Condition survey: where fences fail
Leaning posts, wind-blown sections, warped boards, sagging gates. A lot of fences need a repair, not a new fence, and we will tell you plainly which one you are looking at.
It comes down to the posts. If the posts are solid and plumb, nearly everything else is a repair: loose boards, a broken rail, a section blown down, a gate that drags. If the posts are rotted, loose, or leaning along the whole line, you are patching a fence that is failing from the ground up, and replacement usually costs less over the next few years.
We check every post, not just the ones you can see are leaning, and tell you what we find. If only part of the fence is gone, we repair that part.
The most common failure we see. When a crew hits caliche and doesn't have a rock bit, posts get set short of proper depth. They hold for a while, then lean after the first strong wind. The fix is resetting the posts, bored to proper depth.
Pine boards dry out, cup, and twist until they pull off their fasteners, like the one pictured above. Replacing boards and fastening with coated screws usually fixes it.
Spring storms push hardest on solid fences. A section down after a storm usually means one or two posts gave way, not the whole fence.
Wood touching the dirt is where termites and rot start. Replacing bottom boards and adding a gap or a rot board at the ground stops it from spreading.
Call us, and in the meantime, prop up anything leaning so it doesn't pull the next section down with it. Take photos before anything is moved if you plan to file an insurance claim.
We can give you a written, itemized repair estimate for your insurance adjuster.
Inside city limits, the city requires a permit when you replace or repair half or more of a fence. Most repairs fall under that line and need no permit. When a repair crosses it, we file the permit before we start.
Details are in the Del Rio permit guide. For iron fences, peeling finishes and broken welds are usually repairable too; see ornamental iron. Gates have their own page: gate repair.
Look at the posts. If they are solid and plumb, it is almost always a repair. If posts are rotted or leaning along most of the line, replacement usually costs less over time. We check every post and tell you what we find.
In Del Rio, the usual cause is posts set too shallow because the installer hit rock and stopped digging. Wind finishes the job. The fix is resetting those posts at proper depth, bored through the rock.
Only if you are replacing or repairing half or more of it. Inside city limits, the city requires a permit at that point. Smaller repairs need no permit.
Yes. If the rest of the fence is sound, we repair or replace only the damaged sections and match the existing boards as closely as possible.
We can give you a written, itemized estimate for your adjuster. Photograph the damage before anything is moved.