Cedar vs Pressure-Treated: Which Wood Should Your Thunder Bay Fence Be?

Short answer: pressure-treated is the right call for most Thunder Bay fences, and cedar is the right call if you're willing to pay more for how it looks and ages. Both hold up fine to our winters when the posts are set properly below the frost line. The real difference is cost, colour, and how much maintenance you want to sign up for. Here's how to pick.

What pressure-treated wood gets you

Pressure-treated lumber is spruce or pine that's had preservative forced into the wood under pressure, which is what makes it resist rot and insects. It's the workhorse of fence building in Northwestern Ontario: strong, affordable, and it stands up to freeze-thaw cycling as well as any wood we use. Fresh out of the ground it has a greenish tint that fades to grey within a year or two. It's the default in our standard $65 to $85 per linear foot pricing, and for most backyard privacy fences it's the smarter dollar.

What cedar gets you

Cedar has natural oils that resist rot and insects without chemical treatment, so it's a genuinely durable wood on its own, not just a nicer-looking version of pressure-treated. It starts out a warm reddish-brown and weathers to a soft silver-grey over a few seasons if you leave it bare, or you can stain it to hold that original colour. It's also lighter and straighter-grained, which some homeowners prefer for the finished look. The tradeoff is price: cedar typically runs 20 to 35 percent more than pressure-treated for the same fence.

How they hold up to Thunder Bay winters

This is the part people worry about most, and the honest answer is that wood species matters less than the build. Our winters punish a fence through the ground, not the air: frost heave from posts that aren't set below the frost line is what pulls a fence out of square, and that happens to cedar and pressure-treated equally. Set the posts right and either wood will give you 20-plus years of service in this climate. Skip that step and no wood species saves you.

Maintenance: what each one actually needs

• Pressure-treated. Basically maintenance-free. Left bare it greys out and keeps doing its job for decades. Stain it if you want to slow that fade, but it's optional.
• Cedar. Also fine left bare, but if you want to keep that reddish colour rather than let it silver out, plan on restaining every 2 to 4 years.

So which one should you pick

If you want a solid, private, long-lasting fence and don't want to think about it again, go pressure-treated. It's what we build most often and it's included in our standard pricing. If the fence is a visible part of your yard and you want that warmer, higher-end look, cedar is worth the upgrade, just budget for it and know it needs a bit more upkeep to hold its colour. Either way, the posts are what make or break the fence here, not the species.

Get a real number for your yard

Trace your fence line on our fence cost estimator for an instant range in either wood, or book a free on-site quote and we'll walk the property with you and confirm it.