No matter how sparkly and beautiful your fence is when new, sooner or later, it starts to age. Just as you might one day catch a glimpse of your face in the mirror and wonder when you grew those jowls, fences sag and pickets rot. Yes, it’s sad. No, we don’t like to think about these things. But don’t worry. Your friends at Buzz can guide you through fence repairs or rebuilding.
Inspection
The first step in fence repair is to take a good, hard look at your fence. Is it straight? Is there a gritty gray-brown film on your fence, little mud tubes nearby, or other signs of bug infestation? Are you missing one picket? Two? Most of them? How much money are you willing to invest in rekindling your love for your old fence? All these questions will help you decide whether your fence is worth repairing, or if you should start all over with a new one.
Common ailments and some fixes
Here are a few common ways in which even the nicest fences go bad:
Rotten picket.
Warped or bug-eaten, sometimes a picket’s got to go. You’ll need to pry out the offending picket and replace it with a pristine new one. Screw in a matching new picket, being careful to keep a level line of screws across the fence.
Wobbly post.
A post could wobble because it’s broken or rotted, or because it’s come loose in its hole. If your post is rotted, you’ll need to replace it. If it’s loose, you can either splint it with a pair of stakes, or, for a better-looking fix, pour a new concrete base.
Sagging gate.
This annoying problem will cause you to endlessly fuss with the latch, probably catching a finger or two in it. Often bent hinges are the culprit. You might be able to fix the problem by replacing the old hinges with heavier ones. The weight of the gate might also have pulled it out of alignment with the fence.
Loose rail.
If the rail is still good, you can screw it back in, or mend it with a scrap of wood and some metal T-braces. Then again, you might need to replace the whole rail.
DIY vs Call Buzz
What do you like to do with your precious spare time? If you’re a hardcore DIYer, spending your weekend afternoons puttering with your fence might be like catnip to Tiger Puss. But if inspecting and repairing your fence has been on your to-do list for months, it’s time to call your friends at Buzz. We’re like the Sherlock Holmes of fences: always ready to sniff out the causes of your fence problems. Then we put on our nursing cap and make like Florence Nightingale, nursing your sick fence back to health. Give us a call today.
