Fence Repair

North Texas storms — straight-line winds, hail, the occasional microburst — take fences down every spring. A solid privacy fence works like a sail: one strong gust catches the face and snaps posts or lays a whole section flat. We handle the aftermath, resetting or replacing broken posts, rebuilding downed sections, and matching the new lumber to what's still standing so the repair doesn't look like a patch. If a tree limb came through, we clear the fence line and rebuild from the footing up.

Worth knowing: storm damage to a fence is often covered by homeowner's insurance. We document the damage and itemize the repair so you have what you need to file a claim.

A leaning fence almost always traces back to the posts, not the panels. In Dallas that usually means one of two things: a wood post that rotted at the ground line, or the expansive clay soil — "black gumbo" — heaving and shifting the footing through a wet-then-dry cycle. If the post itself is still sound, we can often dig it out, re-plumb it, and re-set it in fresh concrete. If it's a wood 4x4 that's gone punky at the base, the real fix is a galvanized steel post that won't rot or move again. Either way, we straighten the run, re-hang any panels that pulled loose, and leave the line true.

Wood posts are the number-one failure point on Dallas fences. They rot from the ground up — the section buried in soil and concrete stays damp, and cedar or pine gives out there years before the pickets do. When a post is soft, wobbly, or snapped off at grade, we pull it, clear the old footing, and set a new one in concrete. Our standard replacement is a galvanized steel post, which takes rot off the table for good, but we'll match a wood post if you're keeping the fence uniform for now. We can swap a single failed post or re-post an entire run that's on its way out.

Gates take more abuse than any other part of a fence — swung, slammed, and leaned on daily — so they're usually the first thing to go. Most gate trouble comes down to sag (the gate drops and drags or won't latch), worn or bent hinges, a failed latch, or a gate post that's shifted and thrown the whole thing out of square. We re-square sagging gates with an anti-sag cable or a rebuilt frame, replace hinges and latches with heavier hardware than the builder used, and re-set the gate post when that's what pulled it out of line. If a gate is beyond saving, we rebuild it to match the fence. For automated gates, see our automatic gate repair page.

Cracked, split, warped, or missing boards are the most common repair we do — and the most visible. Individual pickets fail from age, impact, or a knot that finally lets go, and a handful of bad boards can make an otherwise solid fence look neglected. We replace damaged pickets and rails with matching lumber, and where the old cedar has weathered gray, we blend the new wood with stain so the repair reads as one fence instead of a checkerboard of light and dark boards. On board-on-board fences we match the overlap and pattern so the fix disappears. See our wood fence installation page for how we build them in the first place.

Chain link is durable, but it isn't indestructible — mesh gets bent or cut, top rails kink, tension bars pull loose, and posts lean like any other fence. We re-stretch and re-tension sagging mesh, splice or replace damaged sections, straighten or swap bent top rails and posts, and rehang gates that have dropped. If a vehicle or a fallen limb crushed a run, we rebuild it with matching-gauge mesh so the repair blends in. We handle residential and commercial chain link alike — more on our chain link fencing page.

Ornamental iron and tubular steel fences last for decades, but they have their own failure modes: surface rust, a bent or knocked-loose picket, a cracked weld, or a section that's sagged where a footing shifted. We weld and repair broken joints, replace damaged pickets and rails, re-set leaning posts, and treat and repaint rusted areas so the finish holds up again. Matching an older ornamental pattern is the tricky part, and it's where a fabricator beats a handyman — we replicate the picket style and spacing so the repair matches the original. Details are on our iron fence installation page.

The honest answer isn't always "repair." Here's how we think about it, and how we'll advise you when we walk your fence.

Repair usually makes sense when the posts are sound and the damage is localized — a downed section after a storm, a sagging gate, a dozen bad boards, a couple of leaning posts. If 70 to 80 percent of the fence is solid, fixing the bad parts is the cheaper, smarter move.

Replacement usually wins when the problems are systemic. If posts are failing up and down the line, the whole fence is leaning, or wood posts are rotting one after another, you'll spend good money chasing failures that keep coming. At that point a new fence on galvanized steel posts costs less over five years than repeated repairs — and you reset the clock instead of patching a fence that's already at the end of its life.

We'll walk the fence, tell you which camp it's in, and give you both numbers when it's close. No upsell: if a repair holds you over for a few more years, that's what we'll quote.

We repair fences throughout Dallas and the northern suburbs, including fence work in Plano, Frisco, and Richardson. Call (469) 809-2424 or request a free estimate online — we'll come look, tell you straight whether it's a repair or a replacement, and quote both when it's a close call.