Repair the fence when the damage sits in one stretch and the posts on either side are firm. Replace it when the repair bill reaches about half the price of a new fence, or when most posts move when you push them.
A simple way to decide
- Repair: one section is damaged, the other posts do not move, and the pickets are not brittle.
- Replace one side: a row of posts went over together but the other sides stand straight.
- Replace the fence: posts are loose all the way around, the wood is grey and splitting, or the repair quote is close to 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 by hand. If three or four are bad and the rest are solid, new posts are a fair spend. If most of them rock, look at the pickets too. Fifteen years of High Plains sun and dry air leaves cedar thin and brittle, and hanging tired boards on new posts only delays the bill. In that case a new fence is the better use of the money.
The repair quote is $1,400 and a new fence is $5,200. Which makes sense?
The repair is roughly a quarter of the new price, so it makes sense as long as the posts that are staying are firm. Ask the contractor to say in writing how many posts were checked and left in place. If those fail in the next big wind, you are on the way to paying for a new fence in pieces.
Half my pickets are rotting and the gate will not close. Fix it section by section?
You can, if the posts and rails are sound. Rot at the bottom of pickets in a dry climate usually points to sprinklers hitting the fence or soil and rock mulch piled against it. Start with the gate, because that is a post repair, then change pickets one section at a time and move the sprinkler heads.
How long does a wood fence last in Amarillo?
There is no single number. It depends on the wood, the posts and the care it gets. Sun and wind wear on a fence here more than rot does. Cedar pickets on galvanized steel posts, sealed every few years and kept clear of sprinklers, outlast pine on wood posts left bare.
For a price on your own fence line, book a free on-site estimate. Call (806) 203-6722 or text us a photo of the yard.