Chain link fences can present a number of unique challenges. While you don’t have to worry about them needing a new paint job (like wooden fences) or falling apart (like stone walls), you do have to worry about how you’ll maintain them. Namely, how to keep tall weeds and grass down around the bottom of your chain link fence lines.

This can be a predicament because many people find that when they use a handheld trimmer to trim up close to chain link fences, their trimmer cord gets eaten up pretty quickly. If you’re working with a handheld trimmer with thin cord, that’s your first problem! Once you’re working with a walk-behind DR Trimmer Mower, here are some tips for maintaining your chain link fence lines:

1. Don’t let the trimmer cord go all the way through the fence.

You may be hoping to trim both sides of the fence in one pass, but you’ll end up tangling the cord and wearing it down more quickly than you’d like. Trim such that the cord touches the fence, but just barely. You’ll have to do each side of the fence in a separate pass. This will reduce the wear to your cord and prevent tangling in the chain links.

2. Keep spare cord with you as you work.

For particularly long fence lines, keep spare cord with you as you work. Then, if after a while you find that you do need to change your cord, you’ll be able to make the switch and be back to work quickly.

3. Work carefully.

The more times your trimmer cord hits up against the chain links (or any hard surface, for that matter) the more quickly it’s going to wear down. In general, if you work carefully and try to bump into the fence as little as possible, you can maintain your chain link fence lines easily with infrequent cord changes.