Is It Time To Replace Your Wood Fence?

As the weather changes, especially when it gets colder, it’s a good time to check your fence for weaknesses. In Central Texas, we do get a few really cold days. We don’t have the freeze lines like our Northern state neighbors which is a big help but we do have surface freezes that will affect the wood posts.

Here’s some professional tips to know what to look for:

Wood Privacy Fences

We see a lot of newly constructed homes have wood fences built with landscape timbers.Yes, that’s the wood use for most new home’s fences that have 2 round and 2 flat sides that are mostly likely rotted and/or broken, These are not

meant to be used for fence posts. They rot easily, lasting 3-8 years depending on the amount of moisture they are exposed to.

1. Walk the post side of your fence and look to see if the wood posts are starting to turn dark or greenish. If so, see if the wood is soft and can be easily torn. This is a sign of rot that’s usually 2-4” above ground but severely rotted down to 6” or more underground causing the fence posts to break in 20mph winds or more.

2. Cold temps will also affect the posts as the moisture in these posts will freeze and it’s very common for wind and gusts of wind to be a part of a cold snap making it very easy for the posts to break.

3. As you are looking at the posts, double check the 2x4 rails to ensure they are securely attached to the posts. Since most fence builders use nails, these are shot into the wood with a nail gun using an air compressor and many times the nails don’t get into the meat of the post. This will make the fence panel to become loose and could cause the panel to slam against the post causing more damage to it and possibly cracking or breaking the post.

4. Also, look for weak and broken pickets. Just as the 2x4’s are nailed, so are the vertical pickets. If you shake the 2x4, you will notice loose pickets. If you do, it’s usually due to the inferior nail installation. The nail’s coating was stripped off as it was shot into the wood causing the moisture inside the wood to rust the nails

and accelerate the rotting of wood. This also happens to the 2x4 rails that attaches to the posts.

5. It’s also good to see if your irrigation system is overspraying onto your fence. You will see the grayed out area that is obvious with the sprinkler head pattern on the fence. Call your irrigation company to have them adjust the heads to reduce/eliminate the overspray so you can extend the life of your fence.

6. Gates are always the area of a fence that gives most people issues. Check the posts as noted above since this is where most will have a water hydrant, gutter down-spout, roof run-off and a sprinkler head. Check the rails/gate frame for accelerated rot as there’s so many fasteners that will rust and rot the wood more quickly.

These are some of the quick basic things to look for to decide if you need to get some fence quotes. It’s always a good idea to plan ahead to avoid an untimely unsecure property due to the fence falling or gate falling off. We always

offer free quotes/inspections if you’d like a professional, no obligation quote.