Repair the fence when the trouble is limited to one area and the posts around it are solid. Replace it when the repair would cost about half as much as a new fence, or when most of the posts are rotted, termite-damaged or loose in the clay.
A simple way to decide
- Repair: one section is damaged, the posts stay put when you push on them, and the boards are sound.
- Replace a section: several posts in a row have failed but the line is straight everywhere else.
- Replace the fence: posts are soft or loose along the whole run, termite tubes show on more than a few, or the repair quote is close to half the price of a new fence.
My fence is about 15 years old, a few posts are rotted and it leans. Posts or whole fence?
Let the posts answer it. Go down the line, push each post and push a screwdriver into the wood at the soil. If only a handful are soft, replace those and keep the fence. If more than about half fail the test, the fence is at the end of its life. In Jackson's heat, rain and termite pressure, 15 years is a reasonable run for treated pine.
The repair quote is $1,400 and a new fence is $5,200. Which makes sense?
The repair makes sense if the other posts are sound. $1,400 is about 27 percent of $5,200, so it is well below half. What you want to avoid is a second repair next year and a third the year after. Have the contractor note on the quote how many posts were checked and how many passed.
Half my pickets are rotting and the gate will not close. Fix it section by section?
Yes, when the posts and rails are solid. Fix the gate first, since a gate that will not close leaves the yard open and usually means a post has moved. After that, pickets can be replaced section by section. Find out why they rotted. Soil, pine straw or mulch piled against the boards, and sprinklers hitting them daily, are the common reasons.
How long does a wood fence last in Jackson?
We will not give one number, because it varies too much. Lumber quality, the treatment rating of the posts and how the fence is kept all change it. Central Mississippi is wet, hot and full of termites, and the ground moves. A fence with ground-contact posts, pickets held off the soil and regular sealing far outlasts one without. Posts fail before pickets nearly every time.
We cannot price a fence without seeing the yard, and the visit is free. Call (601) 476-1207 or text a photo of the fence line to the same number.