Repair the fence when the trouble is limited to one area and the posts on each side of it are solid. Replace it when the repair bill comes close to half the price of a new fence, or when posts are failing up and down the line.
A simple way to decide
- Repair: some boards or a single panel are damaged, the posts do not move when you lean on them, and the rails are whole.
- Rebuild one line: posts have failed along one side of the yard, often the side the sprinklers hit, and the other sides stand straight.
- Replace it all: most posts rock in the ground, or the repair would cost around half of a new fence.
My fence is about 15 years old, a few posts are rotted and it leans. Posts or whole fence?
Test every post before choosing posts or whole fence. Grab the top of each one and push hard. If a few move and the others do not, new posts will buy the fence more years. If most of them move, the fence is finished even if the boards look fine. That is a common picture in Sacramento, where the dry heat is gentle on boards and the irrigated soil is hard on posts.
The repair quote is $1,400 and a new fence is $5,200. Which makes sense?
The repair, as long as the posts being left are solid. $1,400 is roughly 27 percent of $5,200, which is far below the half mark. Before you agree, ask how the remaining posts were checked. If more of them are soft, you could be paying for another repair in a year or two and still own an old fence.
Half my pickets are rotting and the gate will not close. Fix it section by section?
Working section by section is fine if the posts and rails are solid. Boards that rot from the bottom up are getting wet from the ground: mulch heaped against them, soil that has built up over the years or a sprinkler that sprays the fence. Deal with the gate first, since a gate that will not close usually means a post has moved. Then replace the boards a section at a time and fix what was wetting them.
How long does a wood fence last in Sacramento?
We will not give one number, because it swings too widely. Species and grade of wood, how deep the posts are, whether water drains away from them and how much sprinkler spray the fence takes all change the answer. The climate cuts both ways. Low humidity and a long dry season slow rot in the boards. Strong sun dries them until they cup and split, mostly on south and west faces. Posts in watered lawn fail first.
A real price needs a tape measure on your fence line. The visit costs nothing and the quote comes in writing. Call (916) 890-2911 or text us a photo of the fence.