A fence helps to ensure that strangers dont access your home without your knowledge or permission. It also gives you a sense of privacy when you are hosting guests in your garden. Besides that, a wooden fence comes in handy when you want to tame your pets and keep those of your neighbors at bay.
Since installing a brand new fence is an expensive affair, its recommended that you repair your current one if at all possible as it will not cost you much to do so. In fact, you will only spend money on buying new poles, rails and boards. However, it is common that a fence will wear out when they are exposed to extreme weather conditions such as snow, rain or strong winds. A fence can also become weak if it has been infested by pests. When pests invade either the rails or the posts, the entire fence will eventually lean on one side which may cause it to collapse.
Having a damaged fence is as bad as not having one at all because it provides a false sense of security. Here is a list of tips that can guide you when repairing the fence of your home.
1. Inspect the Fence
As mentioned earlier, a fence takes all the punishment thats directed towards your home by mother nature. Fortunately, the damages take place gradually if the weather is not too bad in your area. But the damange can still be hard to notice if you dont inspect your fence on a regular basis. By rule of thumb, you should inspect your fence at least once per week so that if you find a minor flaw, you can easily repair it before it becomes a problem. This helps in ensuring that you are able to spot damages at an early stage and prevent them from spreading or becoming larger over time. In fact, damages usually start in one area and spread to other parts when you dont act immediately. This can be a costly mistake.
Once you notice that your fence is no longer as strong as it used to be, you should find out whether it’s poles, rails or boards that need to be fixed. The advantage of these regular inspections is that they help you in budgeting for repairs. At the end of it all, you want to buy the exact amount of fencing materials. You should therefore count the number of poles, rails and boards that need to be replaced.
2. Get the Right Tools
Having the right set of tools makes the job of repairing a fence to be less cumbersome. As a matter of fact, you can fix fixing a fence in a couple of hours when you have all the necessary tools. For a start, you will need a claw hammer for pulling out nails from damaged poles andrails.
The same hammer comes in handy when you want to drive nails through wooden surfaces. Its also important you get a fence post driver. Having such equipment makes it easier to install poles on the ground. Since you will need to measure the replacement planks and poles, its recommended you keep a tape measure and a spirit level by your side.
3. Treat the Wood and Install
Before you replace parts of a damaged fence, its advisable you treat the wood with a preservative solution. The solution discourages pests such as rodents and termites from feasting on the wood. In fact, the preservative should be applied even on the old rails and posts to prevent the damage from spreading. The treated poles, boards and rails should be installed after 20 minutes to allow preservative to be absorbed by wood.
If a pole is wobbling, you should pull it out by digging the soil around it using a shovel. You should then dig a new hole, put the tip of the pole inside and fill it with soil. For best results, you should compress the soil by stepping on it with your feet. If either of the 2×4 rails is broken, you should remove it and install a new one. You should do the same thing when fixing split wooden boards.