Repair the fence when the damage sits in one area and the posts are still tight in the ground. Replace it when the repair would cost about half as much as a new fence, or when most of the posts have failed.
A simple way to decide
- Repair: a single stretch is damaged, the posts do not rock, and the boards or pickets still hold a screw.
- Rebuild one side: the posts on that side are gone but the other sides stand straight.
- Replace everything: posts are loose or hollow all the way around, the wood is cracked and gray throughout, or the repair is near half the cost of new.
My fence is about 15 years old, a few posts are rotted and it leans. Posts or whole fence?
Check each post before choosing. Push on every one and look at the base for soft wood or termite mud tubes. If only three or four are bad, replace those and keep the fence. If most are loose, replace it all. Fifteen years of Tucson sun also dries boards until they split at the nails, so look at the boards as well as the posts.
The repair quote is $1,400 and a new fence is $5,200. Which makes sense?
Take the repair, provided the posts that stay are sound. $1,400 is about 27 percent of $5,200, which is well below the halfway point. Ask how many of the remaining posts were tested. If several more are close to failing, a second repair next monsoon could bring you to half the cost of a new fence with the old one still standing.
Half my pickets are rotting and the gate will not close. Fix it section by section?
You can, as long as the posts and rails are solid. In the desert, boards usually rot only where water reaches them, so look for a sprinkler head, a drip line or soil piled against the bottom. Fix the gate first, since that points to a post. Then go section by section and move the water away from the fence.
How long does a wood fence last in Tucson?
It varies too much for one figure. Rot is slower here than in a wet climate, but sun is harder on wood. Unsealed boards dry, crack and warp, and termites work on posts from below. Cedar resists insects and decay better than untreated pine. A fence that is sealed, kept clear of sprinklers and hung on steel posts lasts much longer than one left bare.
Only a visit to your property gives a real number. The estimate is free. Call (520) 462-4332 or text us a photo of the fence line.