See our pricing page for typical project ranges.
Get your fence priced
Serving North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Tell us your fence length and we will price it — free, on site, no pressure. Call 888-660-0260 or book online.